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Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
The Chinese authorities held a massive rally in Beijing on Thursday (July 1) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Chinese leader Xi Jinping stated in his speech that China “has never bullied, oppressed, or enslaved” the people of other countries, nor did it allow foreign forces to bully China.
The rally was held in Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing. There were about 70,000 representatives who had passed inspection by the authorities, including celebrities, outstanding party members, and model workers.
When the celebration was held, a number of Chinese Air Force fighters flew over Beijing. A salute was also fired at the scene, playing “Internationale” and other patriotic songs.
In addition to Xi Jinping and the current leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, former Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council also appeared on the Tiananmen Gate, but Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji were absent from the meeting.
Image source,Xinhua
When attending the rally, Xi Jinping wore a gray tunic suit, which resembled the dress of the former leader of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong. The other Politburo Standing Committee members and former leaders wore black suits.
“Breaking blood”
In a speech of more than an hour by the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xi Jinping, he first announced that China had achieved its first centenary goal, “completely built” a moderately prosperous society, and “historically solved the problem of absolute poverty.”
He then began to review the history of China’s turbulent and poor history under colonialism and foreign aggression since the 19th century, and emphasized the CCP’s contribution in leading China to its development and rejuvenation.
“Any attempt to separate and antagonize the Chinese Communist Party from the Chinese people will never succeed. More than 95 million Chinese Communists will not agree, nor will more than 1.4 billion Chinese people!” Xi Jinping said.
In the second half of his speech, he criticized hegemonism and said that Beijing would not accept the preaching preaching of a “teacher master”, and that China “has no genes for invading others and being king.”
“The Chinese people will never allow any external forces to bully, oppress, or enslaved us. Whoever wants to do so will surely face a bloodshed in front of the Great Wall of Steel built by more than 1.4 billion Chinese people!” He said.
Although he did not specify a particular country, the outside world generally regarded it as an expression of dissatisfaction with Washington. China has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to curb its growth and demanded that the United States stop acting as a “human rights teacher.”
Image source,Reuters
Xi Jinping and former Chinese President Hu Jintao appeared on the Tiananmen Gate Tower.
This tough speech by Xi Jinping sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media. “#谁想杀中国必将得头破血流#” was on the hot search list of Weibo, and the data showed that the number of hits exceeded 140 million.
Xi Jinping also mentioned Hong Kong and Taiwan. He stated that he will implement the central government’s comprehensive governance over Hong Kong, as well as the legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security. When referring to Taiwan, he said that the realization of China’s reunification “is the unswerving historical mission of the Communist Party of China”, but he still said that he would “adhere to the’One China’ principle and the ’92 Consensus’ and advance the process of peaceful reunification of the motherland.”
The Communist Party of China Holds the Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Party, Xi Jinping said, “No foreign forces are allowed to oppress China”
How to celebrate?
The celebration ceremony started at 8 o’clock in the morning, and tens of thousands of seats have been placed along Chang’an Avenue to the Monument to the People’s Heroes. The crowd attending the meeting basically did not wear masks.
The chorus composed of young people sang many patriotic songs first.
Although this time did not hold a military parade like the CCP celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2019, the People’s Liberation Army still dispatched Zhi-10 and Zhi-19 armed helicopters, as well as J-10 and J-20 fighters, displaying “100” and “71”. The words fly over Tiananmen Square.
When attending the rally, Xi Jinping wore a gray tunic suit, which resembled the dress of the former leader of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong. The other Politburo Standing Committee members and former leaders wore black suits.
Image source,Getty Images
Many middle school and elementary school students participated in this conference.
Image source,Reuters
Tens of thousands of people attended the conference in Tiananmen Square.
In order to ensure the holding of this event, the authorities imposed a blockade on a large area of Beijing’s central city. Pedestrians are prohibited from entering from the Qianmen gate to Jingshan, north of the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square was temporarily closed a week ago.
Reporters entering the venue must be vaccinated with the new crown vaccine approved by the Chinese government and undergo a nucleic acid test again on Wednesday (June 30).
In addition to this conference, the Chinese authorities have also held a series of celebrations in recent days, including a large-scale gala at the National Stadium “Bird’s Nest” on Monday (June 28). Thousands of actors participated in the performance.
Although the performance reproduced many important moments of the CCP since its establishment in 1921, major negative events such as the “Great Leap Forward” movement, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4 have all disappeared.
On Tuesday (June 29), Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded the “July 1st Medal” to nearly 30 party members.
In major cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan, and Guangzhou, light show performances have been held recently.
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People near the Beijing Railway Station looked up to watch the flight echelon performance.
100 Chinese rappers also collaborated to complete a tribute song called “100%”, praising the achievements of the Chinese Communist Party.
“Red tourism” is also popular in China. Travel companies such as Ctrip have customized 100 travel routes for “Red Pilgrims”. Visitors to many red scenic spots, including Yan’an, the former revolutionary base of the CCP, have surged.
Since April, Chinese cinemas have been required to show at least two patriotic films a week, the so-called “red films.” At the same time, the State Administration of Radio and Television of China stated that it will broadcast 100 TV dramas on the theme of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party this year to reach the scale of “100 Years”.
But the ubiquitous propaganda also made some Chinese people unhappy.
“Now when I turn on the TV at night, dozens of TV stations are all TV dramas of revolutionary wars, either about liberation or anti-Japanese drama,” said a Beijing citizen. “You are building a party and a nation every day, do you have any other choices?”
One hundred years since the founding of the Communist Party of China: “Bird’s Nest” held a large-scale literary show
How does the outside world see it?
The CCP established in Shanghai in July 1921, after experiencing a civil war with the Kuomintang, established its regime in 1949 and has become the only ruling party in China so far. The current number of party members in the CCP is close to 100 million.
Tom Rafferty, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told the BBC that a series of commemorative events “is clearly an important moment for the party and has been carefully planned”.
“A consistent point in the transmission of official information is to emphasize that today represents a’new era’ that is different from the post-1978 reform era,” he added, which “highlights the ambitions of the current leadership.”
A commentary by Andrew Nathan, a professor of politics at Columbia University published in the recent issue of The Wall Street Journal, believes that after Xi Jinping came to power, he has rectified officials, promoted economic development, “greened” cities and social welfare projects, and nationalism. Propaganda re-consolidated the regime.
However, while promoting China’s booming economy and national strength, the CCP still adheres to its authoritarian line, does not allow the creation of political opposition, severely suppresses dissenting voices, and implements strict social control.
Image source,Getty Images
Li Anyou said that the CCP has ensured that there is no alternative political organization in the country through sophisticated technical control methods. Therefore, many Chinese believe that the collapse of the party means turmoil. Looking back on Chinese history, the turbulent times may be more terrifying than the regime itself.
From an international perspective, with the occurrence of a series of disputes such as the tracing of the new crown, the Hong Kong protests, and the “re-education camp” in Xinjiang, the rift between the West and the CCP has continued to expand. The Chinese authorities are facing increasing international pressure.
On the eve of “July 1”, members of the US House of Representatives jointly signed a resolution criticizing the Chinese Communist Party for causing a large number of people to be persecuted to death in a series of political campaigns.
In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and other leaders congratulated the CCP.
What about Hong Kong?
This year’s “July 1” is not only the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, but also the 24th anniversary of the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China by the United Kingdom.
At 8 o’clock this morning, a flag-raising ceremony was held at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wanchai, Hong Kong. The flag guard team used Chinese-style marching to enter the field for the first time.
Image source,Getty Images
Red tourism is rising in China. The picture shows tourists visiting the site of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai.
Usually when celebrations are held in the Hong Kong government, there are also Hong Kong people who are dissatisfied with Beijing and the Hong Kong government who choose to take to the streets on this day to protest.
But this year, event organizers said that the Hong Kong police rejected their applications for gatherings on the grounds of restrictions on the new crown epidemic.