http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-china-parade2-2009oct02,0,5892663.story
Workers renovate a statue of China's late chairman Mao Zedong at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, September 16, 2009. Statues and monuments around the country are being renovated and updated in preparation for the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. (REUTERS/China Daily)
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Chinese government workers dressed in traditional costumes take part in a competition of singing patriotic songs in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Thursday Sept. 17, 2009. (AP Photo) #
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A chef makes a cake in the shape of Beijing's Tiananmen Gate in Suining, Sichuan province September 18, 2009, to celebrate China's upcoming 60th anniversary. (REUTERS/Stringer) #
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The National Grand Theatre stands surrounded by water in central Beijing September 17, 2009. The theatre is lit by coloured lights in preparation to celebrate China's National Day in October. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
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Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) heavy tanks prepare to make their way on to the main east-west thoroughfare, the Avenue of Heavenly Peace, in Beijing on September 18, 2009, as the government rehearsed for a huge October 1st parade that will mark 60 years since the founding of Communist China. Security swarmed the Avenue of Heavenly Peace, shooing citizens away from what will be the parade's route through the heart of the city and past Tiananmen Square. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A man rides a bicycle past the National Unity Poles, which have been named and decorated for October's 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square September 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
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Performers practice for Beijing's 60th Anniversary celebrations at a training camp on the outskirts of Beijing, China on Sept. 16, 2009. Official celebrations will be held in China on Oct. 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. (AP Photo) ** ** #
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A Chinese military tank heads towards Tiananmen Square where a rehearsal for China's 60th anniversary will be held in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 18, 2009. Authorities shut down a major part of central Beijing to conduct the rehearsal for the parade. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel) #
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Chinese military vehicles are parked on Changan Ave. near Tiananmen Square during a rehearsal for a ceremony marking China's 60th anniversary in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009. (Nelson Ching/Bloomberg) #
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People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers perform during a rehearsal of a musical drama at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing September 17, 2009. The musical drama is part of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in October. (REUTERS/China Daily) #
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Participants rehearse on one of the National Day floats in Beijing on September 16, 2009. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A police anti-explosive container is placed on the platform at a metro station in Beijing on August 19, 2009. Beijing police will step up their anti-terror efforts ahead of the 60th anniversary on October 1 of the founding of communist China, with more street patrols and checkpoints, state media said. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Workers assemble decorative floats for China's National Day parade at an open area near a sports centre in Beijing on August 27, 2009. China has begun a security clampdown to prevent any disturbances to what it intends to be a glorious celebration of the day 60 years ago when Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A worker rests on a chair before the rehearsal of a cantata at the Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai September 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Aly Song) #
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Paramilitary policemen take part in an oath-taking rally to ensure the safety of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing September 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Joe Chan) #
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Workers sew Chinese national flags at a factory on the outskirts of Beijing, September 4, 2009. Demand for the flags is increasing as people prepare for the 60th anniversary celebration. (REUTERS/China Daily) #
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Performers take part in a chorus performance of patriotic songs involving 10,000 participants held at a gym in Beijing, China, Wednesday Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo) #
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Participants stand in form in a boulevard leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a rehearsal for the 60th anniversary parade August 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #
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A woman makes a frame for a traditional-style lantern at a workshop in Hongmiao village on the outskirts of Beijing, September 1,2009. The villagers are producing tens of thousands lanterns, which will be used to celebrate China's 60th anniversary. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
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A couple take wedding pictures in front of the Tiananmen Gate on September 8, 2009 in Beijing, China. Many people are expected to hold their wedding on National Day. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #
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Members of China's Air Force battalion march as they rehearse for the National Day parade in Beijing on September 10, 2009. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Chinese soldiers practice marching at a camp in Beijing, China, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) #
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A member of China's first class of women fighter pilots prepares to board her aircraft during a ceremony with new flight gear designed for women, at a People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force base in Beijing on August 30, 2009. The pilots will make their debut during the upcoming National Day Parade. China could launch its first woman into space as early as 2012, the candidate being chosen from this group. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Chinese hairdresser Huang Xin works on his latest art piece, a replica of The National museum of China, made from human hair, at his barbershop in Beijing September 9, 2009. Huang uses human hair to make replicas of iconic Chinese buildings and items, such as the Tiananmen gate and The Great Hall of The People, since early 2008. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #
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In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, soldiers take part in an exercise for the military parade at an airport of People's Liberation Army in Beijing Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang) #
y. (37 photos total)Communist China celebrates its 60th anniversary
The day of festivities is full of contrasting images. Tanks and goose-stepping soldiers travel along a parade route as TV commentators discuss the nation's love of peace.
Female soldiers of the People's Liberation Army march in the National Day parade. When President Hu Jintao reviewed troops, he glided past, protruding from the open roof of a 21-foot-long limousine. (Goh Chai Hin / AFP/Getty Images / October 1, 2009)
Reporting from Beijing - At the end of a gala Thursday celebrating communist China's 60th anniversary, President Hu Jintao and his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, got down from their rostrum and joined hands with the dancers in Tiananmen Square.
It was a symbolic gesture designed to soften the image of a remote and authoritarian leadership that had been reinforced by a military parade earlier in the day.
But the day of festivities was like that, full of contrasting images and a hodgepodge of sometimes contradictory slogans. The People's Liberation Army paraded the weapons of war -- missiles, fighter jets, tanks -- while commentators in the official media waxed on about the nation's love of peace.
Slogans about "democracy," "reform," "opening up" and "a new era of progress" were at odds with the way they were spelled out by 80,000 Beijing students, who appeared less like human beings than pixels in a digital photo as they lifted colored pompoms to form Chinese characters. The depersonalizing technique has been discredited in recent years because of its associations with North Korea's dictatorship.
Propaganda extolled the harmonious relationship between China's ethnic groups, but there were few minorities at the event. Dancers dressed in colorful headdresses and costumes appeared to be Han Chinese masquerading as ethnic minorities.
Security around Beijing was extraordinarily tight because of fears of terrorism or protests by Uighurs and Tibetans.
"Xinjiang people show their appreciation by happily singing and dancing," intoned a commentator from China radio without a trace of irony, referring to the western region where at least 200 people were killed and thousands injured July 5 in China's worst ethnic rioting in decades.
The military parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Communist Party's rise to power was billed as the largest ever in China, but its staging followed the hackneyed formulas of parades past. There were the same formations of goose-stepping soldiers and the floats looked like they'd barely been refurbished from the 1980s, with replicas of cows and tractors publicizing agricultural achievements.
"Socialism with Chinese characteristics," a concept developed by the late Deng Xiaoping in 1984, was the phrase heard most often in official commentary.
The leadership watched from high above, on a rostrum in front of the Forbidden City, from which Chinese emperors used to hand down edicts. When Hu ventured out to review troops, he glided past in a 21-foot-long limousine with an open roof so that he protruded like the severed upper half of a statue. His body was almost entirely immobile as he intoned repeatedly into five microphones on the limousine's roof,"Tongzhimen hao" -- "Greetings, comrades."
The evening gala was more joyous, bringing back some of the glitz of last year's Olympics. Film director Zhang Yimou, who staged the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, designed a spectacular display of fireworks that looked like 60 candles. The vast expanse of Tiananmen Square was filled with dancers, many of them holding colored lights. It appeared that fewer than 10,000 people observed the festivities live, with everyone else ordered to watch on television. Authorities closed many hotels and evacuated nearby residents.
Technicians used cloud-seeding measures the night before to deliver a rain shower that cleared the air. The result was the sky repainted a Technicolor shade of blue rarely seen in nature (at least not in Beijing) and the air so unusually clear that spectators in the viewing stands complained afterward of sunburn.
Workers renovate a statue of China's late chairman Mao Zedong at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, September 16, 2009. Statues and monuments around the country are being renovated and updated in preparation for the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. (REUTERS/China Daily)
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Chinese government workers dressed in traditional costumes take part in a competition of singing patriotic songs in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Thursday Sept. 17, 2009. (AP Photo) #
3
A chef makes a cake in the shape of Beijing's Tiananmen Gate in Suining, Sichuan province September 18, 2009, to celebrate China's upcoming 60th anniversary. (REUTERS/Stringer) #
4
The National Grand Theatre stands surrounded by water in central Beijing September 17, 2009. The theatre is lit by coloured lights in preparation to celebrate China's National Day in October. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
5
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) heavy tanks prepare to make their way on to the main east-west thoroughfare, the Avenue of Heavenly Peace, in Beijing on September 18, 2009, as the government rehearsed for a huge October 1st parade that will mark 60 years since the founding of Communist China. Security swarmed the Avenue of Heavenly Peace, shooing citizens away from what will be the parade's route through the heart of the city and past Tiananmen Square. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A man rides a bicycle past the National Unity Poles, which have been named and decorated for October's 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square September 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
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Performers practice for Beijing's 60th Anniversary celebrations at a training camp on the outskirts of Beijing, China on Sept. 16, 2009. Official celebrations will be held in China on Oct. 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. (AP Photo) ** ** #
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A Chinese military tank heads towards Tiananmen Square where a rehearsal for China's 60th anniversary will be held in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 18, 2009. Authorities shut down a major part of central Beijing to conduct the rehearsal for the parade. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel) #
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Chinese military vehicles are parked on Changan Ave. near Tiananmen Square during a rehearsal for a ceremony marking China's 60th anniversary in Beijing, China, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2009. (Nelson Ching/Bloomberg) #
10
People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers perform during a rehearsal of a musical drama at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing September 17, 2009. The musical drama is part of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in October. (REUTERS/China Daily) #
11
Participants rehearse on one of the National Day floats in Beijing on September 16, 2009. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A police anti-explosive container is placed on the platform at a metro station in Beijing on August 19, 2009. Beijing police will step up their anti-terror efforts ahead of the 60th anniversary on October 1 of the founding of communist China, with more street patrols and checkpoints, state media said. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
13
Workers assemble decorative floats for China's National Day parade at an open area near a sports centre in Beijing on August 27, 2009. China has begun a security clampdown to prevent any disturbances to what it intends to be a glorious celebration of the day 60 years ago when Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #
14
A worker rests on a chair before the rehearsal of a cantata at the Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai September 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Aly Song) #
15
Paramilitary policemen take part in an oath-taking rally to ensure the safety of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing September 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Joe Chan) #
16
Workers sew Chinese national flags at a factory on the outskirts of Beijing, September 4, 2009. Demand for the flags is increasing as people prepare for the 60th anniversary celebration. (REUTERS/China Daily) #
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Performers take part in a chorus performance of patriotic songs involving 10,000 participants held at a gym in Beijing, China, Wednesday Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo) #
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Participants stand in form in a boulevard leading to Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a rehearsal for the 60th anniversary parade August 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #
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A woman makes a frame for a traditional-style lantern at a workshop in Hongmiao village on the outskirts of Beijing, September 1,2009. The villagers are producing tens of thousands lanterns, which will be used to celebrate China's 60th anniversary. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #
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A couple take wedding pictures in front of the Tiananmen Gate on September 8, 2009 in Beijing, China. Many people are expected to hold their wedding on National Day. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #
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Members of China's Air Force battalion march as they rehearse for the National Day parade in Beijing on September 10, 2009. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Chinese soldiers practice marching at a camp in Beijing, China, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) #
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A member of China's first class of women fighter pilots prepares to board her aircraft during a ceremony with new flight gear designed for women, at a People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force base in Beijing on August 30, 2009. The pilots will make their debut during the upcoming National Day Parade. China could launch its first woman into space as early as 2012, the candidate being chosen from this group. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Chinese hairdresser Huang Xin works on his latest art piece, a replica of The National museum of China, made from human hair, at his barbershop in Beijing September 9, 2009. Huang uses human hair to make replicas of iconic Chinese buildings and items, such as the Tiananmen gate and The Great Hall of The People, since early 2008. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #
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In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, soldiers take part in an exercise for the military parade at an airport of People's Liberation Army in Beijing Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang) #
