BEIJING: Delivery men, the world cup-winning women's volleyball team and a special float hailing "Xi Jinping Thought" were part of a colourful parade on Tuesday (Oct 1) to mark the 70th anniversary of Communist rule in China.
More than 100,000 civilians took part in a colourful pageant across Tiananmen Square that followed a massive military parade showcasing China's emergence as a global superpower.
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The event included giant portraits of the country's top leaders, including founder Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the economic reformer who opened China's door to the world.
A giant portrait of former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong passes by Tiananmen Square during the National Day parade in Beijing on Oct 1, 2019, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. (Photo: AFP/Greg Baker)
President Xi Jinping waved as his enormous portrait rolled by.
Xi – who has increasingly styled himself after Mao by lifting presidential term limits and inscribing his political philosophy in China's constitution – was applauded for "making China great again" by a group that paraded with his giant portrait.
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There was also a special float dedicated to his anti-graft drive, which has punished more than a million corrupt officials but has been criticised for being used as a weapon to weed out political rivals.
Balloons fly past a national flag at the end of the military parade in Tiananmen Square. (Photo: AFP/Greg Baker)
Xi's two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, were also at the Tiananmen Rostrum, south of the Forbidden City, to see their images.
A group of foreigners were seen on a float to promote Xi's US$1 trillion global investment drive – the Belt and Road Initiative – which is viewed with suspicion in the West for spreading Chinese influence and debt-trapping countries.
Foreign citizens take part in a parade through Tiananmen Square marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing, China, on Oct 1, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter)
In broad brush strokes, the parade attempted to tell the story of how China had lifted millions out of poverty, with farmers, fishermen and scientists all showcasing their achievements.
ROMANTIC THROWBACK
China's ubiquitous electric bike-driving delivery men – the footsoldiers of its rise as an e-commerce empire – were also part of the celebrations.
Participants dressed as deliverymen wave during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing on Oct 1, 2019. (Photo: AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
The show also included a romantic throwback into the 70s with couples cycling along Chang'an avenue, reminiscent of the time when the bicycles were the main mode of transportation for the masses.
Cyclists on parade were a throwback to the days when the bicycle was China's main means of transport. (Photo: AFP/Greg Baker)
But it omitted tumultuous periods in the 50s and 60s when tens of millions died in a famine during the Great Leap Forward and political terror reigned in the Cultural Revolution.
Veterans and relatives of revolutionary martyrs also took part in the National Day parade. (Photo: AFP/Greg Baker)
