Day before glory: 24 hours

What happened on Oct 1, 1949?

A grand ceremony for the founding of the People’s Republic of China was held in Beijing, and the famous words “The Chinese people are now masters of their own fate” were heard.

Then what about one day earlier?

On Sept 30, 1949, one day before the grand ceremony, Beijing looked little different from how it did on any other day. The reason was simple. For security, the arrangements for the ceremony had not been announced yet.

15:00

Some of the residents must have realized something was happening. For example, on each side of the Tian’anmen Square, there were two newly built grandstands, an obvious sign of a grand ceremony of some kind.

Being short of time, the two grandstands were made by wood and wooden plates, lashed together by strings and iron wires. The test of its firmness was done in a special way: The central guarding division organized about 300 soldiers to jump on it for 10 minutes, which proved it was firm enough to hold all.

17:00

The security staff faced much heavier pressure than those testing the grandstands. There were still parts of the country yet to be liberated by the People’s Liberation Army, and the old Kuomintang regime, although its power was failing, still had an air force and could bomb Beijing.

Therefore, four of the 17 fighter planes preparing for the parade of the grand ceremony were fully loaded, ready to combat any enemy in the sky.

Another group of security staff were inspecting every corner of the city, so as to root out any possible danger. There was danger — The police found a bomb at an outer corner of the Tian’anmen Rostrum, with its fuse already burning. They did not hesitate to cut it.

18:00

The first session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference had finished electing the leaders of the newly born People’s Republic, and passed an essential decision to build a monument for the martyrs at Tian’anmen Square.

At 18:00, all members of the CPPCC came to the site for the ground-breaking ceremony of the monument. Chairman Mao Zedong read the scripts and paid tribute to all the heroes who died in the fight for national independence and the people’s liberty and welfare.

20:00

There were still people working for the ceremony. Among them, there was one musician called Luo Lang, head of the PLA military band. Having got the news about the national anthem only one day earlier, he had already been working on it for 24 hours. He had another 18 hours to work before he could sleep.

His efforts were worthwhile — The band performed perfectly the next day.

Another was the artist, Zhou Lingzhao, the painter who painted Chairman Mao Zedong’s portrait to be displayed in Tian'anmen Square, also stayed late till midnight. He had already been working on the painting for about a month together with his female apprentice, Chen Ruoju.

She later became his wife.

03:00

Zhou finally finished the painting. As he looked around, he found some of the musicians of the military band who were to join the next day’s parade were already there. Some were from the army, some from the navy, and some from the gun salute team. The latter brought 54 salute guns into the square, in a most eyeball-catching spot.

The civilian participants also began arriving one after one. What about the leaders? They skipped sleep. Premier Zhou Enlai appeared at the square with a pale but energetic face — He had been without sleep for four days.

After checking everything, he called the office of Chairman Mao, to remind him to sleep. Mao followed a special schedule and often began to sleep in the morning.

06:00

The weather forecast for Oct 1 was finished. It was 1949, eight years before the first manmade satellite was sent into orbit. The weather forecast relied heavily upon experience and historical materials. A specially appointed team at the North China Weather Station, headed by Zhang Yan, did research on materials collected from Tsinghua University. The conclusion was: Beijing would be cloudy, with weak wind coming from the east.

12:00

Was the weather forest cast accurate? No one could sure. At 9:00 in the morning, there was rain at Tian’anmen Square, which made some people nervous.

Yet Xinhua News Agency announced the arrangements for the ceremony at 10:00, determined to get rid of all difficulties.

About 10 minutes to 15:00, the rain stopped, then a gleam of sunshine came out of the west, making everything golden.

Three o’clock in the afternoon became a sacred moment. The rain stopped, Tian'anmen Square was bathed in golden sunshine, and the air was clean, with the fresh scent of the earth after the rain.

At this special moment, members of the new government, which truly belonged to the people, walked up the stairs of the rostrum.