(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-01 21:22

Beijing -- More than 100,000 people from across the country gathered at the Tian'anmen Square in the heart of the Chinese capital to watch the national flag raising ceremony in drizzle at dawn of Monday, the 58th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

People crowd in front of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on National Day,October 1, 2007. [Reuters]

Wearing raincoats or holding up umbrellas, people -- ranging from grey hairs to toddlers -- began to flock into the square, which is ablaze with the color of 400,000 pots of flowers.

"Happy birthday to you, motherland!" acclaimed 18 undergraduates from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, while seeing the five-star red flag rising at 6:10 a.m. in the company of the national anthem.

"I feel so proud to witness the country is becoming more and more prosperous after going through so many hardships," 72-year-old Wang Nianshun from Pingdu City of eastern Shandong Province said after watching the ceremony.

However, not everyone who wanted to watch the grand ceremony could have his wish satisfied. In northern Beijing, Li Chuiqin from Heze of Shandong was busy working with 5,000 workers at the construction site of the National Stadium, which is nicknamed the Bird's Nest, also the major venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"I had planned to go to the Tian'anmen Square today, take some photos and mail them to my family. But it became impossible because we have such a tight schedule," the man said. The stadium is planned to be finished in March next year.

In the futuristic egg-like National Grand Theater, located west of the Tian'anmen Square, 750 political advisors for the Beijing municipal government watched the drama "Teahouse" written by the late Chinese literature maestro Lao She (1898-1966).

A series of trial performances will be staged at the new landmark in Beijing from September 25 to October 13 ahead of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

At Sunday's National Day reception in the Great Hall of the People, which just lies between the square and the theater, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cited the upcoming CPC congress as "a congress of great importance to be held at a time when China's reform and development have entered a crucial stage."

In Beijing and other cities, five-star red flags could be seen almost everywhere, hanging from the windows of stores or residential apartments.

Flag raising ceremony was also held in many of other Chinese cities, including the Tibet regional capital Lhasa, Hong Kong and Macao.

In Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, more than 5,000 people attended the flag raising ceremony on Monday morning in a square decorated with flowers and fountains in front of the Potala Palace, formerly the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas and a superb example of ancient Tibetan architecture.

Zhoima, a local resident, came to the square to see the ceremony on National Day every year. She said: "The city is getting more beautiful and our life is getting better."

Many of the spectators came here via the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which was opened in July 2006 and has linked the plateau region with the rest of China by train for the first time.

Driven by the opening of the new railway, Tibet's tertiary industry, featuring the consumption market and service industry, has developed fast, and its gross domestic product (GDP) posted a 14.7-percent growth to reach 14 billion yuan (1.84 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, the highest over the past decade, according to the Tibet Regional Statistics Bureau.

In Hong Kong, thousands of government officials, celebrities and guests from all walks of life attended a grand reception Monday morning to celebrate the National Day.

"The development of the country is now most encouraging, and our success in many areas has stunned the whole world," Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Donald Tsang said in his address at the reception.

"Hong Kong is blessed to have the strong backing of the world's fastest-growing and most promising market," Tsang said, adding the entire world is eyeing the tremendous opportunities brought about by China's rapid economic development.

People in different cities also greeted the National Day in diversified ways.

In the central city of Changsha, Hunan Province, city administrators organized about 10,000 government employees to clean streets and railway stations to greet the National Day.

In the southwestern city of Kunming, Yunnan Province, more than 300 citizens donated blood as part of the municipal authorities' campaign to promote people's awareness of blood donation.

Monday also marked the beginning of the "Golden Week" of the National Day holiday. Nationwide, more than 150 million people are expected to go on tour.

In Beijing, local tourism authorities have predicted that about 1.7 million people will visit the Chinese capital during the period.

About 5,000 urban management employees patrolled around major tourist sites and shopping centers in the city on Monday to stop uncouth behaviors such as spitting and littering to help polish the image of the national capital as it is preparing for next year's Olympic Games.