Beijing's 2 and a half hour military parade on television with 5 of
my students. Then, in the evening I got a call from another
student, "There's something really interesting on TV, you should
watch it!" and so I did. It was even more spectacular than that
morning's show. I hope you've gotten to see clips of it in the US
news. (If you didn't see it check out this time-lapse video). China sure knows how to hold a party.
They don't pull out all the stops like this every year, just every
10 or so. I asked my students how this year's compared to 10 year's ago,
and they told me how in 1999 it was more "serious" and this year's
was much more "colorful" because things are more open. And, as
another student added, "Zhang Yimou (a famous movie director, and the
guy who directed the Olympic Opening ceremonies) is a genius."
It was hard to know what to make of such an impressive performance
put on by tens of thousands of people in the world's largest
square ... but it helped to watch it at a local coffee shop with students and hear their
comments:
"So handsome/smart!" they remarked, regarding the soldiers.
"Oh, they're all beautiful girls" one boy said, regarding the women
in uniform.
"Oh, he's so old! He must be so tired!" they said jokingly, regarding
one of the retired leaders.
"They all must be so tired! They've had to stand for hours without
moving."
"Do you have parades like this in America?" ("Never with this many
people," I replied.)
"I have a friend in Beijing who's in it and they had to get up at 1AM
to prepare."
"Ooo! Look! there's my province's float!" said a girl from Yunan, in
China's Southwest.
"Hehehe!" I was surprised at all the laughter from the students, but
again, it was a celebration!
Who knows what the next 60 years will bring, but hopefully there will
be even more reasons to celebrate.
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