His advisers warned him against visiting Harvard, but Chinese President Jiang Zemin insisted on speaking at the nation's oldest university anyway.

For Jiang, his appearance at Harvard represented a public examination he badly wanted to pass.

He received mixed reviews from the over 4,000 supporters and protesters who lined the streets around Sanders Theatre.

Greeted by both cheers and jeers, Jiang arrived at Cambridge on Halloween after a quick jaunt through Drexel University in Pennsylvania, his son's alma mater, and a tour of Philadelphia's landmarks of liberty.

Public Speaking

Inside the Nov. 1 ticketed Harvard event, Jiang spoke with great pride, describing in meticulous detail the many scientific, cultural and economic achievements of China's 5,000-year history.

After carefully outlining the traditions of unity, independence, peace and self-perfection that he said shape China's history and society, Jiang cautiously looked ahead to the opportunity he saw in building a lasting relationship with the United States.

"We should take a firm hold of the overall interests of China-U.S. relations and settle our differences properly," Jiang said in English.

In other visits around the U.S., Jiang hinted at what those interests might entail: a bell-ringing ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange, a meeting with business leaders and the inking of a $3 billion purchase of Boeing airplanes.

After his speech, Jiang answered two prepared questions and one solicited from a member of the audience. The closed-question format of the event was the subject of many complaints and protests before and during Jiang's visit.

One man stood up in the upper balcony, shouted "human rights," and turned his back to Jiang while four others stood up in unison and turned their backs to reveal the slogan "Free Tibet" printed on the back of their T-shirts.

After the two prepared questions, Vogel unexpectedly asked the audience for a question. Philip J. Cunningham, a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, immediately shouted out to be recognized. Vogel ignored Cunningham, a reporter for The Japan Times, as he continued shouting "What about Wei Jingsheng?" (please see related story, C-3)

Cunningham was the last reporter to interview Wei before he was arrested.

At the time of Jiang's visit to Harvard, Wei was in prison serving his second 14-year sentence for speaking to foreign journalists and John Shattuck, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights.

In November, shortly after Jiang returned home from his U.S. tour, Wei was released for what the Chinese government officially said were medical reasons. Currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University, he visited Harvard in May to give a speech at the ARCO Forum.