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Chairman Mao Reviews a Mammoth March-Past of One and a Half Million Paraders
— In the High Tide of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution the People’s Republic of China Joyously Celebrates the 17th Anniversary of Its Founding
[This article is reprinted from Peking Review, Vol. 9, #41, Oct. 7, 1966, pp. 3-7. Thanks are due to the WWW.WENGEWANG.ORG web site for some of the work done for this posting.]
ONE and a half million revolutionary people from the capital and from all parts of our great motherland gathered on October 1, 1966, in Peking’s Tien An Men Square for an unprecedentedly big mass rally and parade to mark the 17th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This took place in the new high tide of the unparalleled, great proletarian cultural revolution of our country and at a time when there was an excellent revolutionary situation at home and abroad.
Our great teacher, great leader, great supreme commander and great helmsman Chairman Mao, his close comrade-in-arms Comrade Lin Piao, and other leaders of the Party and Government attended this festive occasion and reviewed the mass parade. For more than six hours starting from the morning and continuing into the afternoon, Chairman Mao and Comrade Lin Piao, both in excellent health and full of vigour, were with the crowds all the time. When the parade ended, Chairman Mao came down from the rostrum and walked across Chinshui Bridge and into the thick crowds. He warmly greeted them all. The crowds, waving their dazzling red copies of Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung, cheered and jumped with joy. Times without number they shouted “Long live Chairman Mao! Long live, long live Chairman Mao!” Overjoyed, many gave free rein to their exultation: “We are happy beyond words! Chairman Mao and Comrade Lin Piao are in such good health. They have such great energy. This is great happiness for the people of China and the whole world!”
When the morning sun shed its shimmering rays over the city, throngs extending over dozens of li had already been converging on Tien An Men Square and the boulevard east of it. Basking in the early sunshine, the crowds recited quotations from Chairman Mao’s works and read the paean dedicated to him: The red sun rises before us. Its splendour reddens the great earth. Our great leader, beloved Chairman Mao, may you be with us for ever.
The happiest of moments has come! The Square was astir, the military band struck up The East Is Red and then came Chairman Mao and his close comrade-in-arms Comrade Lin Piao, together with other leaders of the Party and state: Liu Shao-chi, Soong Ching Ling, Tung Pi-wu, Chou En-lai, Tao Chu, Chen Po-ta, Teng Hsiao-ping, Kang Sheng, Chu Teh, Li Fu-chun, Chen Yun, Chen Yi, Liu Po-cheng, Ho Lung, Li Hsien-nien, Tan Chen-lin, Hsu Hsiang-chien, Nieh Jung-chen, Yeh Chien-ying, Ulanfu, Li Hsueh-feng, Hsieh Fu-chih, Liu Ning-I, Hsiao Hua, Yang Cheng-wu and Chiang Ching. They mounted the Tien An Men rostrum.
Red balloons which trailed big streamers with slogans slowly floated in the red sunshine and hovered above the Red Guards and Young Pioneers massed in the Square. Then big characters “Long live Chairman Mao!” formed by bouquets of flowers in the hands of more than a hundred thousand people appeared on the south side of the Square. The Square glowed with thousands upon thousands of hands waving their Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The people thronged Tien An Men Square, which is 400,000 square metres in area, as well as the wide street east of it and the Square became a roaring ocean of red. The shouting of slogans mingling with cheers sounded like spring thunders, unceasing and deafening.
At this moment many jotted down these words in the fly-leaf of their Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung to commemorate this moment of great joy: 10 a.m. exactly, October 1, 1966.
Some 3,000 representatives of the workers, peasants and soldiers and of the national minorities and the Red Guards who came from all corners of the country went up in groups to the Tien An Men rostrum to stand beside Chairman Mao and participate in the festivities. They have each in their own field performed heroic feats and they were jubilant to be at the side of Chairman Mao. These heroes and heroines and the Red Guards excitedly said: By receiving us on the Tien An Men rostrum Chairman Mao is showing us the greatest solicitude and encouragement. We must see that Mao Tse-tung’s thought take still firmer root in us. We must always work for the revolution and remain loyal from generation to generation.
Friends from more than 70 countries and regions of the five continents who were here to take part in the National Day celebrations brought with them the friendship for the Chinese people extended by the anti-imperialist revolutionary fighters and the people the world over. With copies of the Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung in hand and speaking different languages, they joined with the revolutionary masses of our country in wishing Chairman Mao a very, very long life.
At 10:05, Comrade Wu Teh, Acting Mayor of Peking, declared the celebration rally open. The army band struck up the national anthem and 28 salvoes were fired. A huge national emblem was formed of bouquets held by more than 100,000 of the revolutionary masses in the centre of the Square before the Monument to the Peoples Heroes. Flanking the emblem were the huge figures “1949” and “1966” signifying the historical progress.
Then Comrade Lin Piao began his speech amid stormy applause from the entire rally. (For full text see page 10.)
Comrade Lin Piao’s speech was punctuated time and again with plaudits and cheers from the 1,500,000 revolutionary masses who shouted revolutionary slogans— a manifestation of their resolute response to the fighting call to the people of the whole country made by Comrade Lin Piao on behalf of Chairman Mao and the Party’s Central Committee.
Respectively representing the workers, peasants, the People’s Liberation Army, revolutionary teachers and students, and national minorities of the whole country, Wang Yu-fa, a worker of the heroic No. 32111 Oil Drilling Team; Chen Yung-kang, national model agricultural worker; Kuo Hsiao-szu, Deputy Company Leader of a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army under the Peking command; Nieh Meng-min, Vice-Chairman of the Cultural Revolutionary Committee of Peking University; and Pazang, an emancipated Tibetan serf, came to the side of Chairman Mao one after another and spoke at the rally. (For full texts see pages 18-21.) Their speeches gave expression to the common revolutionary will of the hundreds of millions of the workers, peasants and soldiers and the revolutionary masses of all nationalities in the entire country and were greeted with continuous and stormy applause from the rally.
Then, Ta Thi Kieu, combat heroine of south Vietnam; E.F. Hill, Chairman of the Australian Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist); da Cruz, fighter of the Angolan National Liberation Movement; Hisao Kuroda, Vice-Chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Association; and Robert Williams, noted American Negro leader, were warmly welcomed by the 1.5 million revolutionary masses when they made speeches which were full of revolutionary friendship for the Chinese people. (For full texts see pages 22-25.)
At 11:15 the mass parade started to the strains of Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman. Waving copies of Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung, loudly singing revolutionary songs and shouting revolutionary slogans, the 1,500,000 revolutionary masses of various nationalities marched past Tien An Men Square in high spirits to be reviewed by the great leader Chairman Mao. High in the centre of the red wall of the magnificent Tien An Men Gate hung a huge portrait of Chairman Mao. In front of the green pines and cypresses on the east and west sides of the Square stood the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Before the Monument to the People’s Heroes in the south side of the Square was erected the portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Red stars on the tops of the tall slogan pylons on the right and left sides of the reviewing stands were a symbol that Mao Tse-tung’s thought casts its illuminating rays everywhere.
At the head of the whole contingent of marchers was a huge statue of Chairman Mao. He was clad in military uniform, with a huge hand stretching forward and pointing the way of our victorious advance.
Gallant and majestic, the advance guard composed of more than 20,000 P.L.A. men, militiamen and Red Guards marched in the van of the contingent of mass paraders. The valiant and high-spirited P.L.A. men who guarded the national flag and national emblem carried with them sub-machine guns, and every one held aloft the red-covered Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Marching with firm steps they kept on shouting in a rhythm: “Long live Chairman Mao!” and “Long live the Chinese Communist Party!” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army created by Chairman Mao himself is for ever loyal to Chairman Mao, to Mao Tse-tung’s thought, to the Party and to the people. Close behind the P.L.A. were the militiamen and the Red Guards who provide a powerful backing for the P.L.A. The armed militiamen who never forget Chairman Mao’s earnest teachings concerning the formation of militia divisions in a big way entered Tien An Men Square with their heads raised up and in giant steps and there they received the review by Chairman Mao, the great leader. The Red Guards, the brave young fighters, who are the shock brigade in the great proletarian cultural revolution, were exceedingly elated and overjoyed, carrying with them a huge oil painting “Chairman Mao with the Red Guards.” On and below the Tien An Men rostrum, all acclaimed the all-powerful and all-conquering iron current of the people. People remarked that if the U.S. imperialists and their accomplices dared to impose a war on the Chinese people, they would certainly be drowned in the vast sea of people’s war.
The big parade of workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals, revolutionary cadres, and revolutionary teachers and students of Peking and from other parts of the country, marched 140 abreast. The procession was dozens of kilometres long and merged into a great revolutionary current with the columns marching mightily forward. When the contingent of the workers and peasants came before Tien An Men, people cheered the news of the excellent situation on the industrial and agricultural fronts throughout the country and warmly clapped to salute the masses of workers and peasants who have made tremendous contributions to the work of socialist revolution and construction.
Contingents of Red Guards and revolutionary teachers and students from all parts of the country formed a cultural revolutionary army which made up the greatest part of those who participated in our capital’s National Day parade. They marched shoulder to shoulder with Peking’s workers, revolutionary teachers and students and revolutionary cadres. In this army, there were sons and daughters of emancipated serfs from the Tibetan plateau, revolutionary youngsters from Chairman Mao’s native village, and revolutionary sons and daughters from Yenan, Chingkang Mountains, Tsun-yi, and other revered revolutionary places in China. Entrusted by hundreds of millions of the revolutionary youth throughout the country, they came to march in review before the great leader Chairman Mao, and to pledge to him their resolute determination to carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end.
When all the contingents of paraders had marched past Tien An Men Square, the more than 100,000 Young Pioneers, Red Guards, revolutionary teachers and students, workers and cadres, who had filled up the open space on the south side of the Square, jubilantly surged towards Tien An Men. They waved garlands, bouquets, and Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung to cheer Chairman Mao with all their hearts. The Square resounded with fireworks; countless numbers of red balloons flew skyward. Then, friends from more than 70 countries and regions of the world, representatives of the workers, peasants, soldiers and all the fraternal nationalities, overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hongkong and Macao, who filled the 16 reviewing stands alongside Chinshui Bridge, shouted in one voice “Long live Chairman Mao!” Chairman Mao and his close comrade-in-arms Comrade Lin Piao and other Party and state leaders waved to the cheering crowd; frequently. On the Tien An Men rostrum and below, great jubilation reigned supreme, fully expressing the great unity of the Chinese people and the people of the whole world.
Reviewing the parade on the rostrum were noted revolutionary fighters against imperialism from the five continents, and other foreign friends. They included: Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein, head of the Somali parliamentary friendship delegation and President of the Somali National Assembly; Abdul Monem Khan, head of the Pakistan friendship delegation; S.J. Kitundu, head of the Tanzanian friendship delegation; Nagalingam Sanmugathasan, Member of the Political Bureau and of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ceylon; Nguyen Minh Phuong, Acting Head of the Permanent Mission in China of the South Vietnam National Front for Liberation; Jusuf Adjitorop. Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Indonesian Communist Party; Rathe Deshapriya Senanayake, Secretary-General of the Afro-Asian Writers’ Bureau, and his wife; Djawoto, Secretary-General of the Afro-Asian Journalists’ Association, and his wife; Leng Ngeth, head of the delegation of the Cambodia-China Friendship Association; Claude Antoine Da Costa, head of the government economic delegation of Congo (Brazzaville); Ahmed Mohammed Kheir, Sudanese peace champion; Aubert Lounda, Member of the Political Bureau of the National Revolutionary Movement of Congo (Brazzaville); and Zenel Hamiti, head of the Albanian petroleum delegation.
Among those on the Tien An Men rostrum were:
Vice-Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress: Kuo Mo-jo, Yang Ming-hsuan, Cheng Chien, Saifudin, Chang Chih-chung. Ngapo Ngawang-Jigme and Chou Chien-jen; Members of the N.P.C. Standing Committee: Ma Chun-ku, Wang Kun-lun, Wang Wei-chou, Pei Shih-chang, Teng Chu-min, Teng Ying-chao, Kung Yuan, Lu Han, Shuai Meng-chi, Yeh Chu-pei, Shih Liang, Liu Ya-hsiung, Liu Lan-po, Chuang Hsi-chuan, Hsu Kuang-ping, Chu Liang-tsai, Hua Lo-keng, Yen Chi-tzu, Yang Chih-hua, Yang Chih-cheng, Yang Yun-yu, Wu Yu-hsun, Chang Yun-yi, Chang Ching-wu, Chang Chun, Chen Shao-min, Chen Shao-hsien, Chen Chi-yu, Chen Chi-yuan, Chen Chi-han, Chen Yuan, Shao Li-tzu, Fan Wen-lan, Mao Yi-sheng, Lin Lan-ying, Lin Chiao-chih, Lo Shu-chang, Lo Chiung, Chi Fang, Chou Shu-tao, Meng Chi-mao, Shih Fu-liang, Chao Chiu-chang, Chao Chung-yao, Chao Yi-min, Nan Han-chen, Hu Tzu-ang, Hu Chueh-wen, Hu Yu-chih, Chien Ying, Hsu Li-ching, Hsu Ping, Hsu Teh-li, Chang Shih-chao, Hsiao Ching-kuang, Mei Kung-pin, Tsao Meng-chun, Tung Ti-chou, Tseng Chih, Hsieh Fu-min, Hsieh Nan-kuang, Peng Shao-hui, Han Kuang, Su Yu, Tsai Ting-kai, Tsai Chang and Hsiung Ke-wu;
Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Council: Fu Tso-yi;
The Supreme People’s Court: President Yang Hsiu-feng; and Vice-Presidents Chang Chih-jang and Wang Wei-kang;
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate: Chief Procurator Chang Ting-cheng; and Deputy Chief Procurator Huang Huo-hsing;
Vice-Chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference: Kao Chung-min, Teng Tzu-hui, Li Ssu-kuang, Hsieh Chueh-tsai, Shen Yen-ping, Li Chu-chen, Hsu Teh-heng and Li Teh-chuan;
Mr. Li Tsung-jen;
Members and Alternate Members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party: Liao Cheng-chih, Liu Hsiao, Wu Hsiu-chuan, Hsu Kuang-ta, Wang Chen, Tseng Shan, Hsu Hai-tung, Chao Erh-lu, Lu Cheng-tsao, Wang Shu-sheng, Lo Kuei-po, Pan Tzu-li, Yang Yung, Chang Tsung-hsun, Li Tao, Chen Man-yuan, Li Chih-min, Su Chen-hua, Chu Teh-hai, Liao Han-sheng, Chang Yun, Liao Lu-yen, Sung Shih-lun, Chung Chi-kuang, Chen Cheng-jen, Wang Jen-chung, Tao Lu-chia, Liu Chien-hsun, Fang Yi, Chang Ching-fu, Chang Ai-ping and Yao Yi-lin;
Leading members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army: Li Tien-yu, Wang Hsin-ting, Liu Chih-chien, Yuan Tzu-chin, Fu Chung, Chiu Hui-tso, Chang Chih-ming, Wu Fa-hsien, Yu Li-chin, Chou Shih-ti, Fu Chiu-tao, Chung Chih-ping, Lo Shun-chu, Wang Hung-kun, Wu Ke-hua, Chen Jen-chi, Huang Chih-yung, Chen Shih-chu, Tan Fu-jen, Li Shou-hsuan, Tsui Tien-min, Chiang Wen, Huang Wen-ming, Li Chen, Li Tien-huan, Tsai Shun-li, Kung Shih-chuan, Cheng Wei-shan, Tan Hsi-lin, Han Wei, Lo Yuan-fa, Teng Hai-ching, Wu Hsien-en, Fu Chung-pi, Hsiao Wen-chiu, Chang Nan-sheng, Wang Tzu-feng, Chen Hsien-jui, Huang Chen-tang, Huang Tso-chen, Tan Kuan-san, Kuo Tien-min and Tung Chi-wu;
Members of the group in charge of the cultural revolution under the Central Committee of the Party: Chang Chun-chiao, Hsieh Tang-chung, Wang Li, Kuan Feng, Chi Pen-yu, Mu Hsin and Yao Wen-yuan;
Leading members of various departments and commissions under the Party’s Central Committee and the State Council: Wang Tung-hsing, Tseng Ti, Hsiung Fu, Chou Jung-hsin, Yu Chiu-li, Ku Mu, Chi Peng-fei, Yang Chi-ching, Chiang Yi-chen, Liu Wen-hui, Lu Tung, Hsu Chin-chiang, Tuan Chun-yi, Liu Chieh, Wu Jung-feng, Wang Cheng, Chiu Chuang-cheng, Fang Chiang, Wang Ping-chang, Chung Tzu-yun, Kang Shih-en, Ho Chang-kung, Liu Yu-min, Lai Chi-fa, Chiang Kuang-nai, Chien Chih-kuang, Hsu Yun-pei, Sun Ta-kuang, Chu Hsueh-fan, Yuan Pao-hua, Wu Po, Sha Chien-li, Chen Kuo-tung, Wang Lei, Lin Hai-yun, Hsiao Wang-tung, Ho Wei, Chien Hsin-chung, Jung Kao-tang, Chang Hsi-jo, Chu Tu-nan, Lin Yi-hsin, Hu Li-chiao, Hsueh Mu-chiao, Chung Min, Hsieh Yu-fa, Wang Ping, Tang Ping-chu and Wang Tao-yi;
Leading members of the North China Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee: Hsieh Hsueh-kung, Su Chien-yi and Chih Pi-ching;
Leading members of the Peking Municipal Party Committee: Yung Wen-tao, Kao Yang-wen and Ma Li.
Also present on the Tien An Men rostrum were scientists and technicians who have made contributions to the country’s economic construction and national defence.
Chairman Mao Celebrates National Day Evening With a Million People
In the evening, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, our most respected and beloved leader, returned to the jubilant mass scene on Tien An Men Square for an affectionate meeting with the revolutionary masses and joined them in the evening celebrations.
Round after round of zooming festive fireworks lit up the sky.
Chairman Mao arrived by car in front of Tien An Men at 9:30 p.m. Wearing an olive green military uniform and in high spirits, Chairman Mao walked firmly across the Chinshui Bridge to join the masses on the Square. The Red Guards celebrating near the bridge cheered loudly at the sight of the Chairman: “Here comes Chairman Mao! Here comes Chairman Mao!”
Chairman Mao, smiling, waved cordially to the crowd. Waving their bright red copies of Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung, people cheered with excitement: “Long live Chairman Mao, and long life, long, long life to him!” and sang in unison Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman again and again.
The cheering and singing grew louder and louder but still the people felt they could not express their infinite love for Chairman Mao to the full. The hearts of the revolutionary masses and Chairman Mao were joined as one. Chairman Mao, Premier Chou En-lai and other leading comrades then sat on the ground and joined the people in their celebrations.
Leaving the central bridge, Chairman Mao went to another bridge to the west to meet revolutionary masses there. As he later left the Square, he warmly shook hands with Red Guards and men of the People’s Liberation Army around him.
Chairman Mao then ascended the red flag-bedecked Tien An Men rostrum to join the principal Party and state leaders Comrades Liu Shao-chi, Tung Pi-wu, Chou En-lai, Tao Chu, Kang Sheng, Chu Teh, Li Fu-chun, Chen Yi, Tan Chen-lin, Yeh Chien-ying, Ulanfu, Hsieh Fu-chih, Yang Cheng-wu, Chiang Ching and other leading members of the departments concerned, and anti-imperialist revolutionary fighters from the five continents together with other foreign friends to watch the fireworks display.
At this moment, joyful cheers filled the Square as the crowd of close to a million people looked up to the Tien An Men rostrum and greeted Chairman Mao heartily. They said:
“Look, how healthy our Chairman Mao is, Chairman Mao spent six hours or so in the day-time to celebrate National Day with the revolutionary masses and now he is with us again. His being so fit and well is the greatest happiness for the Chinese people and the revolutionary people of the whole world!”
“Chairman Mao is in our midst and he sits among us. Chairman Mao is a specially great and yet ordinary man. We are infinitely honoured and filled with boundless happiness to have such a leader!”
“Chairman Mao has the greatest confidence in the masses and he maintains the closest contacts with them. He likes most to meet the masses and he gives the fullest backing to their revolutionary actions. Chairman Mao has given us inspiration as well as strength. We will always follow Chairman Mao in making revolution!”
More than one and a half million people took part in the capital’s evening festivities which centred around Tien An Men Square but were also held at the Peking Workers’ Stadium, Tsinghua University and Taojanting Park. Everywhere revolutionary teachers and students from other parts of China, brimming with revolutionary zeal, joined the vast throngs in the capital to sing songs in praise of the great leader Chairman Mao and Mao Tse-tung’s invincible thought. Countless songs gave expression to the boundless love of the revolutionary people for Chairman Mao— the reddest, reddest sun in our hearts!
Premier Chou En-lai Gives Grand Reception
Premier of the State Council Chou En-lai gave a grand reception on the evening of September 30 in celebration of the 17th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Among the Party and state leaders who attended the reception were: Comrades Tao Chu, Chen Po-ta, Teng Hsiao-ping, Kang Sheng, Chu Teh, Li Fu-chun, Chen Yi, Ho Lung, Li Hsien-nien, Tan Chen-lin, Hsu Hsiang-chien, Nieh Jung-chen, Yeh Chien-ying, Li Hsueh-feng, Hsieh Fu-chih, Liu Ning-I, Hsiao Hua, Yang Cheng-wu and Chiang Ching.
The grand reception was held in the magnificent Great Hall of the People. At six p.m. Premier Chou En-lai and other leaders entered the reception hall together with representatives of China’s workers, peasants and soldiers, the national minorities and the revolutionary masses of all circles, visiting overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hongkong and Macao, and anti-imperialist revolutionary fighters and friends from the five continents. At the start of the reception, the over 4,000 Chinese and foreign guests present stood up and cheered the Chinese people’s glorious holiday with continuous, thunderous applause, while the band spiritedly played We Are Marching on the Broad Road.
The hall presented a moving scene of universal rejoicing. The representatives of the various circles in China and foreign friends, with great fervour, made repeated toasts to the triumphant progress of China’s unparalleled great proletarian cultural revolution, to the tremendous achievements China has made in socialist revolution and socialist construction to the fighting unity of the Chinese people and the world’s revolutionary peoples, to the long, long life of our great leader Chairman Mao, the red sun in the hearts of the people of the whole world.
Premier Chou En-lai made a speech at the reception which was time and again interrupted by the hearty applause of the Chinese and foreign guests (See full text of speech on p. 11).
Prior to the reception, over 350 young Red Guards had mounted the rostrum and stood in line under a huge portrait of the great leader Chairman Mao. With infinite revolutionary feeling, they had read in unison two quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung: “The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party. The theoretical basis guiding our thinking is Marxism-Leninism” and “In the fight for complete liberation the oppressed people rely first of all on their own struggle and then, and only then, on international assistance. The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty.”
Then one of the Red Guards came in front and saluted the entire body of Chinese and foreign guests present on behalf of the Red Guards of the capital. The girl said proudly: “The fire of the revolutionary cauldron gives off the reddest glow; the era of Mao Tse-tung yields heroes! We are the young red soldiers of Chairman Mao, and he is the reddest, reddest sun in our hearts. He is our supreme commander, the greatest red commander.”
She went on to say: “Under the personal guidance of Chairman Mao and nurtured in Mao Tse-tung’s thought, we are tempering ourselves and maturing in the winds and waves of class struggle. We follow Chairman Mao closely. In the great proletarian cultural revolution, we wrathfully swing the massive cudgel to rebel against the old world. We are critics of the old world and builders and defenders of the new world.” “We Red Guards,” she continued, “love most to read Chairman Mao’s writings and follow his teachings. We will certainly act according to his instructions to unite closely with revolutionary people of the whole world, fight shoulder to shoulder with them to overthrow U.S. imperialism, modern revisionism and all reactionaries!”
Expressing their infinite love for, faith in and veneration for the great leader Chairman Mao, the alert and militant young Red Guards sang in succession The East Is Red, The Song of the Revolutionary Rebels, We Are Marching on the Broad Road and Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman. Their vital singing won warm, prolonged applause from the hall. The Red Guards then held high overhead bright red copies of the Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung and, with the greatest enthusiasm, resoundingly cheered “Long live Chairman Mao, and long life, long, long life to him!” while the entire hall vibrated with the sound of clapping and rejoicing.
The hour-long reception was characterized by strong revolutionary militancy from beginning to end. It closed to the prolonged stormy applause of the Chinese and foreign guests while the band played the lively strains of Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman.
Nationwide Rejoicing
As in Peking, the people in other cities throughout the land also staged celebrations with boundless revolutionary zeal.
Countless red flags were flown and revolutionary songs sung in Shanghai, the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party, and the cities of Kwangchow, Shenyang, Sian and Chengtu, as well as the capitals of the five autonomous regions of national minorities, Huhehot (Inner Mongolia), Urumchi (Sinkiang), Lhasa (Tibet), Nanning (Kwangsi) and Yinchuan (Ningsia). In each of these and other cities, from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of revolutionary people held mammoth rallies and parades.
In the celebrations, workers and rural people’s commune members, who have made great contributions to China’s socialist revolution and construction, commanders and fighters of the heroic People’s Liberation Army, Red Guards, who are the shock force and path-breakers of the great proletarian cultural revolution to which they have made immortal contributions, and other revolutionary people demonstrated their boundless love for, faith in and veneration for their most respected and beloved leader Chairman Mao and Mao Tse-tung’s invincible thought.
Rising like the ocean waves were joyous shouts of “Long live the People’s Republic of China.” “Long live the Chinese Communist Party,” “Long live Mao Tse-tung’s invincible thought” and “Long live Chairman Mao, the great teacher, the great leader, the great supreme commander and the great helmsman.” The songs The East Is Red and Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman echoed and re-echoed everywhere like thunder.
Representatives of workers, peasants, P.L.A. men and young Red Guards made speeches at the celebration rallies, singing the warmest praises of the great leader Chairman Mao and Mao Tse-tung’s invincible thought. They said they would make further contributions to the socialist revolution and socialist construction of the motherland, and raise high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought to carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end.
Leading members of the Bureaux under the Party Central Committee, of the Party and government organizations of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions and of local army units attended the rallies.
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