By Xinhua,
Beijing : China staged a grand celebration in Tiananmen Square at the heart of Beijing Thursday, showcasing the strength and vitality of Chinese-style socialism over the past 60 years, a report said.
President Hu Jintao and other leaders viewed the two-hour pageant involving about 200,000 servicemen and women and civilians, from atop the square, where Mao Zedong first president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) proclaimed the country’s birth in 1949.
A total of 60-gun salutes accompanied by the national anthem and a flag hoisting ceremony ushered in the beginning of the festivities.
Wearing a Mao suit, Hu stood in an open-top black limousine sporting red flag to review the military formations assembled along Changan Avenue here.
“We must unswervingly follow the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics… and the reform and opening-up policy,” Hu said in his speech.
“The development and progress of New China over the past 60 years fully proved that only socialism can save China and only reform and opening up can ensure the development of China, socialism and Marxism,” Hu said.
A transformed Army
Wearing green, white and blue ceremonial or camouflage uniforms, thousands of servicemen and women goose-stepped past the Square.
A total of 52 types of new weapon systems including tanks, missiles and warplanes, were displayed. Ninety percent of these weapons were paraded for the first time.
Among the weapons paraded were five types of missiles of the Second Artillery Force, China’s core strategic deterrent, including the “trump card” nuclear-capable intercontinental missiles.
In all, 151 warplanes ranging from China’s most advanced J-10 and J-11 fighter jets to airborne early warning and control aircraft, bombers and aerial tankers, flew over the Square.
Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, general director of the parade, said that the formation showed the ongoing transformation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from a labour-intensive to a technology-intensive force and its ability to carry out diverse military missions.
Fang said that the military parade would “showcase the PLA’s firm determination to safeguard national security and interests and maintain world peace”.
Scientific development
“Implementing scientific outlook on development”, the famous quote from Hu displayed the new scientific fervour of Chinese people.
China has sent six astronauts into space since 2003 and plans to launch the Shenzhou-8 and Shenzhou-9 spacecraft in 2011. The country is planning a space docking in 2011 and a manned space station in 2020.
Cheng Li, director of research at John L Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution of US, said that during the past six decades, China experienced terrible disasters, both natural and man-made.
“What is truly remarkable is that despite all the pitfalls and problems of the past 60 years, the nation has not only survived, but is moving dramatically ahead and has emerged as an economic giant,” he said.
Socialist vitality
When the Communist leaders headed to Beijing in 1949 for the founding of the PRC, Mao told his colleagues that the trip is going to resemble an examination and he hoped the Communists could get a high score.
Sixty years later, Mao’s successors turned in their answer sheets.
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed 30 trillion yuan ($3.86 trillion) in 2008, 77 times more than in 1952. China’s illiteracy rate in the 15-45 age group has been brought down to 3.58 percent from more than 80 percent in 1949. Chinese people’s average life expectancy increased from 35 to 73 years during this time.
Dancers for the celebrations came from regions like Tibet and Xinjiang, the two autonomous regions that had witnessed riots during the last two years.
The float featuring “Treasured Island” Taiwan drew much attention. Decorated with the Taipei 101 Tower model and other landmarks, the float highlighted the improved cross-Strait relations between the mainland China and Taiwan.
Hundreds of millions of people watched the grand celebration on TV or the Internet. Online forums were abuzz with the comments on the National Day celebrations. More than 1.3 million people left comments on sina.com.cn, a major Chinese news portal.
“I think China wants to convey to the world that China’s coming-of-age is a reality, not a prediction,” Li of the Brookings Institution said.