At the end of July this year, a leading report in The Independent covered the trip of Francis Maude, a British Foreign Office minister, to Peking as follows-- "Ordinarily the kowtow consists of three kneelings and nine prostrations. In its modern version, as dictated by the Prime Minister, Li Peng, the supplicant also gets a slap in the face."
今年七月底，倫敦「獨立報」為英國前外次麥浩德（Francis Maude）的北平行作了如下評論﹘﹘「磕頭禮」通常包括雙膝下跪三次，頭前額撞地九次，但在現代李鵬版的導演下，磕頭者在行禮如儀之後，同時得賞巴掌一記。