China 'flexing its muscles' through dancers, singers?

I've been to a lot of parades but I've never experienced anything like the big show we just had in Beijing to mark the National Day.

One of biggest differences between the Oct 1 parade - which celebrated the passing of 60 years since the 1949 founding of New China - and the ones I have enjoyed in other cities was that this one was by invitation-only.

When I first heard it was to be staged before an invited audience, I was incredulous - and not a little disappointed.