BERIBBONED: Mao
declares the birth of the communist Peoplešs Republic
Oct. 1, 1949
New China Is Born
By Matthew Forney
Mao Zedong inexplicably arrived an hour early at the red-lacquered Gate
of Eternal Peace, entrance to the 500-year-old palace of China's
emperors. He had chosen a symbol of ancient power in which to declare
his new China. The man in charge of preparations, a loyal soldier named
Guo Ying, 24, who had been fighting with the communists since he was 13,
seated Mao in the former emperor's waiting room and fetched him a bowl
of apples. There Guo learned that Mao, in his haste, had forgotten the
ribbon that each new leader pins to his tunic.
Just outside, in
Tiananmen Square, 300,000 people squinted through a yellow haze of soot
to see the man who, after two decades of fighting, had routed the
American-backed forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. As Mao waited,
Guo dispatched a comrade to find a piece of red satin and write
"chairman" upon it in gold. That crisis averted, Mao stood on the
rostrum above a massive portrait of himself and announced in his peasant
brogue, "The central government of the People's Republic of China is
established!" "Long live Chairman Mao!" answered the crowd, which began
cheering soldiers fresh from battle as they marched in the new country's
first military parade. Guo stood behind Mao and wept for "a victory won
with the blood of millions of revolutionaries."
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