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China celebrates 100 years of Communist Party with events at Tiananmen Square
Today's events are the climax of weeks of ceremonies and displays praising the role of the nearly 92 million-member party in bringing vast improvements in quality of life at home and restoring China's economic, political and military influence abroad.
China is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of it's ruling Communist Party on Thursday with a flyby of fighter jets and helicopters at Tiananmen Square in the centre of capital Beijing.
President Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver what state media have described as an "important" speech at the iconic Tiananmen Square, where there has been heavy security.
Events are being held across China, including in Hong Kong, which is simultaneously holding commemorations of its 1997 handover from British to Chinese control.
Today's events are the climax of weeks of ceremonies and displays praising the role of the nearly 92 million-member party in bringing vast improvements in quality of life at home and restoring China's economic, political and military influence abroad.
While former president of People's Republic of China Mao Zedong and other past leaders are also featured, the centenary celebrations appear designed to polish Xi's credentials as having achieved key breakthroughs in poverty alleviation and economic progress while raising China's global profile and standing up to the West.
The Chinese Communist Party, which came to power in 1949 under Mao, initially recruited peasants and workers, but has evolved to embrace markets and entrepreneurship under socialism with Chinese characteristics, while retaining a Leninist model of authoritarianism.
The party ranks increased by 2.43 million in 2020, the largest annual gain since Xi became president in 2013, to 95.15 million members now, data released on Wednesday showed, according to Reuters.
