China’s National Day
THE People’s Republic of China (PRC) observes its National Day on First October every
year starting from 1949.
On October 1st, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the
founding of the People’s Republic of China from atop Beijing’s Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen Gate).
This marked the end of a bitter civil war between the Chinese Nationalist government and the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao.
In December 1949, the Chinese Government passed the Resolution, declaring that October 1st is the National Day of China.
In China, to celebrate the National Day officially, there are three holidays, but the holidays are usually extended by working on weekends depending on how the holiday falls in the week. This creates a ‘Golden Week’ of holidays, as it is called.
This makes it the second-largest holiday period in China. This method was adopted in Year 2000 to help boost domestic tourism and to allow families to make long journeys to visit relatives.
Over a period of time China’s National Day has been celebrated in many ways. Traditionally, the festivities of the Chinese National Day begin with the ceremonial raising of the Chinese national flag in Tiananmen Square in the capital city of Beijing.
The flag ceremony is generally followed first by a large parade exhibiting the country’s military forces and then by state dinners and, finally, fireworks displays, which conclude the evening celebrations.
Most of the Chinese use this time in meeting friends, visiting native places to meet parents and relatives, visiting amusement parks and watching special television programs.
For the last many years, China’s National Day celebrations reflect the following. Various activities organized on the National Day by the Chinese government and the people in China and by its embassies and expatriates abroad reflect China’s traditional cultural heritage and its modern culture.
The National Day celebrations also reflect China’s economic progress achieved as a result of 1979 reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping.
After reforms, in the last forty years, China has acquired a rapidly growing economy, rising standards of living, considerably expanded personal and cultural freedoms, and growing ties to the world economy, with the government that remained committed to the CCP’s one-party rule even while it relied on free-market mechanisms to transform China into a developed country.
The National Day celebrations of China amply reflect China’s peaceful economic and technological rise, which started in 1979 and continues till today, which has made China the near economic and military superpower, next to the US.
As per the XINHUANET, from 1979 to 2018, China’s economy grew by 9.4 percent annually on average, much higher than the world’s average economic growth of 2.9 percent.
China’s economic growth has contributed around 18 percent to the global economic growth during the period, second only to the United States.
XINHUANET says, China’s gross national income per person reached 9,732 U.S. dollars in 2018, higher than the level seen in middle-income countries.
The report also showed that China’s fiscal strength improved remarkably and foreign exchange reserves soared during the past seven decades.
Fiscal revenues leaped to 18.34 trillion Yuan last year, compared with 6.2 billion Yuan in 1950 and 113.2 billion Yuan in 1978.
Forex reserves reached 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2018, topping the world for the 13th straight year. By contrast, China’s Forex reserves stood at 108 million dollars at the end of 1952.
Also, Chinese industries are not only getting closer to the technological advances in electronics, machinery, automobiles, high-speed railways and aviation, but also driving technological innovations in emerging areas such as new and renewable energy, advanced nuclear energy, next generation telecommunication technologies, big data and supercomputers, AI robotics, space technology, and e-commerce.
Like its economic progress, China has also progressed in excelling in the development of military technology and its armed forces are now equipped with the most modern army, air force and naval forces, with the advanced nuclear weapons, rockets, conventional weapons, communications, surveillance and space technologies.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad also organizes a reception on China’s National Day with beautiful cultural activities and serves the guests with Chinese food. Several cultural troupes have been performing Chinese cultural drills.
Chinese companies in Pakistan also have celebrated the National Day with full spirit and organized various activities involving the huge number of Pakistani friends and employees.
As Pakistan and China have a long history of close friendship and now they have become strategic partners and Iron Brothers, as they are called, especially, after mutually signing the CPEC agreement, Pakistani media has also been projecting China’s National Day with equal zeal and fervour.
Many universities and schools in Pakistan have also organized various activities to celebrate China’s National Day, including essay and poetry competitions, photo exhibitions and cultural shows etc.
Think Tanks in Pakistan have been organizing seminars and conferences regarding China as part of the celebrations.
As the Pakistani nation always congratulates our Chinese brothers and sisters, on the occasion of China’s National Day, this year also, the whole nation of Iron Brothers warmly felicitates the people and leadership of China on the auspicious occasion of their National Day.
—The writer is the former Research Fellow of IPRI and Senior Research Fellow of SVI Islamabad.
