TR EMERITUS

By Cary Huang from South China Morning Post

China celebrated 60 years of communist rule yesterday with a spectacular parade and extravagant pageantry to display the country’s growing military and economic might and national pride.

While the nation’s leaders and privileged guests attended the tightly guarded official celebration in Beijing, people around the country stopped to watch the event on television and celebrate the milestone in gatherings of friends and families.

Standing atop Tiananmen Gate – the spot from which Mao Zedong in 1949 proclaimed the birth of a “new China” – President Hu Jintao declared: “A socialist China that faces the future and the world is standing tall and firm in the East.”

Yesterday’s celebrations were designed to send a clear message that China has taken its place as a global power and to cement the authority and legitimacy of the Communist Party.

Presiding over the Republic’s 60th birthday – an important year in Chinese culture that symbolises the beginning of a new era – was the crowning moment of Hu’s political career.

The president was flanked by past and present leaders, including his predecessor Jiang, on Tiananmen Gate to view the proceedings. His portrait was raised high alongside those of Mao, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin for the first time in a National Day celebration.

Political analysts were surprised, however, that China Central Television showed almost as many close-up shots of Jiang as Hu. Some interpreted it as a sign that Jiang retains much influence despite his retirement.

Before his speech, Hu, dressed in a grey high-collared Mao suit, rode in a made-in-China Red Flag limousine, to review more than 8,000 troops.

“Greetings, comrades,” Hu bellowed to the troops as his limousine drove past.

“Greetings, leader,” the soldiers shouted back.

Watching the live broadcast of the ceremony, Beijing resident Guo Jiantang , 79, reflected how his life had changed in the past 60 years. The landlord-turned-communist said that despite his family’s suffering in the early days of communist rule, the country would not be as good as it was today without the party.

Guo said he watched the 1984 National Day parade on a seven-inch black and white TV, and the 1999 parade on a 21-inch colour TV. This year, he watched in high-definition on a 42-inch plasma TV.

“I just can’t help but feel extremely proud as a Chinese every time I watch the parades. It’s not a showcase to the world, but rather a tribute to what we have been through and achieved in the past six decades,” Guo said.

Read rest of article on East Asia Review:

http://www.eastasiareview.com/?p=161

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