The Horse’s Mouth points to an article from The Independent which suggests the Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, has a bit of a mean streak:

Three years on, dreams of a more democratic China have been dashed by the enigmatic and withdrawn Hu. Dissidents have been rounded up and the media and internet subject to ever-increasing restrictions, while the 69 million CCP members have been ordered to brush up on their Marxism-Leninism and the thought of Mao Zedong.

But then Hu had shown his ruthless side in 1989 in Tibet, imposing martial law after supporters of independence had demonstrated in Lhasa. Some 70 were shot dead by police. Hu had spent much of his career in the backwaters of western China, so little was known about him before he came to power.

For a brief profile on Hu Jintao also see, Hu Jintao: A who2 Profile.