中华人民共和国五十五周年
Did you see that Saturday was a holiday? Well, it was here anyway. October 1, the 56th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China or National Day. And that is a big deal. There were a lot of events happening everywhere.I could easily tell it was a special holiday from my apartment. The Dongguan Cultural Center is just across the street. There are events frequently. None have been bigger than the ones held there over the last week. I could not hear my television for the entertainment across the street. There were singers, dancers, and major light demonstrations. It has been quite a display.
On Sunday night I ventured down to watch some of the show up close. Of course, I couldn’t understand any of the introductions. But the shows were entertaining. Dancers were very colorful. The gentleman singing had a nice tenor voice. He couldn’t get the crowd to be very cooperative in applause though. I have never heard such weak recognition of a performance.
Events were numerous all around the country. In Beijing the crowd in Tiammenen Square totaled over 200,000. They had a flag raising and speakers from government. Friends told me they could get no closer than across a street from the Square.
In Hong Kong they had a major fireworks show. Now I love fireworks shows. I figured I would see a bunch in the country that invented fireworks. Ironically, they don’t allow fireworks very often in the country. What a surprise.
Good thing I didn’t go to Hong Kong for that show last weekend. On Friday night our bus got stuck in a traffic jam in Shenzhen and the usual three-hour trip took over seven hours.
Many of the mainlanders (folks from China proper and not Hong Kong) travel to Hong Kong for this week. Many businesses close and there is much anticipation that this will be the biggest spending week of the year.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 2:54 PM
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