Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are squatting on the ground in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Their uniforms look distressed, their five-pointed star balloons capsule, and their rifles have been planted with old-fashioned bayonets. So it shows a historical photo, taken on October 1, 1949.
Shortly before, the Communists had won the Chinese Civil War. Later that day, their leader, Mao Zedong, will climb the Tiananmen Gate, where today his larger-than-life portrait hangs. From there he proclaims the founding of the People's Republic.
On Tuesday, China's current party leader Xi Jinping will be in exactly the same spot as Mao. If he decreases the celebrations for the 70th anniversary, the contrast to the backward early days could hardly be greater:
- 15,000 soldiers will deploy in circled formations in front of the goal,
- 160 fighter planes, drones and bombers are thundering over their heads,
- 580 modern tanks pass by.
- China will demonstrate its Dongfeng-41 ballistic intercontinental ballistic missile, which is said to carry several nuclear warheads and reach the United States, as well as weaponry never seen before, according to military officials.
It will be the largest military parade in China's history.
At that time a war-torn country with $ 760 per capita per annum, now a military and technological superpower - this story of rise is to send the parade to the citizens of China and to the world.
According to the Chinese leadership, the country owes this development to none other than the Communist Party, and according to official propaganda, Xi is its "core." Unchallenged, he is at the top of the list after he has defeated his political opponents by means of cleansing campaigns , fueled revolutionary nostalgia and intensified ideological control - similar methods to those used by Mao. He paid tribute to Xi on Monday morning, paying his respects to Mao's embalmed corpse in his mausoleum and bowing to his statue three times. A rare gesture of humility, for the last time he was there six years ago.
With the military parade, Xi stages himself as a strong man. For him that comes at the right time. Even though his position is strengthened internally, he is under considerable pressure from the outside these days.
There is the trade war with the US, which additionally puts a strain on the already slowing economy. There is foreign criticism of conditions in the western province of Xinjiang, where Beijing has blocked a seven-digit number of Muslims in camps. And there are the protests in Hong Kong that did not see China's leadership coming - and that they can not take control of. Faced with these problems, it is only fitting that she can remind the world tomorrow what resistance she has overcome in the past 70 years. How far she has come, despite numerous setbacks.
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THE MIRROR
The military parade will take the same route as the tanks that rolled over Chang'an Avenue on the night of June 4, 1989, in an attempt to put a bloody end to the occupation of Tiananmen Square by democracy activists. In this case, the symbolism is brought about by chance rather than intentionally, because at such important events in Beijing on this central route is not over. Nevertheless, many Hong Kong protesters may feel queasy when they see the television pictures.
"Political power comes from gun barrels," Mao once said. It is to be hoped that Xi will not take any role model in this respect in the founder of the state.