Grand National Day Celebration!

Liu announced the start of the ceremony.

Beijing municipal secretary, Liu Qi announed the beginning of the celebration of the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The soldiers shot 60 cannons, and then the national flag was raised with all the people present singing together the national anthem March of the Volunteers.

Hu addressed the people.

At 10 am sharp, the celebration ceremony began. President Hu Jintao, to Chinese state and military leader addressed the whole people present, the military band of 2,000 hushing their instruments and Tiananmen Square falling into silence. Present also are former president Jiang Zemin, top legislator Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and some other officials flanking Hu.

President said we Chinese people should be proud and confident of our nation's developments over the past sixty years. And then he stressed we China would continue the reforms and opening-up policy to ensure the development of China, socialism and Marxism. China will adhere strongly to our own form of socialism as it enter the future and will also continue assuring the progress that has been made in the last six decades.

Finally he also took some time to honor and respect our revolutionary pioneers, who have made great contributions to realizing national independence and liberation of our great county and great people.

President Hu was optimistic, from the past, to the present and into the future, about the strength, unity and prosperity of our people. We all Chinese people are full of confidence in the bright prospects of the great rejuvenation of our great nation. "Look forward to the future. We envision wide prospects for the future of China," he said.

Hu reviewed the troops.

After his speech, he walked down the Tiananmen Rostrum and was carried by a black open-roof Red Flag sedan to review our defense forces which will stage a massive parade.

Along the newly widened Chang'an Avenue stood tens of thousands ot soldiers in full-dress brand new uniforms, together with ranks of camouflaged tanks and missiles, and waited to be inspected, which stretches some three kilometres and involves about 8,000 military personnel.

President Hu wore a high-collared Mao suit and saluted troops through a microphone with "Greetings, comrades!","Comrades, you are working hard!" The soldiers replied loudly with "Greetings, leader!","We serve the people!"

The grand military parade started.

First fourteen phalanxes on feet came into the stage one by one which are composed of the army, navy, air force and the Second Artillery Force of the PLA, the People's Armed Police Force and reserved force and the young mysterious Special Force which made their debut for this inspections.

And then a total of 30 phalanxes in wheeled transport in turn displayed more more 50 types of new weapon systems manusfactured on our own, including the newest model of intercontinental nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

Some other cutting-edge weaponry included our new generation of tanks, sophisticated radar, airborne early warning and control aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite communication devices.

All the weapons in the inspection are made in our own country. More than 150 jet-fighters, bombers, helicopters and other aricrafts in 12 echelons flew over the square, packed with some 200,000 people at home and abroad.

This parade is set to show our newest weaponry and enchanced defense strength. This is the 14th parade since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. (The other 13 parades took place in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 ,1955, 1956, 1957 ,1958, 1959, 1984 and in 1999.)

Followed the mass denstrations.

Following the grand military parade, the mass procession came into the stage at around 11:20 am in 35 formations withe different themes. But the same theme is to express our desire for national unity and reunificationa and rejuvenation.

About 8,500 people joined the formations unfolding achievements of our country, turing the Tiananmen Square into a sea of colourful flowers.

A gorgeous float with colossal Chinese characters "tuan jie fen jin", or "march in unity", marched from east to west along the Chang'an Avenue, leading the parade into the theme of national unity. The 34 floats forming the array"Splendid China" eulogized the great changes in our country during the past 60 years and expressed the desire for national unity and reunification of our great country.

Decorated with landmarks of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, and Hong Kong, Maco and Taiwan, the 34 floats focused on economic achievements while highlighting local characteristics.

The five floats from the autonomous regions offered a distinctive flavor of ethnic minority groups with dancers dressed in ethnic costumes toeing and heeling it to the music making solidarity and prosperity stand out.

Special floats featuring Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions highlighted their city landmarks and their return to the motherland. Our government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 and Macao in 1999.

The float representing Taiwan drew applause and cheers when it pulled into Tiananmen Square. It featured the Taipei 101 Tower model, colorful local fruits and other landmarks. A Taiwan compatriot, who has been engaged in mainland-Taiwan exchanges for 20 years, said we should lay aside our historical grudge and look forward together because of our same skin color and the same bloodline.

With a long feud after the civil war 60 ago, the mainland and Taiwan have been cementing ties in recent years. We are very glad to see financial coperation, disaster relief donations and exchanges between people across the straits, in addition to the breakthroughs in transport links.

Finally tens of thousands of children entered the stage with lots of colorful balloons in their hands and in front of the Tiananmen Rostrum flew the balloons to the high blue sky, making the celebration culminate exciting and encouragingly.

The whole process of celebration lasted two and a half hours. It is really a big success to inspire our spirits and light our morale. We are so proud of our great country and our great people.