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The tenth anniversary celebrations of the People's Republic of China were held on October 1, 1959. The main event was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The preceding evening, a grand banquet with many international dignitaries had been organized.
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Constructions
In Beijing, ten "great buildings" were constructed ahead of the celebrations. The most prominent of the ten was the Great Hall of the People.
September 28–29 celebratory meeting
On September 28 and 29, 1959 a meeting of more than 10,000 people was held in the Great Hall of the People. Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi were present at the dias. Liu Shaoqi held a keynote speech at the meeting. Prominent international guests at the event included Ho Chi Minh, Mikhail Suslov, Emil Bodnăraș, Hermann Matern, Mehmet Shehu, Dimitar Ganev, István Dobi, Aleksander Zawadzki, Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, Kim Il-sung and Antonín Novotný.
September 30 banquet
On the evening of September 30, 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 Nikita Khrushchev entered the hall together, meeting applause. Zhou Enlai and Khruschev presented their greetings at the banquet. The Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko also participated in the banquet.
Khruschev 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.
October 1 Tianmen 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 Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev entered the dias. Other dignitaries on the dias included Liu Shaoqi, Soong Ching-ling, Lin Biao, Zhu De, Dong Biwu, Deng Xiaoping and various international guests.
The mayor of Peking, Peng Zhen, declared the ceremony open at 10.00. The national anthem 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 Lin Biao, a military parade began, followed by a parade of workers, peasants, students and athletes.
International delegations at the main events in Peking
At the September 30 banquet, a number of international delegations assisted, representing communist and workers parties and governments. Names of head of delegation in brackets.
Socialist Bloc
There were eleven joint state-party delegations from the Socialist Bloc, representing;
There were also military delegations present, from Vietnam (headed by Vo Nguyen Giap) and North Korea (headed by Kim Kwang Hyup)
Africa
Americas
Asia and Pacific
Europe
Other state delegations
Official state delegations from non-socialist countries included;
International organizations
Daqing oil fields
On September 26, 1959, just a few days ahead of the anniversary, oil was discovered at Datongzhen. Datong Town and the oilfields were renamed 'Daqing' ('Great Celebration'), in reference to the tenth anniversary celebrations.
Other regions
Major parades were also organized in Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Xian, Wuhan, Shenyang and Tianjin.