The image of the man with the briefcase facing a tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989 has frequently been used to illustrate repression in China.
However, China's President Jiang Zemin has another take on that episode, which he explained as part of an unusual outreach to the American public via US television.
In an unprecedented interview given to 82-year-old Mike Wallace for the CBS programme 60 Minutes on the eve of his departure yesterday for the Millennium Summit at the UN in New York, Mr Jiang argued that the incident actually showed the human side of the People's Liberation Army.
Asked if he admired the protester's courage, the Chinese leader pointed out that he was never arrested.
"I don't know where he is now. Looking at the picture, I know he definitely had his own ideas," he said.
Pressed further, he added, "I know what you are driving at, but what I want to emphasise is that we fully respect every citizen's right to freely express his wishes and desires . . . But I do not favour any flagrant opposition to government actions during an emergency. The tank stopped and did not run the young man down."
Then, to show his own credentials as a student activist, Mr Jiang burst into a 1943 protest song, "Arise Fellow Students to Defend the Motherland".
The interview is clearly part of a charm offensive aimed at improving China's image during the US presidential election, when anti-China rhetoric usually heats up.
Chinese orchestras, dance troupes and arts shows have been sent to tour 10 American cities. Beijing is also wary of the outcome of a debate in the US Senate on a Bill that would give China permanent normal trading relations.
Asked about Chinese campaign contributions, Mr Jiang said, "Are you just joking? We have never done such things."
Challenged on the Chinese political system, he said: "Some American congressmen ask me `which is the opposition party?' And I reply `Why do you think there must be opposition parties?' You are trying to apply American values to the whole world."
Most Chinese, he said, were actually satisfied with one-party rule. He objected to China being called a dictatorship.
"Your way of describing what things are like in China is as absurd as what the Arabian Nights may sound like," Mr Jiang said. "I am also an elected leader, though we have a different electoral system."
Asked about freedom of speech, he claimed that China had a free press, but the media "should be subordinate to and serve and defend the interests of the nation and the public."
He told Mr Wallace that China carried out the policy of "allowing 100 different flowers to blossom and 100 different schools of thoughts to contend".
His remarks about the incident in Tiananmen Square, a taboo subject in China, were, however, omitted from the version of the interview published by the official China news agency, Xinhua.
Chinese police have arrested a bishop of the underground Chinese Catholic Church, Dr Joseph Jiang Ming Yuan, the Vatican reported yesterday. The bishop was arrested on August 26th after he was appointed without government authorisation.