Information about the Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China

On the day of the founding of New China, a grand ceremony will be held, and a military parade will be held during the ceremony. This idea was finalized as early as the end of July 1949.

But where is the best location for the founding ceremony? This issue troubled the founding leaders. I couldn't decide for a long time.

To hold the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China and solemnly declare the birth of the People's Republic of China to the whole of China and the world, this must be a success. The importance of choosing a suitable venue is therefore highlighted.

In July, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established a preparatory committee for the founding ceremony with Zhou Enlai as director and Peng Zhen, Nie Rongzhen, Lin Boqu, Li Weihan and others as deputy directors.

The plan for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China was quickly come up with by the preparatory committee. The plan has three main contents:

The first is to hold the founding ceremony of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China;

The second is to hold a military parade of the Chinese People's Liberation Army;

< p>The third is to hold mass demonstrations.

The Preparatory Committee believes that these three contents are indispensable for the founding ceremony of New China. Among the three, how the military parade is held, especially where it is held, determines how the entire founding ceremony will be held.

The question of how and where to hold a military parade has become the central issue in preparing for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

Not long after the founding ceremony preparatory committee was established, a military parade command organization was established. The leadership of this command structure is strong. Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, the founding father of the People's Republic of China, personally took command and served as the commander-in-chief of the military parade. The general commander of the parade is Nie Rongzhen; the deputy commanders are Yang Chengwu, Tang Yanjie (Chief of Staff of the North China Military Region), Tang Yongjian (Director of the Operations Division of the North China Military Region Headquarters), Liu Ren (Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China), Xiao Ming (Beijing) Chairman of the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions), Xiao Song (Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Youth League) and others.

After Yang Chengwu and Tang Yanjie took up special leadership positions, under the leadership of the Central Military Commission, they first presided over the drafting of the "Military Parade Ceremony Plan."

After this plan was drawn up, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and other central leaders met with the person in charge of planning the military parade ceremony at Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai and listened to relevant reports.

Nie Rongzhen, the commander-in-chief of the military parade, reported on the basic idea of ??the military parade. The deputy commander-in-chief of the military parade reported on the main contents of the military parade plan: the selection and formation of the troops to be reviewed, parade procedures, military parade etiquette and music, and training before the parade. According to the plan, the military parade is divided into a review type and a procession type.

The military parade plan was successfully approved, but the location of the founding parade was not decided immediately.

Mao Zedong attached great importance to conducting military parades. He said: "We have always advocated caution in the first battle. This military parade is also the first battle, the first time since the founding of the country. We must do it well!"

The members of the parade command post focused on the issue of determining the location of the military parade. Repeated research.

One day in August 1949, several generals from the North China Military Region came to Zhou Enlai's office and handed over to Zhou Enlai two sets of military parade plans that they had repeatedly demonstrated.

The first plan: the location is Tiananmen Square in the city center;

The second plan: the military parade is held at Xiyuan Airport on the outskirts of the city.

The two sets of plans respectively marked a map of the location and route of the troops. For Zhou Enlai, who was used to seeing combat maps, this map seemed both simple and complicated. Zhou Enlai did not make an immediate decision after looking at the map carefully. Both options have advantages, but also disadvantages.

The advantages of placing the military parade in Tiananmen Square are obvious: it is located in the center of Peiping, where leaders, the army and the masses will be in harmony, and the founding ceremony can be a grand one, especially since the Tiananmen Gate Tower is a ready-made military parade platform , it doesn’t take much effort to get all the CPPCC representatives to the Tiananmen Gate Tower for review. Moreover, the streets around Tiananmen Square extend in all directions, making it easy to gather and evacuate.

However, the military parade in Tiananmen Square also had some shortcomings: mainly due to the large number of people participating in the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, urban traffic was interrupted for at least four hours on that day; at that time, Chang'an Avenue was not wide enough and had not been widened. Later, they were so generous that they could only pass through the 12th column of infantry, the 3rd column of cavalry and the 2nd column of armored vehicles.

Compared with Tiananmen, the advantage of Xiyuan Airport is that it has a wide runway and does not have to worry about blocking traffic. Moreover, holding military parades at Xiyuan Airport has already gained successful experience. On March 25, 1949, the North China Military Region held a military parade watched by more than 10,000 people in order to welcome the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao to Peiping.

The disadvantages of holding a military parade at Xiyuan Airport are, first of all, that there is no reviewing stand there. A temporary structure can be used to handle some small scenes, but it cannot be held to hold the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, which will be attended by hundreds of thousands of people. If To build a review stand as majestic as the Tiananmen Gate Tower required a large amount of engineering work and a lot of investment, which was difficult to achieve at the time. Secondly, Xiyuan Airport is a long way from the city. Hundreds of thousands of people have to attend the ceremony, and it is inconvenient to travel there and back. Without the participation of a considerable number of people, the atmosphere that the founding ceremony should have will not be produced, and the military parade will not be Failure to achieve the purpose of promoting the prestige of our military will affect the international and domestic impact of the Founding Ceremony.

Thirdly, although the airport runway is large, there is only one way to advance and retreat, which is very inconvenient for the troops participating in the military parade.

Of the two sets of options, the demonstrator obviously favored the first option, but did not come up with conclusive opinions.

The date for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China is approaching day by day. Troops preparing to participate in the military parade have begun training in separate columns.

The founding ceremony is only one month away! The focus of Zhou Enlai's thinking fell on Tiananmen.

This majestic and magnificent ancient tower standing in the center of Beiping City was originally named Chengtianmen, which means "inheriting destiny and receiving orders from heaven". It was built in the 15th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1417). After being destroyed by war, it was rebuilt in the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1651) and was called Tiananmen. It is the main entrance of the old imperial city, with five gates and nine double towers. From the overall layout of the square, the Tiananmen Gate Tower looks like it "came out of nowhere". Looking from Tiananmen Square, the Tiananmen Gate Tower is resplendent and shining, looking unparalleled in its solemnity and majesty. In fact, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, all the buildings on the square were built as foils to this main building. This is the secret why the Tiananmen Gate Tower looks so impressive. Tiananmen Square was also one of the places where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties engaged in important activities. The most important activities were the "Golden Phoenix Issuance of Edicts". Every winter solstice, they went to the Temple of Heaven to worship heaven, and during the summer solstice, they went to the altar of earth to worship earth. The emperor's wedding and military expeditions, etc. All grand ceremonies must be entered and exited through Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen, the tallest building in Beijing during the feudal era, will soon disappear all traces of its status as a feudal imperial power, because the holding of the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China will give it a new meaning and make it From now on, we have a new time and space.

After repeated weighings, Zhou Enlai finally wrote down his opinions:

Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Comrade Shaoqi read:

The date was before the establishment of the government. After closing. The best place for the military parade is in front of Tiananmen Square. Will decide when the time comes. The review commander is Nie (Rong Zhen), and the parade commander is Comrade Zhu De.

Week September 2

This opinion reached Liu Shaoqi, and he drew a circle on his name that was as big or small as a pine nut.

Mao Zedong and Zhu De did not draw a circle on this opinion. They listened to Zhou Enlai’s oral introduction and analysis and agreed to hold the founding ceremony in front of Tiananmen Square.

Since October 1, 1949, Tiananmen has become a symbol of the Republic of China.