Changing China

China’s 60th anniversary : Live

4:30 pm : China celebrated its wealth and rising might with a show of goose-stepping troops, floats and nuclear-capable missiles, 60 years after Mao Zedong proclaimed its embrace of communism.

The two hour-parade of picture-perfect soldiers, tanks and missiles, floats and 100,000 well-drilled civilians was a proud moment for many Chinese citizens, as reporters Ben Blanchard and Lucy Hornby write.

The weather was perfect too, with the Chinese air force deploying a "magic-like" range of chemicals and technology to clear Beijing's smoggy air.

Here's another image from the grand parade:

The Other China Stimulus

By Zhou Xin

As the world watches how Beijing’s $585 billion stimulus package can create opportunities for investors, they might be overlooking another mini-stimulus that is coming in a matter of weeks: the lavish celebration the government will be staging to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1.

On top of what is expected to be a huge military parade through central Beijing, massive firework displays are expected to light up the capital and other big cities around the country.

Although overall spending figures are secret, speculation about the windfall profits that the country’s only listed fireworks firm could reap from the event have caused its share price to, well, explode over the last month or so.

Panda Fireworks shares have more than doubled in value over the past month, even amid a more than 14 percent fall in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index over the same period. (See the chart plotting their values and relative performance.)

The company, which had revenue last year of about 173 million yuan ($25 million) and profits of 13.6 million yuan, announced on Monday that it was “engaged in some bidding” that would add 5-10 million yuan to its profits this year.

Chiang knew he’d lose to Mao

War is the last thing on the minds of Taiwan’s leaders these days as the island government moves to make friends with rival China. Even in far more hostile times, Taiwan’s KMT leadership had privately given up dreams of using force to take control of the mainland, according to documents that are now available for public viewing.

A public opening in May of the forested Back Cihu compound outside Taipei teaches 400 eager visitors per day how the island-based Republic of China government aimed to strike back at the Communist People’s Republic of China, but it ultimately abandoned the idea.

As the county now in charge of Back Cihu worked toward opening the site and its historical treasures to visitors, it came across documents left over from strongman Chiang Kai-shek, detailing schemes to retake China in the 1950s through the early 1970s. Visitors can see some of the records at Back Cihu, which features five buildings and a tunnel that would have housed the government if Beijing ever attacked central Taipei.