Chinese National Day

I have some highlights from the last couple weeks, but I'll post them later. Of more current interest is Chinese national day. I just finished watching the parade, and it was something else!

The national day parade in Beijing made the Rose Bowl Parade look like Suwanee little league opening day, no offense to the Rose Bowl intended. It was incredible! The parade was organized in formations of people marching and/or dancing around each float. The floats had themes like "Scientific Development," "Youth China," or "Agricultural Development." Most of the floats had moving parts and television screens showing something relevant, and the several hundred people in formation around each float moved in perfect synchronization the entire time- marching, shouting a slogan, waving flowers, or holding up placards to make designs when viewed from the air.

Alongside the parade route was an area the size of a football field that displayed ever changing slogans and images. I was impressed with the technology of such a giant flat screen, then I realized it was made of people! It is similar to sections of football stadiums where each fan has a sign to hold up, and the section, when viewed together, says "Go Team!" However, the area in the parade had a different image for almost every float, and they were all perfect. I'm still trying to figure out how they managed to hold all the different signs.

But most impressive of all was the last formation, "A Better Tomorrow". It was made of 5000 children each carrying a 10 or so balloons. These kids were 10-12, and they were all marching perfectly. I was surprised they weren't wearing uniforms. They marched to the focal point of the parade route singing about hope for tomorrow, then they all let go of the balloons. It was very pretty...but I thought they were finished. Not so. All at once, they began to sprint towards the platform where the VIPs were standing, and I saw why they weren't wearing uniforms. As they ran, they separated into ribbons of red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple, and by the time the reached the platform, they had made a giant, ecstatically cheering rainbow. In case you couldn't tell, the entire parade was quite intense.

It's easy to say, "Oh, it's just a well-organized parade" but I don't think that's quite all of it. Every person in the parade was a volunteer, and from what I understand, there were several disappointed people for each person in the parade. The participants practiced countless hours for months, on their own time, and without compensation. They wanted to be in this parade because they want to show the world how much the Chinese love China. And I believe them.

If you have some time, check out cctv.com/english for footage of the parade, or click here to see some still photos of the spectacle.

Finally, I will be sitting around doing a lot of nothing for the next 8 days (our generous holiday!), so feel free to chat or skype me :-)