HK holds flag raising ceremony to mark national day

Home>>China

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 02, 2003

HK holds flag raising ceremony to mark national day

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Thousands of Hong Kong residents and visitors gathered at the Golden Bauhinia Square outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center Extension Wednesday morning for the flag raising ceremony marking China's National Day which falls on the day.

Top government officials including Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Tung Chee Hwa and othercelebrities attended the ceremony. They were greeted by loud cheers and waving small red national flags in numerous hands.

Holding miniature versions of the Chinese national flag and theHKSAR flag in their hands, many people arrived ahead of time to get a good watching position.

The five-star Chinese national red flag and the bauhinia flag of the HKSAR were hoisted amidst the playing of the Chinese national anthem at 8:00 a.m.(00:00 GMT), when all participants stood solemnly, many singing the anthem with proud.

Seven-year-old Wong Che-yu got up early in the morning just to watch the ceremony, celebrating the 54th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The boy sat on his father's shoulder, waving the national flag and HKSAR flag and laughing happily. His father said he brought his son here in order to deepen his love for Hong Kong and the motherland.

The Golden Bauhinia Square has become a famous scenic spot of Hong Kong as many official ceremonies are held either here or inside the nearby Convention and Exhibition Center, where the grand ceremony for China's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong was held more than six years ago.

A young couple, Wan Baomu and Xielin, came from Fuzhou, Fujian Province, to spend their National Day holidays in Hong Kong. Attending the flag raising ceremony was their first program in Hong Kong. Wan said that they had attended flag raising ceremony in Beijing before, but the proud sense here Wednesday was quite different.

"I can sincerely feel the closeness of our big Chinese family,"said Wan. "I wish my country strong and all Chinese people happy in the future."

After attending the ceremony, Wong King-sen, 77, running a small restaurant in Kowloon, said he began to learn mandarin Chinese recently. After some cities in the mainland lifted the restrictions on citizens to visit Hong Kong, his business became better and better.

He said he did not see much change in the way of living and doing business here and he was certain it was just a matter of time that Hong Kong's economy would take a turn for the better.

Gu Lizhen, who had lived in Indonesia for more than 20 years and just moved back to Hong Kong, said she has a special feeling when hearing the national anthem and seeing the raising of national flag.

"During the many years in a foreign country, I always paid attention to the development of our motherland and Hong Kong. I'm so happy to see the great achievement of China," said Gu.

"Hong Kong is facing some economic difficulties and was hit by SARS in the first half of this year. But the economy is recovering.I have the confidence that Hong Kong and our motherland will have a better future," she added.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Welcoming tourists to HK -- one major theme for "Golden Week"

Russia will honor pipeline deal with China: PM ( 7 Messages)

Shooting at Chinese fishing boat "a severe incident" ( 6 Messages)

American educational organizations win copyright lawsuit ( 3 Messages)

Suspects detained in Zhuhai massive sex scandal ( 4 Messages)

Marchers worldwide demand Iraq pullout ( 4 Messages)