The East is still Red at 60

Thousands upon thousands of soldiers, men and women, stood on Tiananmen today as President Hu Jintao cruised by in his Chinese-made limousine. These members of the People’s Liberation Army, Navy and Air Force are awe-inspiring, vigilant, and no doubt proud to have been chosen to be part of the meticulously planned parade to celebrate the People’s Republic of China’s 60^th birthday. Even the sky was bright, sunny and manipulated. The whole atmosphere surrounding the ‘Gates of Heavenly Peace’ must have been reminiscent of that revolutionary song “The East is Red”:

The east is red, the sun is rising

China has brought forth a Mao Zedong.

He works for the people's welfare.

Hurrah, He is the people's great savior.

Chairman Mao loves the people,

He is our guide,

To build a new China,

Hurrah, he leads us forward!

The Communist Party is like the sun,

Wherever it shines, it is bright.

Wherever there is a Communist Party,

Hurrah, there the people are liberated!

The pomp and show, Communist kitsch and symbolisms will no doubt have been broadcast and shown around the world. Hu’s normal Western attire of suit and tie was today traded for a black Mao costume. Even if the era of everyone dressing in the same drab clothing is long gone, on occasion the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party must don on that stern, sterile, smile-less look of a simple party cadre. A sea of children with red and yellow flowers and banners spelt out inspiring messages as "Listen to the Party," and "Be Loyal to the Party."

There were magnificent floats showcasing the People’s Republic’s achievements in the last six decades. There were floats representing all of China’s twenty-two provinces, and ‘autonomous regions’, including ones with happy, rejoicing Tibetans and celebrating Uyghurs all too happy to have been liberated and incorporated to be part of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. Distant are memories and images of those dark times when the vast majority of the country was an impoverished mass of peasants suffering under the yoke of corrupt landowners and imperialist lackeys. China today is the world’s second largest economy, with shiny skyscrapers in bustling world-class cities like Shanghai, its very own Airbus production line, and the ability to send a man into outer space (and back). China, as a veto-wielding power of the Security Council, the only ally of North Korea, is undoubtedly playing a key role in regional and world affairs, and not afraid to show that its new-found wealth is fuelling vast investments and vested economic and geopolitical interests in Africa, and the developing world at large. There are even those who are quick to tout Red China’s recent decision to “go green” will be the trigger of most significant revolution in human history since the launch of Sputnik.

Then came the long awaited speech. There was silence, deafening, awe-inspiring, and glorious as Comrade Hu spoke beneath portraits of the Great Revolutionary Father Mao Zedong, and the Great Mastermind of “Socialiasm with Chinese Characteristics” Deng Xiaoping. Hu urged the millions of Chinese people, ‘told’ to watch the celebrations at home, to "work hard to achieve new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and write a new chapter of a happy life for the people". This is a different China, a new China, a China that is forever a “rich, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and modernized socialist country”. The waves and waves of applause and cheering must have rivalled the moment when Mao, on that very square, uttered in his squeaky voice that “the Chinese people have stood up”.