Forbidden City

Even though the protests are supposed to be disbanding, they continue. Alex, Ted, and Eddie return each day. Alex uses the benefit of being on bike to better maneuver through the massive crowds of people. He notices lots of signs, many calling for the removal of Party leaders by name. This, Alex sees, makes Lao Xu massively uncomfortable, despite Lao Xu insisting on accompanying the reporters over to Tiananmen Square each day.

In conversation, the students debate what to do. Some think they should leave the square. Others think they should stay and get louder and more demanding. Alex notes that they “all seemed to agree that eventually the soldiers would come” (80).

And then they do. Alex is surprised when he sees the soldiers and students interacting. The students offer them soda pop and snacks. The soldiers talk with women carrying babies in their arms. It seems like a show of incompetency to Alex because not a single soldier has any sign of a weapon on him. Alex wonders about the scene: “What kind of army […] goes into combat, even crowd control, unarmed?” (81). But then he remembers something he read when studying Chinese military history at home, advice professed by Sun Zi in The Art of War: “Make yourself appear to be weak in order to make the enemy proud and rash” (82).