Revisiting history: How China Daily celebrated National Day

Front page, Oct 1, 1999

1999: The 50th anniversary

Nation celebrated the achievements that the Chinese people had made in the 50 years since the founding of New China on Oct 1, 1999.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China, then-Premier Zhu Rongji said that the enormous achievements the Chinese people have scored have gone down as the most brilliant chapters in the annals of the Chinese nation.

Also, China's progress had deeply impressed foreigners working in the country, like William J. Sullivan, a professor teaching at the Beijing-based China National School of Administration and who has been living in China for several years.

Sullivan has been teaching and developing a training program in the school for some seven years.

"In these seven years, remarkable changes have been taking place in China, not only in the fields of economy and urban construction, but also in the political categories," Sullivan said at a ceremony in which he was endowed a Friendship Award by the State.