National Day

Today, October 1, China celebrates its National Day. On this date in 1949, the People's Republic of China was officially formed by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. Janet and I have a week of vacation in honor of the occasion.

Tonight there will be fireworks to celebrate the Chinese National Day in Victoria Harbor. We are planning to head downtown to try and find a restaurant that serves burritos and margaritas and then will go to the waterfront to catch the 9:15 fireworks show.

Now that Hong Kong is once again a part of China, they too observe the celebration of Chinese National Day, despite the fact that they were under British rule for the first 48 years of the party. Additionally, a number of people living in Hong Kong came here from the mainland to escape from the CCP and they likely do not feel a great deal of excitement on the occasion. One Hong Kong resident told me that the government has been running a number of programs over the past few years to help instill "patriotism" to the Hong Kong citizens. I don't think these programs have met with much success.

While Hong Kong shares the language and ethnic background with some of those on the mainland, their histories have been very different. During the time that Hong Kong was under British control, mainland China was controlled by the last of the Ming Emperors, Sun Yat-Sen, and Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalist Party before coming under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949. Contrasting that with the relative stable condition of Hong Kong, it makes it easy to see why they may not feel much shared history with the current Chinese government (other than the past 10 years now that they have been returned by the British).

Back in the mainland however, my students and the fellow teachers seemed quite excited about the National Day. They were all looking forward to a week with no school and the chance to travel home to visit with family and friends. Before we left school, a wall had been painted by the students in honor of the 58th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and celebrating their accomplishments. Much has been accomplished in China, particularly since Deng Xiaopeng's Opening and Economic Reforms and it will be interesting to see what continues to happen in China in the future.

In the meantime though, I'm going to enjoy a week of relaxation, western-style food and relative obscurity in Hong Kong.