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Two generations' parades, the turns and shifts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-23 15:37

BEIJING: At 6 a.m., Ji Yulin's daughter looks out of the window. It's raining and she's delighted -- perhaps her drills for the National Day parade will be cancelled today?

But the notice never comes.

Ji Yulin, who is reluctant to reveal his daughter's name, takes her to the Beijing No.2 Middle School as usual and carries on to the school's sub-campus, a 10-minute walk away, where he works as an instructor, to drill his own students.

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They are training for the grand parade to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. And this year's anniversary is an occasion for a rare display of national strength and pride after 30 years of reform and opening up.

Ji, 44, who has taken part in the National Day parades for the nation's 35th and 50th anniversaries, will march with his students along Chang'an Avenue, the main east-west thoroughfare in Beijing, and pass Tian'anmen Rostrum, from where Chairman Mao Zedong declared the founding of the New China.

A special preparatory committee for the parade was set up in March and worked out a plan to include students from dozens of Beijing colleges, primary and middle schools in the celebration.

Yang Zhihui, deputy director-general of the Haidian branch preparatory committee, considered the parade a once-in-a-life-time experience for the students who represent the future of the country to be a part.

But those too young to have experienced or appreciated previous National Day parades could hardly get it.

Zhang Tianyi, an undergraduate student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, says he would love to watch the National Day parade, but a notice from the school requiring him to participate in the parade had screwed up all his summer plans, which had included an internship, a tour to southern city Shenzhen and a hometown visit.

Di Tao, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, clarifies that students will get their tickets fully refunded if their travel plans for summer vacation are disrupted by the drills.

"I don't think it's bad to see students have different ideas about the parade. They should be allowed to choose whether or not to participate," said Yang Yiyin, director of the social psychology research office with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

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