60th Anniversary Celebration and Parade - watch live online now . . .

[Guest realmayo]

Yeah, Jiang's was Three Represents.

hmm, they did carry a sign with the three represents. But the changing-background thing, which displayed 科学发展 for Hu, displayed 与时俱进 for Jiang.

I feel sorry for all those people having to hold the 社会主义好 signs up.

That's the changing-background thing I mean.

[gato]

CCTV 9 in beijing just switched from English to Chinese announcers and back... odd

Having the whole CCTV program translated into English would be interesting. Every sentence is over the top.

[anonymoose]

Funny how they include 香港 and 澳门.

I was just about to ask where the 台湾 float is, and there it comes...

[roddy]

Aw, cute . . . or are they attacking?

Well, that's all for now - show and fireworks this evening, starting just before eight Beijing time if I heard right.

Edited October 1, 2009 at 04:35 AM by roddy

[gato]

The Bureau of Weather Control did a great job with blue sky! Congrats, everyone!

[roddy]

Heh, we paid for it advance yesterday - nasty and grey all day . . .

[wushijiao]

the Bureau of Weather Control did a great job with blue sky!

It was a very blue sky. Controlling the weather? Part of 科学发展....

[周易Joey]

Does anyone else think that the camera lens was adjusted to make the sky look more blue? And one the tibet float no people seemed to be moving. Do you think the people on the Taiwan float have ever even been to Taiwan?

[roddy]

I did wonder that - it's blue and clear here, but I'm not sure it was that blue. Also noticed the lack of people on the Tibet float - there were a few people standing at the front, but no dancers.

[self-taught-mba]

Trying to identify the girls in red. Love the way they put all the women soldiers in short skirts and boots.

Apparently so did every other guy I know. "Help! I'm Irish and need to join the Army!"

[889]

Only thing missing in this were the masses waving their little red books.

Perhaps that'll come in Zhang Yimou's spectacle tonight.

[Guest realmayo]

What's happening tonight?

EDIT: oops, sorry, just saw above:

Parade now finished, check in at 8pm (Beijing time) for a spectacular show and fireworks.

[gato]

The opening 回答声响 call-response thing was really impressive, or perhaps I got a bit carried away?

I'm not into military stuff really, but it did remind me of how a king (or bawang) would address his men in traditional 武侠 movies, that must be it ... Anyway, something inside me (almost ) wished to join them >> 为人民服务!! YES!

Yes, there's a little soldier that wants to say "首长好！“ deep inside many of us.

[Xiwang]

1. Across the reviewing stand is a constantly changing set of slogans. Anyone figure out whether these are people holding up colored cards? Or is it a large horizontal LCD screen of some sort?

2. Did anyone see the keyboard float? I was looking for it but missed it.

http://shanghaiist.com/2009/09/28/todays_links_censorship_maos_revolu.php

[gato]

1. Across the reviewing stand is a constantly changing set of slogans. Anyone figure out whether these are people holding up colored cards? Or is it a large horizontal LCD screen of some sort?

At the beginning of the program, one of the CCTV anchors said it was people holdings up cards. Must be tiring holding up cards for 2 hours. I could see that the card switching slacked up towards the end: a shadow of the previous slogan still remained even though a new slogan was already up.

2. Did anyone see the keyboard float? I was looking for it but missed it.

Yes, that's the high technology float. The screen was on the upper left instead of the upper right.

[gato]

More on the Bureau of Weather Control

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/world/asia/01rain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

China Hopes, and Tries, for Rain-Free Festivities

While meteorologists in much of the world are simply charged with forecasting rain or shine, Mr. Guo and his colleagues at the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Station were also responsible for making sure the weather is of the crowd-pleasing variety. “If we make a mistake with our work, the impact will be huge,” Mr. Guo, a soft spoken scientist, told a news conference this week. “We are under a lot of pressure.”

[self-taught-mba]

Does anyone else think that the camera lens was adjusted to make the sky look more blue?

No. It was a perfect day today. No need for it.

[roddy]

All kicking off . . .

Live online link.

"Plugin free for overseas users"

CCTV-9 in English (not working for me, try your luck.

PS: Comment section on Youku is a scary place:

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[anonymoose]

Well, I have to hand it to the Chinese, they manage to pull off big events and make them look impressive, on television at least.

[Guest realmayo]

yeah it looks pretty impressive, especially with the sound turned off.