Information on the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949?

Before the founding ceremony, the Central People's Government and the Government Affairs Council had not yet been established, and the preparatory work was mainly undertaken by the newly established Peiping Municipal People's Government. It just so happened that Ye Jianying, the mayor and director of the Military Control Commission, was assigned to work in South China in August to prepare for the liberation of Guangdong. She went to Ganzhou, Jiangxi in early September. The central government appointed Nie Rongzhen, then deputy chief of general staff, third secretary of the North China Bureau, commander of the North China Military Region, and commander of the Beijing-Tianjin Garrison, to take over. When the central government decided to hold a military parade at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, the Central Military Commission appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the military parade. Although 25 units of various government agencies, organizations, and democratic parties in Peiping City did not formally gather to establish the preparatory committee until September 21, and publicly recommended Nie Rongzhen as the chairman, the actual preparation work had already begun. It took more than a month to complete everything from renovating the Tiananmen venue, erecting flagpoles, organizing the masses, preparing for the salute and fireworks, especially training the troops to be reviewed, and making arrangements to secure the venue.

Safety work at the Founding Ceremony of the People’s Republic of China is very important. Not long after Peiping was liberated, it was difficult to eliminate the hidden spies in the city at once, and Kuomintang planes would also harass them. On May 4 of that year, the Kuomintang sent 6 B-24 bombers from Qingdao to bomb Nanyuan, dropping 30 bombs, damaging 4 Chinese aircraft, 196 houses, and killing 24 people. Therefore, Nie Rongzhen has always attached great importance to air defense issues. Our air force has not yet been formally established. The Military Commission has an aviation bureau, which has established a flying squadron at Nanyuan Airport to serve as Peking's air defense. Nie Rongzhen thought carefully and ordered that in case an enemy plane came, the personnel present must stay put, not run around, and obey the command; arrangements were also made for the 1,978 horses to be paraded. Of course, all this was carried out under the leadership of the central government, and Zhou Enlai often intervened in detail. For example, Zhou Enlai and Luo Ruiqing went to inspect the motorcade of central leaders from Zhongnanhai to Tiananmen Square on October 1.

The Central People's Government held its first meeting before the celebration

The then Central People's Government was elected by the first plenary session of the People's Political Consultative Conference on September 30. Chairman Mao Zedong, Vice Chairman Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Song Qingling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Gao Gang, and 56 committee members including Chen Yi, He Long, Li Lisan, Lin Boqu, Ye Jianying, He Xiangning, etc. At 6 p.m. that day, all deputies took advantage of the vote counting time to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, and then returned to the venue to announce the above results. A brief and grand closing ceremony was hosted by Mao Zedong, Zhu De delivered the closing speech and played the March of the Volunteers. The five-star red flag was hoisted on the rostrum for the first time. It was already very late when the meeting ended.

Mao Zedong, who was accustomed to working at night to review documents, worked day and night until about 6 a.m. on October 1 (see Li Yinqiao's "Fifteen Years at Mao Zedong's Side").

The first meeting of the Central People's Government Committee was held at 2:00 pm on October 1 at Qinzheng Hall. All were declared inaugurated, and the Central People's Government was formally established. Immediately, Lin Boqu was elected as Secretary-General, Zhou Enlai was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mao Zedong was Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission, Zhu De was Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army, Shen Junru was President of the Supreme People's Court, and Luo Ronghuan was appointed Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Instruct them to establish various government agencies as soon as possible. The meeting also announced the acceptance of the Communist Party Program as its policy policy, and informed all foreign governments that this government is the only legitimate government of China and is willing to establish equal diplomatic relations with all countries.

After the meeting, all the leaders took the bus out of the east gate of Zhongnanhai, got off the car and climbed up the stairs at Tiananmen Square. The celebration started on time at 3 p.m.

Tiananmen Square during the Founding Ceremony

Tiananmen Square was renovated when the Founding Ceremony was held. The banner on the tower read "The Founding Ceremony of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China" and hung in the middle. A huge portrait of Chairman Mao (photographed in a crown in the 1940s). The slogans on both sides read "Long Live the Central People's Government" in the east and "Long Live the People's Republic of China" in the west. There is no national emblem, because the CPPCC symposium and review committee on September 25 and 26 believed that it needed to be revised, so only four resolutions on the national flag, national anthem, national capital, and chronology were passed at the plenary meeting on the 27th.

At that time, there were three east and west gates (formally known as Chang'an Left Gate and Chang'an Right Gate) and a long corridor in the south. There were long red walls on both sides of the corridor. The south gate was the masonry structure of the Zhonghua Gate. The doors still exist, forming a T-shaped enclosed venue. Compared with the Tiananmen Square when Peiping was just liberated eight months ago, it can be said to be completely new, much wider and flatter.

In addition, a flagpole that seemed to be very high at the time had been erected at the place where the national flagpole is now. There was a golden top on the flagpole. Many buildings on both sides of the Zhengyang Gate outside the Zhonghua Gate and the Qianmen Arrow Tower are decorated with lights and flags. The big characters of "Beijing East Railway Station" and "Beijing West Railway Station" were changed to "Beijing East Railway Station" and "Beijing West Railway Station" overnight. Workers, students, cadres, citizens, and city defense troops in the venue all held improvised five-star red flags and other red flags, red lanterns and colorful flags, especially five-pointed star lanterns of different sizes made of red silk. Among the sea of ??red flags and red lights, only the Hui compatriots wearing little white hats among the citizens held up the green and white star-and-moon flag, which looked particularly different. The crowd at the venue numbered 300,000, and they sat on the ground in separate areas in an orderly manner. There is no current viewing platform in the north of Jinshui Bridge, but two simple platforms were erected, one for the conference conductor and one for the only foreign guest viewing group. This is the Soviet Culture, Art and Science Group headed by Fadeev who just arrived the day before. Worker delegation. The troops under review stood on East Chang'an Street.

There were few means of transportation at that time, and people who were close to us would come in formation on foot, while those who were far away would come by train. The unit I was in at that time was temporarily designated as the Fourth Department of the North China Revolutionary University, and I lived in Xiyuan Courtyard. A team of seven or eight thousand people from the North China Revolutionary University had to walk for about a mile to Qinghuayuan Station. I got up before dawn and arrived at the station at 7 o'clock. I took a black convertible loaded with coal and walked for two hours before arriving at Qianmen Station. When I passed Xizhimen Station, I saw workers from Mentougou coming by train. Although the "journey" was so difficult, everyone was in high spirits. We sat on the floor at the front door and waited until two o'clock in the afternoon to enter the venue. Lunch was steamed buns with cold water, and each person received three pieces of candy and two pears, which was a holiday treat.

Chairman Mao’s speech at Tiananmen Square

The solemn and solemn founding ceremony finally began at 3 pm on October 1. It was cloudy that morning, and it rained a little in the morning and noon, but it cleared up in the afternoon. It was true that God also celebrated with all the people. The procedure of the ceremony is: the Secretary-General of the Central People's Government announces the opening of the meeting; the Chairman of the Central People's Government takes his seat, the Vice-Chairmen take their seats, and the members take their seats; the March of the Volunteers is played; the Chairman of the Central People's Government announces the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, The national flag is hoisted (the gun salute is fired at the same time, and the gun salute is completed); the Chairman of the Central People's Government reads the announcement of the Central People's Government; military parade; parade. The announcement read by Chairman Mao Zedong is about 900 words. Although it is not included in the newly released eight-volume "Collected Works of Mao Zedong", it is included in the first volume of "Mao Zedong's Manuscripts since the Founding of the People's Republic of China" and the "Archives of the Republic of China 1949-1996".

When it comes to the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, people can easily think of Chairman Mao Zedong's famous saying that shocked the past and today: "The Chinese people have stood up since then." However, this sentence was not spoken by Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Tower, but in the opening speech of the CPPCC on September 21 before that. The original text is "Gentlemen, representatives: We have the same feeling. This is that our work will be written in the history of mankind. It will show that the Chinese people, who account for a quarter of the total number of human beings, have since stood up. ." This article has been included in "Collected Works of Mao Zedong".

Also mentioned is the raising of the national flag and the firing of gun salutes. This was the third time since the liberation of Peiping that the gun salute was fired. The first time was on the evening of July 7 when 200,000 people gathered in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War and when the CPPCC Preparatory Committee was convened. The second time was the 54-gun salute at the opening of the new CPPCC on September 21. The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China featured a 28-gun salute of 54 guns. The 54 gun salutes symbolized the 54 ethnic groups in the country (the 56 ethnic groups did not exist at that time). The 28-gun salute symbolized the 28 years of hardship experienced by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Only through struggle can we achieve the victory of the new democratic revolution. While the salute was roaring, Chairman Mao pressed the button and the five-star red flag rose slowly. The people present raised the red flags and lights high, forming a sea of ??red.

Commander-in-Chief Zhu issued the order from the headquarters

After Chairman Mao read the announcement, the military parade began. The commander of the review is Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the commander-in-chief of the parade is Nie Rongzhen.

First, Nie Rongzhen accompanied Commander-in-Chief Zhu in a convertible to start the review. After the review, Commander-in-Chief Zhu returned to the rostrum of the city tower and read out the "Order of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Headquarters". The most important content of the order was to "resolutely implement all orders of the Central People's Government and the great people's leader Chairman Mao, and quickly eliminate the remnants of the Kuomintang's reactionary army." , liberate all unliberated territories, at the same time eliminate bandits and all other counter-revolutionary gangsters, and suppress all their resistance and troublemaking behavior.

"Because at that time, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan in South China, part of Fujian in East China, and all of Southwest China (Sichuan, Xikang, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Tibet) had not yet been liberated. Although Xinjiang declared a peaceful uprising, the People's Liberation Army had not yet reached Dihua (Urumqi), let alone Taiwan, so Commander-in-Chief Zhu's order was targeted. After the order was announced, the troops to be reviewed were led by two platoons of the navy, followed by an infantry division, an artillery division, a tank division, and a cavalry division. Followed up one after another. 14 air force aircraft, including fighter jets, and trainer aircraft, flew over the entire field from east to west to receive the review.

An unforgettable mass parade

After the entire military parade, mass marches began, all eager to go to the tower and see their beloved Chairman Mao. It soon became dark, and the lights on Tiananmen Tower suddenly shone. It was bright, with a string of red-orange lights on top, and three pink-blue electric rainbow lights on the bottom. Coupled with the huge searchlights shining on the whole place, the lights shone like waves, and the fireworks were set off in three places near Tiananmen Square. One after another, the paper lanterns and gauze lanterns held by the masses were also lit up, and the square was a sea of ??lights.

After eight o'clock, a team of seven or eight thousand people from the North China Revolutionary University arrived. After taking action at North China University, the team slowly approached Jinshui Bridge. Only when they heard the sounds of "Long live" and "Long live" coming from the loudspeaker on the tower did they realize that it was Chairman Mao who was responding to the cheers of the Hua University students. We followed closely. Walking across the Jinshui Bridge, I shouted "Long live Chairman Mao" loudly. Only then did I see Chairman Mao's burly body in front of the big palace lantern on the tower. He didn't wear a hat, waved his hands and shouted "Long live" in a Hunan accent. Sometimes he even shouted "Long live comrades!" At this time, we all felt that Chairman Mao had seen us, and we shouted slogans even more vigorously, and our blood almost boiled. We also saw Comrade Shaoqi, and when we saw the female comrades beside him, we guessed it. It was Vice Chairman Soong Ching Ling. We raised our hands to the top of our heads and applauded, and the leaders on the podium also applauded. The people's leaders are really connected with us.