October 1st of each year is our country's "National Day". As of this year, New China has 73rd anniversary, and 72 "National Days" have passed. So, why don’t we have a missing “National Day”?
That's because when founding ceremony was held on October 1, 1949, our National Day has not been truly confirmed. Establishing National Day is a big deal. Countries around the world have always had many different solutions for the choice of National Day.
In addition to the National Day of "founding" as the National Day, many democratic countries will use days that have special significance to their own country and nation as the National Day. In constitutional monarchy, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, the monarch's birthday tends to use the monarch's birthday as the National Day.
From the founding of New China, there was a National Day in China during the Republic of China period called "Double Tenth Festival". It is a festival established to commemorate the Wuchang Uprising , and it has special significance for the establishment of the Republic of China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it would be a bit inappropriate if we continue to use this anniversary that symbolizes the old era and the old country. So, which day should we choose for the National Day of New China?
1. The process of determining the National Day of New China
In order to determine the National Day of New China, relevant departments began to discuss and study. At this time, a social activist named Ma Xulun proposed to set the National Day on October 1st.
Ma Xulun is the main founder of the China Association for Promotion of Democracy and a famous educator and social activist. He had participated in the preparatory meeting of the CPPCC earlier and served as the group leader. He proposed to use the " March " by Tian Han as the national anthem, and was finally passed.
Later, when the newly elected CPPCC held its first meeting, Ma Xulun was unable to attend because he was sick, so he entrusted Ms. Xu Guangping to propose to the conference that the day of the founding ceremony would be regarded as National Day.
Finally, the conference unanimously approved Ma Xulun's proposal. On the day of , Chairman Mao said: "We should make a proposal, suggest to the government, and make the decision." However, the legal documents for formally confirming the National Day were announced by the government two months later.
On December 2, 1949, the government officially passed a resolution to announce to the public that October 1 of each year will be "National Day" . Twenty-one days later, the country introduced relevant holiday measures. From then on, we all over the country will celebrate this festival every year.
So the question is, why did Ma Xulun propose to set October 1st of each year as National Day? His proposal was approved by the CPPCC on October 9, and Chairman Mao also agreed. Why did the government make an official announcement after two months?
2. Why did it take two months to officially announce it?
Speaking of this, let’s briefly introduce Ma Xulun. Ma Xulun was born in Yuhang, Zhejiang in 1885. At the age of fourteen, he entered a new school and received the enlightenment of patriotism.
Then, Ma Xulun went through the ups and downs of his life to fight against Yuan, fight against Japan, and fight against Chiang Kai-shek to independent parties. In his youth, Ma Xulun once worked with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu in Peking University and . He also risked his life to cover up Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu.
Later, when Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution, Ma Xulun used his influence in politics to rescue many Communists. Therefore, the leader of our party commented on him as: "A close friend who shares honor and disgrace with the Communist Party of China and keeps his loyalty."
When the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, Ma Xulun lived in trouble in Shanghai, refused to accept the temptation of traitors and high-ranking officials, changed his name to "Zou Huasun", and vowed to be the descendants of the Chinese nation forever.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression , Ma Xulun and the Communists united people from the Shanghai cultural and educational circles to form an organization that supports the political propositions of the Communist Party, namely the "China Democracy Promotion Association", with him as chairman.
Ma Xulun has been active in both cultural and educational circles for a long time, and has contacted people from all walks of life in Hong Kong to jointly oppose the Kuomintang, and as a result, he was on the Kuomintang's blacklist.
1946, Ma Xulun, Yan Baohang and Bao Da went to Nanjing as representatives of the Shanghai People's Peace Peace Group. As a result, was seriously injured by a spy sent by the Kuomintang at Xiaguan Station in Nanjing.
Later, Ma Xulun was sent to the hospital for treatment, and Premier Zhou and Dong Biwu arrived at the scene to visit them as soon as possible. Premier Zhou told him: "Your blood will definitely not flow in vain." At the same time, Chairman Mao, who was in Yan'an, also sent a telegram to express condolences to him.
The founding of New China is regarded as fulfilling Premier Zhou’s promise to Ma Xulun. When Ma Xulun heard Chairman Mao say "The Chinese people have stood up since then", he was so excited that he burst into tears and wrote the word "Desu" with a brush.
From the Qing Dynasty to the Beiyang warlords , the reign of Chiang Kai-shek, and then to the founding of New China, Ma Xulun experienced many important historical stages in China throughout his life.
Look at the comrades around him, one by one dedicating themselves to the ideal of patriotism, and they were persecuted and suppressed by the enemy, and finally ushered in the new life of China.
In this case, Ma Xulun naturally did not want the Kuomintang’s “Double Tenth Festival” to continue to act as the National Day of New China. As Lin Boqu said: "The old China is dead, the new China has been born, and there should be a new National Day."
However, it is a big deal to confirm that National Day is a big deal, so although the CPPCC proposed unanimously, the State Council did not issue an administrative order immediately.
National Day is so important, everyone wants to find a day that has special significance for the founding of New China. That day is not necessarily the day of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
For example, the National Day in the United States is "Independence Day", the National Day in France is an anniversary of an armed uprising, etc. There are also some countries regard the birth of the monarch or the birthday of a saint as National Day.
In ancient China, the first National Day of started with the "Qianqiu Festival" of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang , that is, his birthday. later emperors followed suit and set their birthdays as National Day.
Now, only constitutional monarchies like Britain and Japan in the world will use this method to determine National Day.
We are socialist country . There is no emperor or saint savior. Naturally, we cannot determine the National Day like this, so the government finally decided to use the National Day as our National Day.
Now, when we replay the video of Chairman Mao’s speech at the Founding Ceremony, we feel that the moment when he declared that “the Chinese people have stood up from now on” in front of the people of the whole country and even the people of the world is an epoch-making and extraordinary historical significance.
Conclusion
The date of the birth of the country was used as the National Day, which also had precedents in ancient my country. The "Basic Festival" of of the Song Dynasty was such a day.
The "Based Festival" of the Song Dynasty is scheduled to be held on the fourth day of the first lunar month of every year, because the fourth day of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Xiande in the Later Zhou Dynasty (960 AD) was the day when Zhao Kuangyin "put on the yellow robe".
However, the National Day of the feudal era was always revolving around the monarch personally. It is either the emperor's birthday or the important day when the emperor takes power. It has nothing to do with us ordinary people.
The National Day of New China is completely different because it symbolizes the success of a earth-shaking revolution. From then on, the social status of our people has been completely different from that of the old times, and the people have become masters.
