China Celebrates it's 70th anniversary
2019-10-01Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters, days ahead of China's 70th anniversary celebrations. Despite authorities refusing to approve Sunday's march, thousands of protesters marched in Hong Kong's usually busy shopping district on Sunday. It was the 17th consecutive weekend of unrest in an ongoing protest movement that has seen both large-scale peaceful marches and violent clashes with the police.
On Tuesday, China will present a similar, glorious rendering of its record to the world. The country is staging one of its biggest ever military parades, a celebration of 70 years of Communist Party rule as pure, political triumph. Beijing will tremble to the thunder of tanks, missile launchers and 15,000 marching soldiers, a projection of national power, wealth and status watched over by the current Communist Party leader, President Xi Jinping, in Tiananmen Square.
This week's parade, in contrast, will reportedly feature the world's longest range intercontinental nuclear missile and a supersonic spy-drone - the trophies of a prosperous, rising authoritarian superpower with a 400 million strong middle class. It is a narrative of political and economic success that - while in large part true - is, of course, incomplete.
Timeline of modern China
* 1949Mao declares the founding of the People's Republic of China
* 1966-76Cultural Revolution brings social and political upheaval
* 1977Deng Xiaoping initiates major reforms of China's economy
* 1989Army crushes Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests
* 2010China becomes the world's second-largest economy
* 2018Xi Jinping is cleared to be president for life
With central Beijing sealed off, ordinary people in whose honour it is supposedly being held, can only watch it on TV. "As for the 70 years of China, it's extraordinary, It can be seen by all. Yesterday we sent two navigation satellites into space - all citizens can enjoy the convenience that these things bring us."
As the Communist Party of China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its rule, the state is choreographing the pomp and pageantry to exalt President Xi as the unassailable leader of a rising nation and the indispensable bulwark against an array of challenges that threaten to erode its iron grip on power.
On Tuesday, the country’s National Day, he will preside over a military parade through Tiananmen Square whose preparations appear as ambitious and, arguably, as grandiose as the leader himself. It will involve 15,000 soldiers and sailors, 160 fighter jets, bombers and other aircraft, and 580 tanks and other weapons - some of them, military commanders hinted coyly, never before seen in public.
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