National Day

October 1st, 2009 was the day Beijing celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of "New" China. I was very excited to be here to see the military parade they put on once every ten years. In fact, I planned my entire trip back to Wisconsin around this date. My enthusiasm once I got back to China, however, quickly dissipated as I realized what this day would really entail- forced nationalism.


It's hard to feel celebratory when 2 weeks before the anniversary, the government stations armed guards at every major intersection. Really- what does this guy need a 7 inch knife on the end of a gun like this for?

I biked past 4 sets of armed patrol units every day on my way to work. The 'men in black' were disturbing to say the least. I didn't feel more secure with them there, I felt anxious and unsettled. If anything, this kind of "precaution" did more to raise tensions than calm them. Although, if an attack or incident of any kind were to happen, the government had other ways to deal with it- secrecy. The public was kept in the dark about any 'bad news' from around the country in the weeks leading up to the anniversary. (You will have to read my future book to get specifics on this.)

It wasn't just this special riot unit on the streets. Two nights before October 1st, the military showed up in force. As you can see from the above picture, the government lined the streets around Tiananmen square about 30 feet apart with PLA soldiers.

The day of the parade, every police officer in the city was put on duty for a 24 hour period. Not sure why 25 officers are needed at every street corner but hey- better safe than sorry right? It's hard to see here, but there is police tape surrounding the center of Beijing by about a 2 mile radius. That meant no traffic, inside the center. If you lived in the cordoned off area, you had to show your ID card to get in to your home. Everyone else was kept out. Huge inconvenience and entirely unnecessary as the parade was blocks away.


To help with this monumental task of a lock down, Beijing used citizen volunteers. You can recognize them by their red arm bands. I never saw them do anything but sit around and talk to each other, none-the-less, they added to the city's staggering security numbers. They also helped direct people on how to get around during the day of the parade as the city shut down all subways and buses for a good 8 hours. The international airport even closed. As everyone was off work that day, except security forces, politicians and us lowly journalists, they could stay home and watch the parade. That's what the government wanted them to do- see it on TV. This bugged me. Millions of dollars are spent putting on this massive spectacle and regular people couldn't go watch it. Only a few thousand select few were given tickets to be on the parade route. Even friends who had apartments on the route were told by police to keep their curtains closed and go nowhere near their windows during the parade. They took these threats seriously.

Beijing was supposed to look like party central but to me it felt more like a ghost town. The above picture is also Tiananmen square.

Notice the clouds/smog the morning of. It was no miracle by mother nature that they went away right before the parade. The government shot a bunch of silver iodide into the clouds to make them disperse. Chemical control of the weather. When I complained about this to my Chinese colleagues, they quite earnestly asked me, "Doesn't America control the weather so everything goes perfectly on big days?" Um, no. I couldn't smell anything in the air but my eyes did water on my way to work. Of course China claims manipulating mother nature is environmentally safe.

As the saying goes, I didn't want to rain on my Chinese colleague's parade that day, so I kept my mouth shut as I sat at my desk at work and watched the military parade on TV- just like China's other 1.275 billion other unlucky people. I will admit- it was impressive. No one can march like China expect perhaps North Korea.

To see pictures of this, click here- this site is amazing. Hell of a lot better pictures than I take...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/china_prepares_for_its_60th_an.html


Of course to get everyone in sync, soldiers had to practice 12 hours a day for the three months leading up to the event. Commanders would use rope to train soldiers on how high up to kick their legs. The process, from what I've read, was grueling.

They aren't the only ones who trained for the parade. College students were told to give up their summer breaks and internships to honor their country by dancing in the parade. If they didn't do it, teachers told them it would "hurt" their future. Nothing like shoving patriotism down people's throats to make them love their country, but damn did they look good dancing, which is all that really matters, right?

One has to wonder if it was worth all the trouble? My Chinese colleagues loved it. They wore painted flags on their face and literally gasped when President Hu Jintao drove in this open aired limo down the street to inspect the troops. They cheered when the jets did a fly over our office and almost teared up during the anthem.

(I had some camera trouble and am not sure why this picture turned out all red. I still think it's cool).
For me, this day did more to make me unhappy with China than to feel proud of it. Patriotism was shoved down my throat wherever I turned, to the point I was choking on it.

At work, every story had to be about every accomplishment China has made in the past 60 years- substantiated or not. While I agree, this is important and there are things China should be proud of, there was no balance here. The country never took a good hard look at things that could and should be improved. Never acknowledged mistakes made along the way, never learned from them. Until China does this openly and allows criticism of itself, it will never be the superpower it wants to be. The government hanging flags on your house is not the same as you choosing to hang the flag up.

If anything, China's National Day made me more proud and patriotic towards America than I ever have been in my life.