National Day chance to share with world New China's journey

A grand gathering that will include a speech by President Xi Jinping, a military parade and a people's pageant, is to be held in Beijing on Oct 1 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The military parade is sure to grab considerable attention as always. But if the grand event is only seen as China taking the opportunity as a rising power to display its military muscle, people will not see the forest for the trees.

Although the large-scale celebration may seem routine in many ways, it is actually a symbolic event full of telling signs of how the country's past is to be remembered, and how its future is envisioned.