Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China were held on 10 October 2011, on the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. It was celebrated in both mainland China and Taiwan, ruled by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) respectively, but the connotation and significance of the celebrations varied between the two.
The official Double Ten Day ceremony began on the morning of 10 October 2011 when a flag raising ceremony was held. Subsequent activities followed, including a military parade involving more than 1,000 military personnel, 71 aircraft and 168 vehicles.[5] The personnel number is however much smaller than celebrations in the past. The slogan of the ceremony is "Republic of China, Splendid 100" (中華民國，精彩一百).[6]
There were also 5634 people who reportedly married exactly on the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, at 10 minutes to 10 am on 10 October.[9] This is double 2010 and 18 times more than the average day.[9]
In Wuhan the government officials spent 43 million yuan in restoring three 1911 heritage sites,[11] but they were careful in not letting the celebration outshine the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party that took place in July.[11] In addition, from 27 August to 10 October, Wuhan's security forces were supported with thousands of officers including 100 paramilitary police and 200 special police armed with submachine guns on street duty with 250,000 surveillance cameras.[12] The celebration is referred to as "100th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution".[13] Since January 2011, Guangzhou has held its own celebrations to commemorate the Guangzhou uprisings.[14] At the Guangdong Museum of Revolutionary History separate celebrations were held in October 2011.[14] In the PRC, the event is generally not referred to as the "100th anniversary of the Republic of China", but as the "100th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution".
Culture
In 2010, one of the main anniversary events was to make a film on the life of Sun Yat-sen shot in places where he lived and worked, including Britain, Singapore, Japan and Hawaii. The government provided NT$20 million for the film.[3] Movies such as 1911 were also made for the 100th anniversary. The Discovery Channel and the ROC aligned for a three-part special show.[15] In Macau, a tour of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary trail was launched for the 100th anniversary.[16]Hong Kong Post also launched Centenary Xinhai Revolution stamps.[17]
Additional responses
Taiwan green-camp and aboriginal responses
Keynotes made by Hu Jintao were interpreted by members of the Taiwan independence movement as exploiting the image of Sun Yat-sen to intensify measures against the movement.[18] Taiwan aboriginal rights activists of the Sediq National Assembly who represent the Atayal people announced a headhunt against the ROC government.[19] The headhunts usually get rid of evil spirits.[20] The activists compared the ROC government to the Japanese colonial government that preceded it which took their people's land and resources. The Indigeonous People's Coalition said there is nothing to celebrate as the aboriginals have suffered under the government.[19] They performed their own mgaya ceremony.[19] Some have said the ROC government is a "Chinese government in exile" and should be out of Taiwan.[5] But Pan-green DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen famously said "The ROC is Taiwan, Taiwan is the ROC" for the first time in her career.[21]
Criticism was in particular directed at the PRC, saying that the government spend more money on its poor, sick and elderly instead on the anniversary celebration.[22] Activist Wang Dan criticized the PRC government's celebration of democracy as "ironic".[1]
In ROC, for the preparation of the anniversary, new songs were made and chosen to commemorate the founding of the ROC. One of the requirements was that the composer be an ROC citizen.[23] But according to legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), the songs available for voting may not have been from ROC citizens, as the evaluation was sloppy.[23]
Slogan issues
The original slogan for the Pan-Blue camp was "Republic of China, Founded 100 Years" (中華民國，建國一百), but was later changed to "Republic of China, Splendid 100" (中華民國，精彩一百). The words meaning "building country" (建國) were replaced with "splendid" (精彩).[6][24]
Nomenclature impasse
In 2009, amid planning for the celebrations, Beijing suggested that the PRC and ROC hold joint centennial celebrations, on the condition that the term "Republic of China" not be used. President Ma Ying-jeou rejected the idea.[25]
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