He grinned, and — just eight years after the crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square — the spectacle of China's ruler beaming and glad-handing people in the very heart of capitalism seemed at once charming and really, really odd. It was an October morning in 1997 at the New York Stock Exchange, and Jiang Zemin, the powerful head of the Chinese Communist Party and government, was ringing the opening bell. "Good morning!" he boomed. "I wish you good trading!" This was entirely in keeping with the image of Jiang, who died at age 96 on Wednesday a full generation…