NATIONAL DAY

On this very special October 1, I'm gonna deviate from my usual topic of sports and blog about CHINESE NATIONAL DAY!

Sixty years ago, in 1949, on October 1, at 3 PM, a fellow named Mao Zedong bellowed to the rest of the world: "Today, the People's Republic of China and the People's Government is established!"

I've been looking a lot of clips of that lately 'cause I've been feeling the Chinese spirit. This is the first major National Day celebration (60th) that I've witnessed, though I do vaguely remember the last military inspection on the 50th anniversary in 1999. But as an aspiring political science student, this is my first one that I've watched in context and with background info. Boy, was it ever exciting!

The sheer dominance of colours, people, and technology is amazing. On Tiananmen Square, the coordination of thousands holding up coloured flowers, the measured steps of the flag troopers, the massiveness of the military band. All of it, though staged, was epic in nature! Then, there was the military parade-the inspection of troops and equipment. That was simply humbling-to see so many, so coordinated, marching as one, past that historical part of China.

Nonetheless, a ton of hard work goes into this kind of stuff and it's amazing, even after the Beijing Olympics, what China can produce. After havin witnessed that grandeur, I can't say how PROUD I am to be Chinese.

-D