One of those mistakes--one which Zhao believes will haunt PRC leaders for some time--is economic imbalance. Despite recent decentralization efforts, Chinese leaders' attempts to correct the economy's heavy industry and urban biases have not yet been successful. Citing a steel plant, which has already cost the regime more than $20 billion, Zhao says, "It's like sitting on a tiger. You can't give it up because you've sunk so much money into it, and you can't continue it because it's costing more and more."

'I was not the only one who suffered. There were thousands--tens of thousands--and you really can't pin down who was responsible.'

Zhao supports the current leadership and predicts that state power will "mellow in time." But he does not believe that economic decentralization means, as many observers have said, that China will become a "capitalist" nation, with increasingly democratic tendencies. Like most nations, he believes, China will develop a mixed system. Economic improvements will raise the standard of living, which in turn will spur people to ask for greater freedom. In his own field, he notes that "in the past, either you towed the party line and wrote about, things you didn't want to write about, or you didn't write." Today, censoring of journalism is reduced; writers are responsible for their own opinions to a much greater extent.

Long-term political change, he believes, will be difficult to implement. "Any reform will hurt the vested interest," Zhao contends. "Bureaucracy abhors change and present policies are running into a stiff resistance." If Deng's policies fail, Zhao warns, the nation will either revert to following the Soviet Union or become "something like Iran, neither pro-Western nor pro-Eastern, but internally confused and chaotic."

But in Zhao's worried tone there is still a strong strain of optimism. Beneath his journalist's skepticism and the constant questioning of the logic of past Chinese policies, he retains, as Thomson says, "a faith in the ultimate outcome of justice in China--which means faith in China itself." Zhao still believes in the strength of the revolution. At heart, he is an unswerving Chinese patriot.

He sits forward on the couch and emphasizes his hopes for Deng once again. The new leadership has "set the forces in motion, and they will be difficult to halt," he believes. "That's the only chance," he concludes, shifting restlessly, thinking about how his own fate is so delicately tied to his nation's. "The system is changing for the better--one can only hope it will continue."