China celebrates 77th National Day with ceremonies from Tian’anmen to space

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By The South Asia Times

BEIJING - China marked its National Day on Thursday with flag-raising ceremonies, cultural performances and patriotic celebrations across the country, as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) marked the 77th anniversary of its founding.

According to the Global Times, celebrations stretched from Tian’anmen Square in Beijing and Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour to China’s remote border regions and the country’s space station.

At shortly after 6 a.m., the Chinese national flag was raised over Tian’anmen Square, where crowds had gathered overnight despite chilly temperatures. Visitors waved small flags and sang patriotic songs as the ceremony marked the anniversary.

Among those attending was Jian Xinyi, a 101-year-old veteran of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, who saluted during the ceremony and called out, “Long live the motherland!” He had arrived at the square with his family the previous evening and stayed through the night, the Global Times reported.

An 18-meter-high flower basket carrying the message “Blessings to the Motherland” was displayed in the square.

In Hong Kong, the national and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flags were raised at Golden Bauhinia Square at 8 a.m. The ceremony included a police band performance, school choirs singing the national anthem, a helicopter fly-by and a water salute in Victoria Harbour.

National Day activities were also held in Xinjiang and Xizang, where border police conducted patrols and residents gathered for flag-raising ceremonies.

The celebrations extended into space. The Shenzhou-23 crew — Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Li Jiaying — sent National Day greetings from China’s space station.

Li, described by the Global Times as Hong Kong’s first astronaut to travel into space, said the Earth seen from orbit reminded him of the homeland.

The festivities also featured the release of the first remote-sensing images of Hong Kong captured from orbit by the Tianyun camera, a space-based instrument developed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.