You’d have to be living under a proverbial rock, and a bigger one than Moganshan, to have missed the sixtieth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on 1st October. And yet, funnily enough, there were few if any displays of celebration around here.
The usual sprucing up of outside areas and a minor wedding blitz took place. Flowers were planted along village streets, outside walls painted, restaurants and shops opened, but otherwise nothing.
I drove to our local town Wukang on the day of the anniversary. My excuse was to collect supplies for the coffee shop, ahead of the eight days of public holiday, but I really wanted to see what was going on. There were fewer flags than previous years. The streets were almost deserted. Everyone was indoors watching television, as instructed by the government. The parade and festivities in Beijing were going on all day and much of the night. Families, villages, townships crowded round the box.
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