Once control of the media was wrested from Mao's most strident defenders, the abusive language Chiang Ch'ing had used against her enemies over the years was hurled back at her. The verbal weapons borrowed from Lu Hsun backfired. Ruthlessly beat the dog in the water, her enemies repeated as they vowed to fight the Gang of Four to the finish. Their claims to have been the standard-bearers of the much-exploited Lu Hsun were mocked.

I want you to know how he spoke: he spoke loud, and he spoke clear.

It is a sad and weary time for many, for when the dustman, the man who blacks the boots, and he with the grog-blossom on his nose who does nothing but hold cab-doors open when nobody asks him to have all been paid, the oof bird takes unto itself wings and flies away.

I have known many a passion and many a friendship degraded, weakened, and at last, if I may use the expression, wholly slatterned away, by an unguarded and illiberal familiarity.