It's later than Mao thinks

Birthdays have a way of coming at the wrong time. The Chinese communists have had their moments of triumph during their 20 years in power. But these have tended not to be when the crowds were filling the Square of Heavenly Peace for a major national day. Peking evidently tried to brighten this week's event by a show of nuclear black magic. There is a strong suspicion that something may have misfired, for neither Monday's explosion in Sinkiang—reported by the Americans to be China's highest megatonnage yet—nor an underground blast monitored last week was officially announced. But even a bigger and better bomb could not have disguised the fact that this 20th anniversary was hardly China's finest hour.