SECURITY WAS tight in the Chinese capital Beijing yesterday ahead of a massive military parade to mark 60 years since the revolution that swept the Communist Party to power; but it wasn’t all tanks and rocket launchers.
Telephone providers around China changed ring-back tones to patriotic tunes to mark the historic day. Mobile phone callers heard the tones of Guojiaor Countrysung by Jackie Chan, while landline customers in some areas were treated to Sing a Song of Praise to the Motherland, sung during the Olympics last year by Yang Peiyi, even though she was deemed not pretty enough and the song was lip-synched by Lin Miaoke.
Many government agencies and private companies changed the background colours of their websites to red and yellow.
Chinese people are hugely proud of the changes in China, which has been transformed from a war-damaged feudal society into the world’s fastest growing economy in the 60 years since the Communists took over.
The outpouring of national pride has been evident all over the city.
In a speech at the Great Hall to a group of ethnic Chinese from abroad, President Hu Jintao spoke of huge changes in China and called for greater efforts to boost China abroad.
“The glorious achievement of the construction of the motherland for the past 60 years contributes to the unity and struggle of people of all nationalities,” Mr Hu said.
Downtown hotels, shops and restaurants were closed for the celebrations which were expected to rival last year’s Olympic opening ceremony.
The parade and the general pageantry were expected to distract from some of the domestic pressures facing the Communists including a yawning rich-poor gap, sluggish consumption, widespread corruption and massive environmental degradation.
At times the city looked like a ghost town except for the huge numbers of police guarding the thoroughfares and major sights, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and other popular tourist landmarks ahead of a massive military parade marking 60 years of communist rule.
Some analysts commented that the anniversary parade would act almost as a trade fair for China’s defence industry, featuring the country’s state-of-the-art military hardware.
City residents have been barred from flying kites as a precaution against aerial hazards, while those who live in the diplomatic apartments that line the parade route have been told not open their windows or go out on to their balconies to watch the spectacle.
In the run-up to the parade, the weather looked like it would not play ball, with the city covered in fog for the past two days, but meteorologists said that 18 planes were on standby to “seed” the clouds.