Chinese culture is on the long, slow rebound. Back in 1989, the Chinese government was shocked by the sudden appearance in Tiananmen Square of an icon of Western culture. This was a ten-meter-tall statue created by protesting students that was modeled on the Statue of Liberty, and called the "Goddess of Liberty." For the five days it stood — before the government sent in the tanks — it helped to galvanize the protesters who were calling for the same kind of Western-style democracy and freedom that was then sweeping communist Europe.
The statue revealed the virulent nature of Western cultural memes and the destabilizing effect they could have on a Chinese society that had in large part moved away from its own traditional culture due to Communism, which was itself something of a cultural import from the West.
The events surrounding the democracy protests also confirmed the Chinese government's policy of careful, selective repression as it accelerated its economic interaction with the outside world.