During the upcoming eight-day holiday, 10 Beijing parks will celebrate with parties and decorations, allowing nearly everyone - residents and expats alike - a chance to participate in the National Day festivities.

Ten parks in Beijing will host parties from Oct 1 to 3 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China.

The 10 parks are located in the city's eight central districts to facilitate travelers to Beijing, according to the Beijing Park Management Office yesterday.

The flower-decorating projects in these parks are 80 percent complete, and the preparation work will end on Sept 26, according to the office.

Apart from that, about 50 parks in the city will be open for free during the National Day holidays, and about 5,000 volunteers will provide information and translation service in all parks in the city.

However, Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Zhongshan Park and the Beijing Working People's Culture Palace, all near the Tian'anmen Square, will close on Oct 1.

Citizens have been advised to avoid going to Tian'anmen tomorrow as roads near the square will be blocked during most times of the day to make room for a rehearsal of the National Day celebration starting from 22:30 pm, according to the municipal government.

"We used to decorate parks on National Day with traditional colors of red and yellow, but residents will be able to enjoy a more colorful visual feast this year," Jie Jun, the engineer of Urban Forestation Department under the Beijing Municipal Bureau of landscape and Forestry, told China Daily yesterday.

"Autumn is the best season for flowers in Beijing, and people can see about 146 different types of flowers blossoming during this year's National Day holiday," he said.

Parade-watching

People are expected to line up along 56 blocks to watch the grand parade that will celebrate the 60th anniversary of New China on Oct 1. The festivities also include 14 marching squares, 30 weapon blocks and 12 echelons flying over the Tian'anmen Square, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Weapons to be displayed include early-warning aircrafts, unmanned aircrafts, new radars and chariots, as well as satellite communication devices. All of these were manufactured in China, Fang Fenghui, commander-in-chief of the parade, was quoted as saying by the ministry's official website yesterday.

In giving this report, authorities unveiled the scale of weapons in the parade for the first time.

The 56 blocks represent the 56 ethnic groups in the country, Fang said. Compared with the parade in 1999 during the celebration of New China's 50th birthday, this year's parade has less marching blocks but more weapon blocks, and less land army blocks but more blocks from other military branches such as the navy, air force and artillery, he said.

(China Daily September 18, 2009))