7.开国大典

The Founding Ceremony

1. On October 1, 1949, the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was established and a ceremony was held in Beijing, the capital.

2. There were 300,000 people attending the ceremony, including the chairman, vice-chairman and members of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, all the delegates of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, workers, peasants, teachers and students of schools, staffs of institutions and city defense forces.

3. There were also foreign guests on the viewing platform.

4. The venue was in Tiananmen Square.

5. The square was in the shape of a dingzhi.

6. The north side of the ding-shaped cross is the Dao River, the river side by side with five white stone bridges;

7. To the north of the square is the city wall, in the center of which rises the Tiananmen Tower.

8. A vertical line in the shape of a ding extends southward to the China Gate.

9. To the south of the intersection of the horizontal and vertical, an electric flagpole stands in the middle of the field.

10. The podium is located on the Tiananmen City Tower.

11. Under the eaves of the city tower, eight large red palace lanterns were hung on both sides.

12. Eight red flags waved in the wind against the stone railings on the left and right sides of the city tower.

13. The square in the shape of a ding was crowded with people coming from all directions.

14. From six o'clock in the morning, a procession of people entered.

15. Some people carried red flags and some carried red lights.

16. After entering the venue, they were arranged according to the predetermined place.

17. Among the procession of workers were railroad workers from as far away as Changxindian, Fengtai and Tongxian, who arrived at Beijing station early in the morning and went straight to the venue as soon as they got off the train.

18. The peasants in the suburbs got up in the dark on the fifth night and walked 40 to 50 miles to get here.

19. By noon, Tiananmen Square had become a sea of people, with red flags tossing like waves on the sea.

20. At 3:00 p.m., a mountain of applause broke out and Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, appeared on the podium to meet the crowd.

21. The eyes of 300,000 people turned to the podium in unison.

22. Secretary General of the Central People's Government Lin Boqu declared the ceremony open.

23. The Chairman, Vice Chairman and members of the Central People's Government took their places.

24. The band played the national anthem of the People's Republic of China - "March of the Volunteer Army".

25. It was the sound of this battle that once inspired the Chinese people to struggle for the birth of a new China.

26. Then Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed, "The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China is established today!"

27. This solemn proclamation, this majestic voice, made the whole audience of 300,000 people cheer together.

28. This solemn proclamation, this majestic voice, through radio broadcasts, spread to the Great Wall and beyond, to the north and south of the Yangtze River, causing the hearts of all Chinese people to leap for joy.

29. Then, the national flag was raised.

30. Chairman Mao personally pressed the electric button connected to the electric flagpole, and the five-star red flag, the national flag of the new China, was raised slowly.

31. 300,000 people took off their hats and stood at attention, raising their heads together to look up to the bright red national flag.

32. When the five-star red flag was raised, it showed that the Chinese people had stood up from now on.

33. When the flag was raised, the salute was sounded.

34. Each salute was fired by fifty-four cannons, twenty-eight in total.

35. At first there was silence, only the sound of cannons was heard, only the sound of the national flag and many flags fluttering, but later, after each cannon shot, the whole audience rang out a thunderous applause.

36. Then Chairman Mao read out the proclamation of the Central People's Government amidst a burst of applause from the crowd.

37. He spoke to the world in strong tones to make the voice of the new China heard.

38. When he read the sentence "Mao Zedong was elected Chairman of the Central People's Government," the people in the square melted into a loud cheer of love for the leader.

39. A burst of applause rang out from the viewing platform at the same time.

40. Chairman Mao finished reading out the proclamation and the parade began.

41. Chinese People's Liberation Army Commander-in-Chief Zhu De was the parade commander, General Nie Rongzhen was the parade commander-in-chief.

42. Commander-in-Chief Zhu and General Nie traveled together in a car, first reviewing the troops, then Commander-in-Chief Zhu returned to the podium and read the orders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army headquarters.

43. The troops on parade were then led by General Nie, in the music of the "March of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", from east to west, slowly into the field

44. at the beginning were two platoons of navy, snow-white hats, blue uniforms of the same color as the ocean.

45. followed by a division of infantry, marching in unison, in company formation.

Then came a division of artillery, with field guns, mountain guns, howitzers, rocket guns, all kinds of guns, all marching in a single horizontal line.

47. Then came a chariot division, with various armored cars and tanks in rows of two or three, marching neatly; the battle-earth stood with their chests up on the chariots, like giants of steel.

48. Then came a cavalry division, "Red Horse Company" with one color of red horses, "White Horse Company" with one color of white horses, five horses in parallel, the movement of the horses' legs exactly the same.

49. All these troops passed in front of the podium at the same distance and at the same speed.

50. As the chariot troops passed by, the planes of the People's Air Force also flew across the sky in a herringbone formation.

51. Chairman Mao waved into the air first.

52. When the crowd saw it, they threw their hats, newspapers and other things into the sky, and the cheers overpowered the rumbling of the planes.

53. Two and a half hours of review, the square continued to cheer and applaud, one climax after another.

54. The crowd almost shouted their voices are dumb, the palms of their hands are numb, but still feel unable to express their hearts of joy and excitement.

55. After the military parade, it was already evening.

56. The lanterns and torches in Tiananmen Square were all lit up, and 10,000 fireworks were shot into the sky one after another.

57. colorful sparks in the sky into color, thousands of lights on the ground a red.

58. The mass march started at this time, and the procession set off in two directions, east and west, carrying lanterns and torches and chanting "Long live the Chinese Communist Party!

59. "Long live the People's Republic of China!"

60. "Long live the Central People's Government!"

61. They walked in a line in order, and when they passed the White Stone Bridge facing Tiananmen Square, they raised their lanterns and torches and shouted "Long live Chairman Mao!"

62. "Long live Chairman Mao!"

63. Chairman Mao, in front of the podium on the city tower, leaned forward, waved to the crowd, and kept shouting "Long live the people!"

64. "Long live the comrades!"

65. At 9:30 p.m., the procession completely walked out of the venue.

66. The two "red streams" went to the streets of the east and west cities, filling the whole city with light.