Just outside of Houston, Deng Xiaoping was at his first rodeo. He accepted the gift of a staxon, delighted in putting it on for the photographers, and waved enthusiastically to the crowd.
Then, as if to emphasize what a political showman he is, the Chinese leader went on his own parade in the back of a stagecoach. It was the culmination of a 1979 trip, the first official visit of a Chinese communist leader to America.