On july 1st the Chinese Communist Party celebrated the 105th anniversary of its founding. The event was marked this week by a concert attended by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and a state ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. But for the organisers the lead-up to the celebrations was overshadowed by a troubling incident in the heart of Beijing, not far from where the ceremonies would be staged: a security lapse on the evening of June 26th that was both unusual and embarrassing. A two-seater plane took off from an airfield on the outskirts of Beijing, then crashed into citic Tower, the capital’s tallest building. This happened a few kilometres from a complex where the Communist Party’s leadership lives.