The 10th anniversary celebrations of founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

were held on 1 October 1959. The main event was held in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. A grand banquet with many international dignitaries had been organized on the preceding evening.Peking Review.
National Day, 1959
'. 6 October 1959. No. 40. pp. 4–6

Celebrations in Beijing

China 10th Anniversary Parade in Beijing 01

28–29 September celebratory meeting

On 28 and 29 September 1959 a meeting of more than 10,000 people was held in the

Great Hall of the People The Great Hall of the People is a state building situated to the west of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of the People's Republic of China. The People's Great Hall functions as ...

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Liu Shaoqi Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959, first-ranking Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communis ...

were present at the dias. President Liu Shaoqi held a keynote speech at the meeting. Prominent international guests at the event included

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

Mikhail Suslov Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov (; 25 January 1982) was a Soviet people, Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union#Secretariat, Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Sovi ...

Emil Bodnăraș Emil Bodnăraș (10 February 1904 – 24 January 1976) was a Romanian Romanian Communist Party, communist politician, an army officer (armed forces), officer, and a Soviet Union, Soviet Espionage, agent, who had considerable influence in the So ...

, Hermann Matern,

Mehmet Shehu Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 18, 1981) was an Albanian Communism, communist politician who served as the Prime Minister of Albania, Prime Minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1954 to 1981. He was known ...

Dimitar Ganev Dimitar Ganev Varbanov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Ганев Варбанов) (28 October 1898 – 20 April 1964) was a Bulgarian communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the soc ...

István Dobi István Dobi (; 31 December 1898 – 24 November 1968) was a Hungarian communist politician who was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1948 to 1952 and Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1952 to 1967. Ear ...

, Aleksander Zawadzki,

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal (; 17 September 1916 – 20 April 1991) was a Mongolian politician who led the Mongolian People's Republic from 1952 to 1984. He served as General Secretary of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party from 194 ...

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

and

Antonín Novotný Antonín Josef Novotný (; 10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968, and as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968. ...

30 September banquet

On the evening of 30 September 1959, a jubilee banquet was hosted in the Great Hall of the People. Around 5,000 people attended the banquet, including guests from around 80 countries. Mao Zedong and Soviet Premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

entered the hall together, meeting applause. Chinese Premier

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

and Soviet Premier Khrushchev presented their greetings at the banquet. The Soviet Foreign Minister

Andrei Gromyko Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko ( – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1957–1985) and as List of heads of state of the So ...

also participated in the banquet. Khrushchev had arrived directly from a visit to the United States on the same day. He held a short speech upon his arrival at the airport.

1 October Tiananmen Square parade

According to Chinese media, the Tiananmen Square event gathered 700,000 people. At Tiananmen Square participants formed a human version of the national emblem of the People's Republic with the numerals '1949' and '1959' on the sides. A band of one thousand musicians with brass instruments and olive-green uniforms opened the event, playing '' The East is Red'' at 09.45. At this point

and

entered the dias. Other dignitaries on the dias included

Soong Ching-ling Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 1893 – 29 May 1981), Christian name Rosamonde or Rosamond, was a Chinese political figure. She was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, therefore known by Madame Sun Yat-sen and the "''Father of the Nation, Mother of Mode ...

Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...

Zhu De Zhu De; (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

Dong Biwu Dong Biwu ( zh , c=董必武 , p=Dǒng Bìwǔ , w=Tung Pi-wu; 5 March 1886 – 2 April 1975) was a Chinese communist revolutionary and politician, who served as acting Chairman of the People's Republic of China between 1972 and 1975. Early li ...

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

and various international guests. The mayor of Peking,

Peng Zhen Peng Zhen (pronounced ; October 12, 1902 – April 26, 1997) was a Chinese politician and leading member of the Chinese Communist Party. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War i ...

, declared the ceremony open at 10.00. The

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

was played and a delegation of 400 Young Pioneers presented a floral tribute at the People's Heroes Monument. After a speech by Defense Minister

, a military parade began, followed by a parade of workers, peasants, students and athletes.

International delegations at the main events in Beijing

At the 30 September banquet, a number of international delegations assisted, representing communist and workers parties and governments.Peking Review.
Guests of Honour Present at the Banquet
'. 6 October 1959. No. 40. pp. 11–12

State delegations

International organizations

Party delegations

* Algerian Communist Party ( Larbi Bouhali) *

Communist Party of Argentina The Communist Party of Argentina (, abbr. PCA) is a communist party in Argentina. It is a member of the Unión por la Patria, the former ruling coalition which supported former President Alberto Fernández. It was founded on 6 January 1 ...

( Victorio Codovilla) * Brazilian Communist Party ( Luis Carlos Prestes) *

Communist Party of Bolivia The Communist Party of Bolivia () is a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party (PIR). It remained small and did not hold its first national party congr ...

( Jesús Lara) *

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (LPP; ) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada and its provincial wings from 1943 to 1959. It was established amid World War II after a number of prominent Communist Party members w ...

, Canada ( Nelson Clarke) *

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile (, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile (, JJ.CC), in 1932. ...

(José González) * Colombian Communist Party ( Víctor J. Merchán) * People's Vanguard Party,

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

(Arnoldo Ferreto) * Popular Socialist Party,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

( Anibal Escalante) *

Communist Party of Ecuador The Communist Party of Ecuador ( Spanish: ''Partido Comunista del Ecuador'') is a communist party in Ecuador that split from the Socialist Party in 1930, after having been a part of the PSE since the party's inception in 1926. The party still m ...

( Alejandro Idrovo) *

Guatemalan Party of Labour The Guatemalan Labour Party (''Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo'') was a Marxist-Leninist party in Guatemala. It existed from 1949 to 1998. It gained prominence during the government of Jacobo Arbenz. It was one of the main forces of oppositio ...

Mexican Communist Party The Mexican Communist Party (, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name to the ''Mexican Communist ...

* Socialist Party of Nicaragua * Paraguayan Communist Party (Rogelio Espíndola) *

Communist Party of Uruguay The Communist Party of Uruguay (, PCU) is a communist party in Uruguay, founded on 21 September 1920 by members of the Socialist Party who had endorsed the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks. The current secretary-general of the PCU is Juan ...

(Enrique Rodríguez) *

Communist Party of Venezuela The Communist Party of Venezuela (, PCV) is a communist party in Venezuela. Founded in 1931, it is the oldest active political party in Venezuela, and was the country's main leftist party until it fractured into rival factions in 1971. The P ...

( Jesús Faría) *

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

( Lance Sharkey) *

Communist Party of Ceylon The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (; ) is a communist party in Sri Lanka. In the 2004 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2004 legislative election, the party was part of the United People's Freedom Alliance that won 45.6% of the popular vote and ...

(K.P. de Silva) *

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

( Ajoy Ghosh) *

Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its Indo ...

( Njoto) *

Tudeh Party of Iran The Tudeh Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddegh's campaign to nationalize ...

('Tubali') *

Iraqi Communist Party The Iraqi Communist Party ( '; ) is a communist party and the oldest active party in Iraq. Since its foundation in 1934, it has dominated the left in Iraqi politics. It played a prominent role in shaping the political history of Iraq between it ...

(Mohammed Hussein Abu al-Iss) * Israeli Communist Party (Tzvi Breitstein) *

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

( Sanzo Nosaka) *

Jordanian Communist Party The Jordanian Communist Party (JCP; , ''al-Hizb al-Shuyu'i al-Urduni'') is a communist party in Jordan, founded in 1948. Its current general secretary is Saud Qubailat. It publishes ''al-Jamahir'' (, "The Masses"). History In June 1952, the P ...

( Fu'ad Nassar) *

Lebanese Communist Party The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP; , transliterated: ) is a communist party in Lebanon. It was founded in 1943 as a division of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party into the Syrian Communist Party and the Lebanese Communist Party, but the divi ...

( Hasan Qraytim) *

Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal (), abbreviated CPN, was a communist party in Nepal from 1949 to 1962. It was founded on 15 September 1949 to struggle against the autocratic Rana regime, feudalism, and imperialism. The founding general secretary ...

( Keshar Jung Rayamjhi) *

Communist Party of New Zealand The Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ) was a communist party in New Zealand which existed from 1921 to 1994. Although spurred to life by events in Soviet Russia in the aftermath of World War I, the party had roots in pre-existing revolutio ...

( V. G. Wilcox) *

Syrian Communist Party The Syrian Communist Party () was a political party in Syria founded in 1944 as a division of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party, which later split into the Syrian Communist Party and the Lebanese Communist Party. In 1972, it became a memb ...

( Khaled Bakdash) *

Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP� ...

( Johann Koplenig) *

Communist Party of Belgium The Communist Party of Belgium (, , KPB; , , PCB) was a political party in Belgium from 1921 to 1989. The youth wing of KPB/PCB was known as the Communist Youth of Belgium. The party published a newspaper known as ''Le Drapeau Rouge'' in French ...

(Franz van den Branden) *

Communist Party of Denmark The Communist Party of Denmark (, DKP) is a communist party in Denmark. The DKP was founded on 9 November 1919 as the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark (, VSP), through a merger of the Socialist Youth League and Socialist Labour Party of Denma ...

(Robert Sartori) *

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

( Aimo Aaltonen) *

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

( Waldeck Rochet) *

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

('Karl') *

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from July 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt ...

) *

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

( Apostolos Grozos) * People's Unity Party – Socialist Party,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

(Eggert Þorbjarnarson) *

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

( Girolamo Li Causi) *

Communist Party of Luxembourg The Communist Party of Luxembourg (; ; ; KPL or PCL) is a communist party in Luxembourg. is the current chairman of the party. History The KPL was founded on 2 January 1921, in the town of Niederkorn, making it one of the oldest parties ...

( Dominique Urbany) *

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the ...

(G. Pothoven) *

Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway (, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported the Soviet government while oppo ...

( Jørgen Vogt) *

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

* Sammarinese Communist Party ( Umberto Barulli) *

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(

Dolores Ibárruri Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (; 9 December 189512 November 1989), also known as ("the passionate one" or Passion flower"), was a Spanish Republican politician during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and a communist. She is renowned for ...

) * Communist Party of Sweden ( Hilding Hagberg) *

Swiss Party of Labour The Swiss Party of Labour (; ; ; ) is a communist party in Switzerland. History The party was founded in 1944 by the illegal Communist Party of Switzerland. On 21 May, the constituent conference of the Basel Federation of the party was held. ...

( Guido Cavagna) * Communist Party of Turkey

Other commemorations

In Beijing, ten "great buildings" were constructed ahead of the celebrations. The most prominent of the ten was the

. On 26 September 1959, just a few days ahead of the anniversary, oil was discovered at Datongzhen. Datong Town and the oilfields were renamed '

Daqing Daqing () is a prefecture-level city in the west of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. The name literally means "Great Celebration" and refers to the tenth anniversary of the PRC. Daqing is known as the "Oil Capital of China" a ...

' ('Great Celebration'), in reference to the tenth anniversary celebrations.

Marius Vassiliou Marius Vassiliou (born 1957) is an American computational scientist, geophysicist, and aerospace executive. He is also an authority on the history of petroleum. Vassiliou is of Greek Cypriot descent and was educated at Harvard University and t ...

,
The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry
'. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2009. p. 152
People's Republic of China year-book, Vol. 29
'. 2009. p. 613 Major parades were also organized in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

and

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

References

External links

China's Tenth Anniversary 1959 (English Subtitles)《庆祝建国十周年》
{{Military Parades of the People's Liberation Army 1959 in China Military parades in China Chinese historical anniversaries