About founding ceremony.

In the 1949 Program of Celebrating People's Republic of China (PRC) and founding ceremony of the Central People's Government kept in the Central Archives, three major projects of founding ceremony are recorded:

1. Inauguration Ceremony of the Central People's Government of People's Republic of China (PRC);

Second, the China People's Liberation Army parade;

3. People's parades and fireworks displays.

The venue for the celebration is located in Tiananmen Square.

However, before that, there are two schemes about the choice of the celebration venue.

The first plan is to arrange the celebration in Tiananmen Square. Another plan is at Xiyuan Airport. The reason is that on March 25th, Mao Zedong and the central leaders successfully held a military parade in Xiyuan. The more important reason is that it is located in the suburbs and the terrain is open. In case of being attacked by the Kuomintang air force, it is easy to evacuate and hide.

After careful consideration, Zhou Enlai, who is also the director of the founding ceremony Preparatory Committee, decided to set the venue of the celebration in Tiananmen Square.

In view of the possible air raid by the Kuomintang air force in founding ceremony that day, Zhou Enlai instructed: assemble the first fighter group of the People's Liberation Army with take-off capability at Nanyuan Airport in Beiping, and arrange anti-aircraft artillery groups around Beiping for air defense.

Clean up the sewage pit

With the consent of the Central Committee, Zhou Enlai immediately notified the relevant departments to repair Tiananmen Gate and Tiananmen Square quickly.

As can be seen from the photos of that year, the walls of Tiananmen Gate are mottled, the towers are scattered with broken bricks, and the beams and columns are covered with the feces of wild pigeons. In addition to these weeds, there are piles of garbage and flies and mice accompanying the garbage in the square.

1949 On August 9th, the first congress of all walks of life was held in Beiping. Peng Zhen, then secretary of the municipal party committee, announced the resolution to restore Tiananmen Square and the gate tower, the main venue in founding ceremony.

1949 September 10 is Saturday. Before dawn, people who participated in voluntary labor gathered in Tiananmen Square from all directions. By 3 pm, the number of people participating in voluntary labor reached more than 6,000. A few days later, the garbage and weeds in the square disappeared, and the rotten smell dissipated. In front of people is a big square that can accommodate 1.6 million people.

After the garbage in Tiananmen Gate and Square is cleaned up, the next step is the renovation of Tiananmen Gate. This includes hanging red lanterns in Tiananmen Square, writing huge slogans on both sides of the city wall and hanging a huge portrait of Mao Zedong above the city gate.

Beiping, which has just been liberated, is a dilapidated city, and the city is full of rubbish. After the liberation of Beiping, Beiping Municipal People's Government declared war on the garbage in the ancient city. At that time, there was a hard and fast rule in Beiping Military Management Committee: No matter whether the bus was for private use or private use, the garbage must be taken away when the bus left the city. According to statistics, before founding ceremony, Beiping cleared more than 200,000 tons of garbage. This work continued until the end of 1949.

Troops under review

When Beiping people declared war on garbage, preparations for the military parade in founding ceremony were also in full swing.

1one day in early July, 949, the central leaders listened to the reports of the leaders of the read troops such as Nie and Yang Chengwu in Huairentang, Zhongnanhai. At the end of the report, Mao Zedong said in a serious and humorous tone: "We have always advocated caution in the first battle. For the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China, we must do it well. "

In the history of the People's Liberation Army, the military parade in founding ceremony was the largest in terms of services, arms and scale, with a total investment of 6.5438+0.6 million troops.

The naval team participating in the reading consists of the Naval School and the East China Fleet; The army team consists of infantry division, artillery division, chariot division and cavalry division; The chariot division includes motorized infantry regiment, armored vehicle regiment and tank regiment.

The infantry team participating in the reading is the 67 th Army of the 20 th Corps 199 Division.

Li Shuiqing was then the division commander of 199.

Li Shuiqing: "After we received this task, all officers and men were very happy and honored, especially when we mentioned that we would accept Chairman Mao's inspection on behalf of the National People's Liberation Army."

Founding ceremony's military parade was unprecedented. Yang Chengwu, who is in charge of military parade training, not only consulted the information about military parade at home and abroad, but also humbly consulted other PLA generals.

Nanyuan airport

In July, it was the midsummer in Beiping, and more than 10,000 troops of the 199 Division were all assembled in the suburbs of Beiping. According to the requirements of the military parade headquarters, the infantry division produced 12 teams during the military parade, and each team consisted of 144 officers and men.

Li Shuiqing: "More than 10,000 people only need more than 2,000 people, so everyone works hard, makes up their minds and participates in reading. So in addition to these more than 2,000 people, we also organized and selected more than 200 people to prepare. "

The preparations before the training are basically ready, but new problems follow one after another: the PLA, which has a history of 22 years of war, has no rules for queue training and norms for action. What do they take for reference?

Li Wanheng: "This provision was originally made by the Kuomintang and later by the Soviet Union. Finally, train the queue according to Liu Bocheng's rules. This is a step-by-step process during queue training. This thing is that you take a step of 70 cm and your height is 15cm. This is one step at a time, with a height of 30 cm. "

In dog days, the scorching sun shines on the Temple of Heaven Park. On the open space outside the park wall is a well-organized training ground, and their camping tent is set up on the edge of the field. 199 division officers and men began strict determinant training here.

It's August 1, 1949. On this day, Parade Leader Nie Rong Zhen awarded the flag to the newly established special forces on behalf of the Central Military Commission. Special forces belong to the army sequence, mainly including salute troops, mule artillery and armored forces.

Yang Chengwu

Li Jian, former artillery commander of Beijing Military Region, was then the chief of staff of Special Forces Command.

Li Jian: "The selection criteria are basically party member. In addition, most of them, more than 40%, are heroic companies and have made great contributions. Young men are relatively high, generally 1 m 78, 1 m 80. It is really standard. "

It is said that the training of the troops under study is very hard, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, who loves soldiers like children, can no longer sit still. He personally rushed to the station of the troops under study to visit the officers and men who were training. Back in Zhongnanhai, he ordered the relevant departments to add an egg to each of the officers and men who participated in the reading every day.

Founding ceremony's first procedure is to raise the national flag, salute and play the national anthem. The Commando handed the salute to Han Huaizhi, chief of staff of the Chariot Regiment.

When the men and guns were assembled, Han Huaizhi went into training. But I left my new wife.

The cavalry is composed of the third cavalry division of the North China Military Region, and most of the commanders and fighters are from the Inner Mongolia prairie.

The chariot regiment put the training ground in the wasteland in the western suburbs of Beiping.

While the chariot regiment stepped up its training, the military orchestra living in the West Headquarters Hutong, Dongdong Street, the east of Beiping City was also taking the time to rehearse.

Soldiers participating in the military parade

The Military Orchestra is responsible for playing for the founding ceremony and CPPCC meetings, and is called "the God of Rites and Music".

The military parade headquarters instructed that the wind band of the North China People's Art Troupe and the military bands of the two divisions of the Army being studied be merged to form a joint military band, so a joint military band of more than 200 people was born, with Luo Lang as the general commander.

1937 Luo Lang, who came back from Malaysia, is a student of the famous musician Xian Xinghai. 1939 arrived in the Jinchaji Military Region, an anti-Japanese base behind enemy lines. Later, he became the first head of the China People's Liberation Army Military Orchestra.

One day, the military parade headquarters held a meeting of military leaders attended by Soviet experts in Lai Jinyuxuan, Zhongshan Park. At the meeting, there were differences on what kind of music to use as the music for the military parade: the first opinion was that just find a nice military parade; The second opinion is to use the Soviet military parade.

Luo Lang: "I said, can we use some military music tunes adapted from revolutionary songs we are using now as ritual songs for our military parade?"

There was a heated debate on this issue at the meeting. In view of the difficulty in reaching a consensus, Yang Chengwu, deputy commander-in-chief of the military parade, instructed Laurent to write a tune for the military parade and mass parade and report it to the Central Committee.

Tanks participating in the military parade

Soon, Mao Zedong issued the instruction "Give priority to me and the country". It was decided to adopt five tracks, such as Dongfanghong, Three Disciplines and Eight Notices, and March of the Army, which were reported by Laurent as founding ceremony music.

After the military parade was decided, in order to make it suitable for the ceremony, Luo Lang burned the midnight oil and changed the melody and orchestration of the music overnight.

Time soon arrived in September 1, 1949. On this day, Parade Leader Nie Rongzhen said in conveying the instructions of the Central Committee on the military parade in founding ceremony: "The Central Committee decided that on the day of the founding of New China, in addition to the ground troops, the Air Force should also be dispatched."

One day in early September, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders came to Nanyuan Airport. With the huge roar, nine fighters took off from the runway one after another, quickly adjusted the finished product formation in the air and passed over the airport twice.

Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders who watched the flight show on the ground applauded and cheered for the pilots. After the flight show, Zhu De said in an expectant tone, "Can we have a few more planes, any plane?" .

Hu Lin: "Later, after they left, we studied and added two Mosquito fighters. This plane is made in England. Its fuselage is made of wood. In fact, the engine is made of metal, and some equipment is also made of metal. But this plane can be a light bomber or a fighter. "

The band in the parade

A few days later, three repaired transport planes, 1 communication machine and two trainers were incorporated into the reading flight team.

The Aviation Bureau of the Military Commission finally decided that 1 and 1 will have 17 planes passing over Tiananmen Square.

Beiping in September has entered the early autumn, and the training of the troops under study has also entered the "countdown".

One night in September, the troops being trained were informed to rehearse in Tiananmen Square.

Li Shuiqing, the confident 199 division commander, led the troops trained for more than two months to Tiananmen Square. When they marched through Tiananmen Square, something unexpected happened: the troops who walked decently on the training ground lost their minds: when it was time to step out of their left foot, someone kicked their right leg.

Roland, the conductor of the band, found that the soldiers couldn't keep up with the drums of the band, so he immediately adjusted the beat of the military band.

After the news that founding ceremony was held came out, the units and people who signed up were particularly enthusiastic.

Changxindian railway workers have a glorious revolutionary tradition. As early as the May 4th Movement, China's early industrialists and intellectuals came here to carry out the workers' movement. Mao Zedong has also been to this factory twice.

The Beiping Federation of Trade Unions granted 2,000 places to railway workers in Changxindian to attend the ceremony.

Xixinfang Village in Mentougou Town is located in the mountainous area in the outer suburb of Beiping, more than 30 kilometers away from Tiananmen Square.

1in September, 949, 100 many villagers were informed to participate in founding ceremony. Jiao Tong Lan and several 15-and 16-year-old girls were also approved to participate in founding ceremony. In order to get to Tiananmen Square early and meet Chairman Mao early, Jiao Tonglan discussed with his friends and pooled their money to buy an old bicycle without brakes and bells.

September 30th, 1949, is the ninth day of the eighth lunar month in China. This night, many people spent the eve of the birth of new China in excitement and waiting.

Li Shuiqing: "Not everyone sleeps there. Wipe the helmet clean and shiny. "

Beiping xiyuan

Jiao Tong Lan: "I didn't sleep all night. After I stayed up, I wanted to go to Chairman Mao and see how Chairman Mao expressed his feelings. What kind of person is Chairman Mao and what does he look like? "

At 6: 438 that night, Zhou Enlai arrived at Tiananmen Square to make a final inspection of the layout of the tower. When he saw the words "Comrade Mao Zedong" written under the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging on the Tiananmen Gate, he immediately sent someone to invite Zhong Ling, director of Zhongnanhai Club.

Zhong Ling: "He said that you can't bring this because founding ceremony should be very serious."

This portrait was written by Zhou. According to Zhou Enlai's instructions, he carefully covered the text below the portrait with paint. When Zhou finished all this, it was already the early morning of June in 1 year.

The newly restored Tiananmen Gate Tower and the square in front of it are welcoming the birth of the people of China and the Central People's Government.