Parade captivates viewers across China
Print Edition
AS Beijing witnessed a grand military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the rest of the country was also immersed in joy, albeit with bitter memories of the hard-won victory against Japanese aggression.
Chinese people enjoyed the parade in different ways. At 6am, many people flocked to areas behind roadblocks near the parade venue to squeeze in for a good view. Others watched live broadcasts while joining in an online rally of forwarding pictures of the parade via social media.
Elnur, an English teacher from the Uygur ethnic group in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang, said she was deeply impressed by veterans waving with tears in their eyes.
“They must be very proud of what they contributed to our country 70 years ago,” she said.
Elnur watched TV while chatting via WeChat on her cellphone, where she shared comments and pictures of the parade with her friends.
In Peking University in Beijing, although the new semester has not started, hundreds of students and teachers gathered in the canteen to watch the parade on TV.
Lin Nan, a postgraduate student, said the parade gave Chinese people a sense of pride and security that the army had the prowess to safeguard the country’s interests.
However, she was more deeply impressed by President Xi Jinping’s speech at the ceremony that no matter how much stronger it may become, China would never seek hegemony or expansion, or inflict its past suffering on any other nation.
The 11th Panchen Lama Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu said after watching the parade at Tian’anmen Square that he felt proud of the country and called for people to cherish the hard-won victory.
In central China’ Hubei Province, one elderly man asked his family to push his wheelchair closer to the TV screen to allow him to watch the live broadcast despite his failing eyesight.
Zhou Xiong, aged 106, was a well-known sharpshooter during China’s war against Japan.
“I am fortunate to see the country’s prosperity and the troops becoming strong,” he said.
Over 100 representatives of veterans who fought against Japanese aggression during the war joined yesterday’s parade.
More than 35 million Chinese people, both military and civilians, were killed or injured in the war, accounting for a third of the total casualties of all the countries involved in WWII.
Xi said the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, part of the World Anti-Fascist War, “started the earliest and lasted the longest.”
Li Cuiying, widow of late Chinese general Zhan Daoliang, recently had leg surgery. But she insisted on attending the ceremony.
“I know my husband would have overcome any difficulties to attend the ceremony, if he could live to this day,” she said.
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