BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 59th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which fell on Wednesday, was celebrated by people from different walks of life across the country.
At Tian'anmen Square, the heart of the capital, a record 190,000 people from around the country gathered in the pre-dawn hours to observe a special national flag-raising ceremony.
Most of those who swarmed to the square beginning at midnight were college freshmen who wanted the best vantage point. They sat in groups, playing poker or electronic games while waiting for the red flag with five stars to be raised at 6:10 a.m.
The flag rose to the sound of the national anthem. As it reached the top, 10,000 pigeons signaling good wishes were released into the air from both sides of the Golden Bridge in front of Tian'anmen Gate.
"Happy birthday to China," yelled students from the
Beijing Science, Technology and Management College, a vocational school. One said: "Seeing the red flag rise to the tune of the heart-stirring national anthem, we felt happy, excited and proud."
"Tears started to trickle down my face when I heard the anthem," said Wang Hai, a migrant worker from the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province.
"When my home town was struck by a powerful quake in May, people from other parts of the country stood by us and aid poured in," said Wang, who now works in Beijing. "I am proud of China."
Chang Aoxue, from a rural part of north China's Shanxi Province, was there with her 2-year-old daughter.
"I came here together with my girl to show my gratitude to the Party for encouraging the implementation of a policy saying getting rich is glorious, and good wishes to the motherland," said Chang.
The celebration peaked when Party and government leaders, led by Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also Chinese president, laid floral baskets before the Monument to People's Heroes.
Students from Weishan Middle School in Tianjin, a mega-city near Beijing, on Wednesday chose to visit a photo exhibition, Five-Star Flag Flutters in the Wind, at
Tianjin Museum.
Down south, more than 800 people in east China's Jiangsu Province attended a ceremony held inside the Yuhuatai Cemetery forthe martyrs in Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu, at 8 a.m.
Among the participants were officials from the Jiangsu government and
Nanjing city officials, students, military officersand soldiers, as well as representatives of ordinary residents.
Apart from placing wreaths at the Monument, participants also observed a minute of silence and encircled the monument, with The Internationale playing.
In Shangyuan Village, Sichuan, Wang Qingyu celebrated National Day with friends and relatives in her new home.
Wang's original house was seriously damaged in the 8.0 magnitude quake in May. With a government subsidy of 19,000 yuan (2,766 U.S. dollars) and her savings, Wang's new 100-square-meter house was completed at the end of last month.
"With the concerted efforts of all my family, our life will be better and better," she said. Her husband will work in a city to earn money.
The week-long holiday is also expected to help revive the tourism industry in Sichuan.
On Wednesday, the
Jiuzhaigou scenic area greeted 8,500 tourists,said Feng Gang, a scenic area staff member. Although the number was only half the same period last year, it was a huge jump compared with the beginning of the post-quake period when it was 1,000 to 2,000, according to Feng.
The National Day golden week would bring the first peak of tourist arrivals to Sichuan, said Sichuan Tourism Bureau director Zhang Gu.
In Guangzhou, a key city in south China, more than 1,000 people attended a memorial service staged in the
GuangZhou Uprising Martyr Cemetery Park on Wednesday.
Led by Wang Yang, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC, and Huang Huahua, Governor of Guangdong, the participants attended a flag-raising ceremony. Wang and Huang alsolaid floral baskets in front of the Monument for Martyrs in the
GuangZhou Uprising.
To the southwest, the commemorative ceremony in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, began at 10 a.m. at the square near the Potala Palace, an icon of the city.
Some 5,000 people attended Wednesday's flag-raising activity. Among them, Nyima Cering, a resident of the Xueju neighborhood in Lhasa, is a regular visitor to the annual event.
"Following the
Lhasa unrest in March, life meant more to me and I also understand a happy and stable life comes above all," said the middle-aged Tibetan man.
The public, led by CPC and government authorities, paid tribute to revolutionary martyrs by laying floral baskets before the monument built in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.
