Tiananmen Square on June 30th (courtesy of The Atlantic)
July 1st was CPC Founding Day.
For the past two months or so, television shows and ads, billboards, and banners have been rejoicing the NINETY years of the Communist Party of China. Many TV shows and movies have been banned or temporarily postponed to make room for lofty nationalist themes that showcase the Party's formation, solidarity, and history.
a TV Mao Zedong in the popular series Hong Se Lao Yan, "The Red Cradle"
Over 100 famous Chinese/Hong Kong actors "volunteered," for example, to star in 建党伟业 (jian dang wei ye) or "The Beginning of the Great Revival" (trailer here). We saw it in our local Beijing cinema (for, I should note, a MUCH cheaper ticket price than any other movie I've seen here) and most reactions from the audience were those of amusement and surprise at the celebrities appearing in roles as Chiang Kai-Shek, (a very alluring) Mao Ze Dong, Zhou Enlai and the Empress Cixi.
As the New York Times notes in a particularly astute article, "Great Revival" is sort of necessarily popular (my friend Zhang, who teaches at a film school, says his students all received free passes); I think Transformers and maybe Kung Fu Panda were even put on the back burner so theaters could show the film instead (it's mandatory to screen in all cinema).
The East is Red! (thanks Atlantic)
In conclusion, here is a nice 3D animated video celebrating some historic moments of Communist China's history. The song is entitled "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" (没有共产党就没有新中国). It's pretty great.
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