National Day rehearsal goes smoothly
- Source: Global Times
- [02:39 August 31 2009]
- Comments
Pupils from Beijing Chongwen Huimin Elementary School, who attended the first rehearsal for the massive National Day anniversary celebration in Tian'anmen Square yesterday, hold wreaths while leaving the square after the practice ended. Photo: CFP
By Huang Jingjing
The first rehearsal for the massive National Day anniversary celebration in Tian'anmen Square was staged early yesterday morning, one month ahead of October 1, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Starting early Saturday morning, the rehearsal featured a mass pageant involving nearly 200,000 citizens and 60 floats, a gala by around 12,000 performers and a military review, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Among the participants of the rehearsal, which was themed the "Motherland and I Marching Together," were primary, high school and college students.
"The rehearsal was exhaustive and there was quite a long wait – but I still felt very excited," said performer Pan Wang.
Pan, a sophomore at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, has spent months training for this year's celebration in a marching segment called the Volunteers for Beijing Olympics.
"However, it was the first rehearsal on the square and there was no marks, so most parades didn't walk in an orderly and neat way as they performed during the training," she said.
"So some will go through their routines and give a better performance at the next rehearsal on September 5," she added.
Pan said they started off from her campus at 11 pm on Friday after a simulated safety inspection, and arrived at Dongdan to the east of Tian'anmen Square at 2 am Saturday. At 3 am, the rehearsal started.
"Members from some parades didn't wear the costumes that they will wear on October 1. It's all being kept a secret till the last minute," she said.
"We were not allowed to bring our cell phones and cameras to the rehearsal," she added.
About 7,000 traffic police officers were dispatched across the capital to keep order during the 30-hour traffic restrictions around the square during the rehearsal.
The emergency medical facilities were also put through their paces.
"We set up 25 ambulances and 105 medical staff on and around Tian'anmen Square throughout the rehearsal," Li Jianren, director of the publicity department of Beijing Emergency Medical Center, told the Global Times yesterday.
"An emergency station was situated every 200 meters, the same frequency as will be seen at the celebrations," he said.
The air force has also been rehearsing in air space to the east of Beijing.
"Almost every day, we see scores of fighters and helicopters flying in different formations above our building," a resident surnamed Yang, from Liyuan, Tongzhou district in Beijing, said.
"It is the first time in my life I have witnessed the fighters and helicopters in such large numbers and see them so clearly," he said.
"Though they made a lot of noise, we do not think of them as annoying. Instead, I feel very proud. It gives us a sense of security in seeing the motherland's defense ability getting stronger. I am looking forward to the October 1 celebrations," he said.
