The three-month war of nerves in Hong Kong seems to be over and the winner was Beijing. 

The students’ sit-in protest was only the latest in a series of provocations aimed at getting the Beijing authorities to mount a crackdown and thereby send the wrong message to Taiwan (and Tibetan, Xinjiang and other separatists) that China can’t be trusted to abide by its non-interference pledge as part of the “one country, two systems” policy. 

Beijing didn’t crack, or crack down, despite all the efforts by the usual suspects — Martin Lee, Anson Chan and others — to turn the protests violent. 

To the students’ credit, as soon as their sit-down was hijacked by thugs who began smashing windows and throwing bricks, they saw who was egging them on and why, and decided to end the protest peacefully. 

Beijing can now say to Taiwan: “Look, you see, you too will be able to protest peacefully and we’ll leave it up to you what to do about it.” 

It has won this round, but it won’t be the end. 

The usual suspects, who started the immigration row in 1999, followed by Tiananmen memorial marches, Falun Gong extravaganzas and the textbook protests last year, will have many more provocation cards up their sleeves.

Sidney Shapiro (right) has died in Beijing at the age of 98. 

Shapiro was born in New York, served in the US army during the second world war, and trained as a lawyer before studying Chinese and arriving in Shanghai in 1947. 

He worked undercover for the Communist Party of China in the pre-liberation days, and after new China was founded in 1949 he stayed on to work as a teacher and translator. 

His translation of Daughters and Sons, a novel about the anti-Japanese resistance, was the first revolutionary work from China to appear on US bookshelves, in 1956. 

He became a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top advisory body, in 1983.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, will ask public-spirited citizens who are regular bus commuters to report suspicious behavior to help ensure safety on the city’s buses, for 50 yuan (£5) a month. 

China has seen a spate of bus arson attacks in recent years. 

In July this year a man in south China’s Guangzhou Province set a bus alight after losing money gambling, killing two and injuring 32.

When Aaron Ramsey scored the winning goal during extra time for Arsenal in the FA cup final in May 2014, 75-year-old Liu Hongwen, a retired teacher, was at Wembley Stadium, holding back tears amid the cheering crowd. 

“My heart almost stood still before the final whistle,” she said.

The Beijing native is a die-hard fan of the north London club, and travelled to London by herself to watch the match. It was Arsenal’s first victory in a major English  football competition since 2005, when Liu started following the team.