National Day of the People's Republic of China

at the celebration of the beginning of the People's Republic of China on October1, 1949]]
**National Day** is a yearly holiday in the People's Republic of China. It celebrates the beginning of its new government on October1, 1949. It is one of two Golden Weeks in the country, along with the Chinese New Year.

## Name
The Mandarin Chinese name of the holiday is *Guóqìng Jié*, which means "Nation-Celebrating Holiday" or "Holiday of National Celebration". It is written  in traditional characters and  in simplified characters. The holiday has also become a common given name in China, with around 420,000 people named "Guoqing" in 2010.

## History
s drive down Chang'an Avenue on Oct.1, 1952]]
s of Communist and national leaders on Oct.1, 1952]]
 thinkers De Beauvoir and Sartre in 1955.]]

From at least the time of the Western Jin dynasty in the late 3rd century, the birthday of the emperor was celebrated as a national holiday. After the Xinhai Revolution, the Republic of China celebrated its national day on October10.

National Day was celebrated with military parades in Beijing every year from 1949 to 1959. By 1960, the problems during the Great Leap Forward caused the government to suggest saving money on celebrations. After the Ninth Congress, the big meetings in Beijing were discouraged in favor of smaller events at parks and other locations from 1971 to 1983.

Since the year 2000, National Day has been one of the country's Golden Weeks: there are three days of paid time away from work from Oct.1 to Oct.3 and two weekends around it are moved to make a 7 day long holiday.

## Events
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National Day begins with the raising of the national flag at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. and watch from Tian'anmen, the southern gate of the Forbidden City, and millions of Chinese people watch from Tian'anmen Square and on television. China no longer has these parades every year,

Every year, many large groups of flowers are put along Beijing's Chang'an Avenue.

There are state dinners in Beijing and at Chinese embassies around the world throughout the week.

In the evening, fireworks are set off in Beijing, It is one of Asia's largest fireworks shows.

The long holiday also helps Chinese tourism, with millions of people traveling around the country visiting family members or sightseeing. The 1st day of the 2017 National Day vacation set records for the national rail system: more than 15 million trips were taken over 24 hours.

Unlike traditional Chinese holidays, National Day is not associated with any special food.

## Gallery

File:Kaiguodadian.jpg | People in Tian'anmen Square (1949). The sign says "Long Live the People's Republic of China", signed with Beijing No.4 High School.
File:Type 59 in parde.jpg | T59 tanks in Beijing (1959)
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Beijing 02.jpg | Soldiers in Beijing (1959)
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Beijing 01.jpg | Generals salute the soldiers in Beijing (1959)
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Shanghai.jpg | The Shanghai parade (1959)
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Guangzhou.jpg | The Guangzhou parade (1959)
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Lhasa.jpg | The Lhasa parade (1959)
File:50th anniversary of PRC 4.jpg | Tanks and rocket launchers in Beijing (1999)
File:Self-propelled howitzer in front of Gucci.jpg | A howitzer in Beijing (2009)
File:Empire State Building 1 Oct 2009 2.jpg | Empire State Building in Communist colors (2009)

## Related pages
* Other National Days

## Notes
## References
## Other websites
* http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-850445 
* Xinhua photographs of travel crowds on Oct.1, 2017
* The television show for the 2009 National Day parade