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China to put on a massive show for 60th anniversary

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Tourists walk with umbrellas, and one with a traditional Chinese fan, past the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong hanging next to recently erected scaffolding at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 14 August 2009. Restoration work of the historical gate is part of preperations for October’s 60th anniversary of the founding of Communist China, with the highlight being a massive parade by the People’s Liberation Army through the centre of Beijing.File photo/Reuters/David Gray/China

China will organise a massive pageantry at the Tiananmen Square on 1 October to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, according to Chinese state media reports.

President Hu Jintao will give a keynote speech to kick off the celebrations and a military parade will showcase China’s achievements in the last 60 years. A mass pageant, involving about 200,000 people and 60 floats, themed: “Motherland and I Marching Together,” will follow the parade.

On the eve of the anniversary the State Council will host a grand reception in the Great Hall of the People. The next day a gala at the Tiananmen Square will feature colourful performances and a fireworks display attended by senior party and government leaders.

Major parks in Beijing will be hosting parties and functions, and an exhibition highlighting China’s progress during the past 60 years will be held in the Beijing Exhibition Centre near the city zoo over the last two weeks in September.

A grand musical show called “Road to Revival”, with a cast of about 3,200, will be staged at the Great Hall of the People. This presentation will showcase the past 169 years of Chinese history chronologically from the Opium War to the present day.

Beijing’s meteorological authorities have said that they will not allow any rain to disrupt the celebrations. They will be ready to disperse any rain clouds that threaten to interrupt the celebrations using airplanes and rockets designed to ward off rain.

As with many large public gatherings in China, the security level has been raised with thousands of additional police officers and checking vehicles entering the city ahead of the 60th anniversary. More than 7,000 police officers are patrolling the capital and police have activated hundreds of checkpoints that were utilised during last year’s Olympic Games to monitor people and vehicles entering and leaving the city.

Security measures have also been tightened around key infrastructure installations such as bridges, overpasses, railways and highway tunnels.

Wang Taiyuan, a professor with the Chinese People’s Public Security University has said that unlike last year’s Olympic Games, threats for National Day are more likely to come from inside the country than from abroad.

On 1 October 1949, communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China from Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, after defeating the Nationalist Kuomintang administration, who retreated to Taiwan, in the Chinese Civil War.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

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