Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - China stopped for hours yesterday to watch the television and witness the clear message that Beijing wanted to send to the world: China has grown and claims its place among the world powers, under the unquestioned leadership of the Communist Party.
The ceremony perfectly organised down to the very last detail: yesterday morning Beijing's was threatened by ominous clouds and immediately the sky was bombarded with 432 rockets loaded with silver iodide, which quickly gave a clear blue sky, as had been done for the inauguration of the Olympics a year ago. The cost: about 2 thousand Yuan per skyrocket, a little under one million Yuan (100 thousand euros) in total.
For the military parade President Hu Jintao donned a green-gray jacket (see photo) like that always worn by Mao Zedong, tailored just for the event. Like Mao, he paraded aboard a 12-cylinder communist-red limousine in front of the deployed troops repeating: "I greet you, comrades," and getting the answer: "Hello, Our Leader!" Or even "We serve the People! . He even marched hand in hand with a Tibetan girl on one side and a Uyghur child on the other, although his speech avoided all mention of the problems in Tibet and Xiniang. A large screen in the square showed pictures of happy Tibetans, but many commentators have wondered if they were not, in reality, ethnic Han in Tibetan costume.
In a carefully orchestrated show, the successes of China in every field were represented and several illustrious Chinese personalities took part in the march: from former Olympic champion Liu Xiang to the astronaut Zhai Zhigang who made the first Chinese space walk.
The ceremony was attended by past and present leaders and the portrait of Hu was exhibited alongside those of Mao and his successors, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, to signify the continuity of the Communist leadership and to give Hu a place equal to those of his predecessors.
The celebration of the People's Republic of China, however, was devoid of its people: Tiananmen Square and along the route of the parade was filled by authorities and especially selected guests, from among the 75 million Communist Party members who form the political leadership and who control the armed forces . Instead, the people were "invited" by a relentless campaign to stay home and watch the parade along Changan Boulevard on television. The security measures were maximal and the many, mostly foreign tourists, who tried to "infiltrate" the celebrations uninvited met with little luck: as if the Great China that on a par with world power feels threatened by its own citizens having to keep them at a safe distance from its leaders celebrations. So much so, it has had to arrest in the past year or so, numerous pro-democracy activists and defenders of human rights, to prevent them from organizing protests and demonstrations during this celebration.
Still China proudly participated in the party and recalled the last 30 years of rapid economic and international growth, after 30 years of isolationism and after having suffered repeated abuse in the previous 200 years. But those who were around 60 years ago remember the announcement of Mao, but also the hundreds of thousands of people persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and the millions of deaths from the Great Famine, an event which the CCP has never disavowed, and of which it is still forbidden to speak in terms that deviate from the official version.
