Collective memories in the nation's history

Iconic auteur Chen Kaige clearly remembers the events of Oct 16, 1964, when he was walking home after school in downtown Beijing.

Then a sudden flood of pedestrians carried him along to Wangfujing Street, around four kilometers from his school.

When then 12-year-old Chen looked up, he saw copies of People's Daily being thrown into the air, with the front page headline "China successfully explodes its first atomic bomb".