Though the leadership had sent in the army they’d been careful not to declare martial law, since this was linked in the people’s minds with the crushing of the Tiananmen student demonstrations in 1989. Now the official line was that caiqui jieyan cuoshi, or short-term limited use of martial law measures—as opposed to a formal declaration of martial law—was necessary to protect the people from foreign attack.In Communist Party jargon a small-group meeting, or xiaofanwei huiyi, was an ad-hoc working group of ranking officials. In this case, the general mood among them was relief, and, as usual in any bureaucratic setting, self-congratulation was the order of the day.“Latest reports are that the streets are quiet,” said Major General Liang Guang of the People’s Liberation Army. The only warlike aspect of the general’s appearance was a face like a chow dog—jowly and turned down in perpetual disapproval. Other than that he was shaped like a pear and had a habit of compulsively beating his burning cigarette on the edge of the ashtray.
