When Pol Pot arrived in Beijing on a state visit 21 years ago, 100,000 Beijingers turned out to greet him as he was driven down the Avenue of Eternal Peace in open-top limousine.
A roar of applause greeted his motorcade and bystanders released hundreds of balloons as hundreds of schoolchildren held up coloured cards which said welcome in Chinese and Khmer.
Deng Xiaoping had met him at the airport and when he arrived in the Great Hall of the People eight other top leaders, a third of the politburo, turned out to receive him.
At a banquet Chairman Hua Guofeng gave a toast to 'the health and longevity of Comrade Pol Pot' and declared that: 'As your brother and battle companions, the Chinese people feel happy and encouraged by your glorious successes'.
'We are proud to have such battle companions,' declared the People's Daily . It ran special columns describing how, 'in today's Cambodia, you see flourishing scenes everywhere'.
Yet now, Pol Pot's death, in an obscure corner along the Cambodian border with Thailand, has gone virtually unremarked upon by the Chinese media. Western reports have been briefly noted and on Wednesday only the Beijing Youth Daily ran a story, but without mentioning the connection with a leader who at one time was China's closest ally.