Leaders join National Day celebrations
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-01 14:23

Party and state leaders joined 200, 000 local people to attend National Day celebrations held in five parks of Beijing Friday morning, to mark the 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Beijing residents perform dragon dance on the Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China, October 1, 2004. [Reuters]

At 9:00 am, Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Huang Ju, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan appeared in the Zhongshan Park, the Working People's Cultural Palace, the Beihai Park, the Temple of Heaven, and the China Museum of Ethnic Culture, where jubilant people were gathering.

Beijing, the national capital, has been turned into a sea of flowers with numerous National Flags flying in the streets and atop government buildings and residential houses.

Facing the portrait of Mao Zedong on the Tian'anmen Rostrum, across the Tian'anmen Square, stands the portrait of Sun Yat-sen at the center of the square, in front of the Monument of the People's Heroes. In 1911, Sun led an anti-feudalism revolution to topple the Qing Dynasty, the last feudalistic Chinese dynasty established in 1644.

A fountain-centered parterre stands in the center of the square, and models of some symbolic objects in ancient and modern China stand on the eastern and western sides of the square, which include an ancient solarium, China's first manned spaceship Shenzhou-5 and a rocket-launch tower, the Yan'an Pagoda, the Hukou Fall on the Yellow River, and the Taihang Mountains.

The solarium is the best-known indicator that ancient China had the world-best scientists; and the Shenzhou-5 shows that China which lags behind developed countries for historical reasons is catching up.

Yan'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is where the Communist Party of China (CPC) and her armed forces were headquartered during the 1930s-40s. The Hukou Fall is one of the top tourism attractions in the country. The Taihang Mountains, in north China, is a witness of many Chinese legends in both ancient and modern times.

On the square, there are two eye-catching banners which read, " Warmly Celebrate the 55th Founding Anniversary of the People's Republic of China." and "Push Forward the Great Cause of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in an All-round Way."

Various kinds of exhibitions and performances were also held in the five parks, which showed the great achievements China has made in all fields over the past 55 years.

On October 1, 1949, the then Chinese leader Mao Zedong stood at the Tian'anmen Rostrum to declare the founding of the PRC. Two months later, the Chinese government made October 1 the National Day.

Earlier, the authorities decided to hold simple and thrifty National Day programs this year as the new-generation leadership headed by Hu Jintao has pledged to avoid extravagance and bring people practical benefits. 

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