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Female members of a Chinese militia march to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China - Source: Reuters -
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China celebrated its wealth and rising might with a show of
goose-stepping troops, gaudy floats and nuclear-capable missiles in
Beijing, 60 years after Mao Zedong proclaimed its embrace of
communism.
Tiananmen Square in central Beijing became a high-tech stage to
celebrate the birth of the People's Republic of China on October 1,
1949, with the Communist Party leadership and guests watching a
meticulously disciplined show of national confidence.
Celebrations began in the morning with troops firing cannons and
raising the red national flag while President Hu Jintao, wearing a
slate grey Mao suit, looked on from the Gate of Heavenly Peace over
the Square.
Hu descended to Beijing's main thoroughfare and inspected rows of
troops, riding past them in a black limousine and bellowing
repeatedly, Hello comrades, hard-working comrades!
"From here it was that Chairman Mao solemnly announced the founding
of the People's Republic of China, and from then the Chinese people
stood up," Hu told the guests and troops.
"Today a socialist China embracing modernisation, embracing the
world and embracing the future stands lofty and firm."
The two-hour parade of 8,000 soldiers, tanks and missiles, 60
elaborate floats and 100,000 well-drilled civilians was a proud
moment for many Chinese citizens, watching the spectacle across the
country on television.
Later in the evening, Tiananmen Square will be lit up with a
huge fireworks display.
"I am very proud of the military today. You can see we are getting
stronger and stronger as a nation," said Qiu Chengjie, a
25-year-old businessman from southern Guangdong province.
The government also wanted the day of extraordinary spectacle and
security to make the case that its formula of strict one-party
control and rapid growth remains the right one for hauling the
world's third-biggest economy into prosperity.
China has enjoyed growing economic and diplomatic sway in the wake
of the global financial crisis, but its leaders remain nervous
about their grip on power and international standing.
The surprises of the last six decades - including upheavals like
the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution - have not
deterred an army of pundits from trying to peer into China's
future, making forecasts not just a few years ahead, but
decades.
"China is poised to have more impact on the world over the next 20
years than any other country," the US National Intelligence
Council's Global Trends 2025 report said.
The soldiers goose-stepping past at exactly 116 steps a minute
carried the theme that the Party knows how to run a show - and a
huge country.
"This was for the leaders, for them to show they're in command, so
everything was completely controlled," Zhang Ming, a historian at
Renmin University in Beijing, said.
"Ordinary people will feel excited and proud, but in the end the
public was not a part of this. This was for the leadership to show
them and the world they are fully in charge."
Military muscle
Beijing also brandished its military muscle, with a flyover and
show of weapons, including rows of what state TV said were Dongfeng
31 missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads more than 10,000
km.
China is spending billions of dollars modernising its 2.3 million
strong military to make it more high-tech and flexible.
Two sources with ties to the People's Liberation Army have said
that China aims to cut its army by 700,000 over two to three years
while boosting the navy and air force.
But the overwhelming security controls highlighted a central
paradox of present-day China.
The government claims it has never been stronger and closer to
its people, yet appears afraid of even small incidents that could
tarnish its authority.
Even as the displays celebrated the People's Republic, security
cordons prevented residents from seeing the parade, with central
Beijing emptied of all passers-by.
"It's not really for us ordinary people, is it?" said Wang
Chenggong, a migrant worker from rural central Henan province
trying to watch a TV near a crowded streetside stall.
Residents on the parade route were banned from peeking out their
windows.
"Go home! Leave now! Go watch TV at home!" a policeman yelled
through a bullhorn at a crowd gathering miles from the
square.
After the military parade, floats lauding China's history,
achievements and regions passed by.
They included a farm produce float with two model cows; one showing
China's space programme with a lunar orbiter; and an Olympic Games
display with a model of the Bird's Nest stadium.
China is a country of yawning social contradictions, with hundreds
of millions of farming families living in dirt-poor hardship
despite the rapid economic growth, and restive ethnic minorities in
the western Tibet and Xinjiang regions.
Today these disparities were dissolved in the displays of material
abundance, ethnic unity and political control.
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