National Day - by day

Alarm at 4:30 am, a bike ride through dark, quiet streets, with just a few people briskly walking in the general direction on Tian'anmen. Left the bike at the Beijing Hotel, thought I would just walk the two blocks to Tian'anmen...

...it was then that I began to realize that this National Day flag raising event was mainly an exercise in Chinese crowd control. They channeled us South on a side street, the entire length of Tian'anmen. The streams of people began to merge into the main channel like tributaries into the mighty Yangtze. After traversing the southern end of Tian'anmen from East to West, we were forced to first go further south and around barriers before being able to walk North along the West side of the Square. But they were not letting anyone near the Square itself (later I saw that they had let some early risers in there, but then blocked it off). There was the ususal pushing, shoving and jockeying for position. There were friendly people, pushy people and thieves (what you would expect in any massive crowd).

Just when people had more or less resigned themselves to seeing the flag go up from a great distance - kids hoisted onto shoulders for a better view - the flood gates to the street were opened and people were allowed to move towards Tian'anmen.

I cannot even guess at the number of people, because it was impossible to get an overview. On my way home, I noticed that there were seats for VIPs in front of the Forbidden City facing Tian'anmen - wonder what it takes to get those! Probably more than just a few nice mooncakes...

Of course, the flag raising - after 1.5 hours of trying to get to it - was totally anti-climactic. No singing, little cheering, mini Chinese flags waved by kids, and a limp flag on a hazy morning. Then began the challenge of returning home.