As I mentioned the VHS tape, there was another section at the end: Little Leopard went to space. As it is on that 1984 tape I assume it came on TV that year. Strangely enough when I researched the story, it was apparently only “known” in 2018. Weird!
See the SCMP article:
See the screenshots, with the brave dog being prepared for launch, placed in the rocket and welcomed back on earth. The launch was apparently on Friday 15 July 1966, on a secret military base in Guangde county, Anhui province.
I witnessed the 1 October 1984 Military Parade for the 35th anniversary of PRC, the first in 24 years. After 1984: 1999 (50th anniversary); 2009 (60th anniversary – with me!); 2019 (70th anniversary).
That time I was working and living in the West Wing of Beijing Hotel, with my office in suite 5087.
The hotel had asked us to leave a few days ahead, as on the day of the parade we could not leave, we could not open a window nor stand “too close” to it.
I decided to stay. It was a unique experience. Armed with my camera I stayed on a chair to look over the balcony at Chang’an Avenue below. Security was all over the parking lot, armed with binoculars and scanning the windows. As expected, they saw me and soon got a visit to “behave”. I didn’t.
Parade and fireworks
In the evening I was able to see the fireworks on Tiananmen from my balcony of my bedroom (5109), that had a great view on the Forbidden City and Tiananmen. That room and balcony no longer exist as a new hotel was built next to the West Wing. As far as I can reconstruct, I then went out to Tiananmen and shot more pictures there.
Ah I miss those times. Tiananmen had zero barriers, you could walk over there any time of day and night. I even remember I rode my Vespa on that square! (yeah I had an embassy plate…).
The pictures of the fireworks are great, already at that time China was a master in doing it. No need for fake stuff on TV screen (like for the Olympics fireworks…). It was all real.
VHS tape
I recovered the VHS tape with the full coverage of the 1 October 1984 Military Parade. The quality is poor, I actually assume it is a copy of the original VHS tape done by a friend, see some screenshots. Mind you that was some 35 years ago… different technology today!
Interestingly the images do not have any CCTV or BTV logos! I was wondering, is the tape that bad or was there really such a horrible pollution?
Yes, pollution was terrible that day. At that time nobody paid attention to something called AQI as we never heard about it. I guess AQI was way above 500.
The pictures
The proof was with the pictures I took that day, see the scans, all enhanced as much as possible. It’s a thick haze. Most of the time it had a sulphur smell (and color). I still have tons of old pics to scan, and to find back the negatives.
Pretty interesting to see those images of 1984, the people, the trucks, the soldiers, the floats, the TV presenters. On 1 October 2009 I was myself in the parade, on a float. Our daughter was running besides it with other young people. Somehow things change little, somehow things change a lot.
Madam Chen Muhua
I saw Madam Chen Muhua in the movie (she is not listed below). She was a remarkable person and I had a lot of respect for her. I also met her at one point, I forgot when. But she did visit the company in Charleroi I was representing in China: ACEC. Another great lady I met a few times in person was Vice President Wu Yi. Sadly, I don’t see ladies like that today in the government.
Chen Muhua, Vice Premier – State Councilor. She also served as Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. The veteran Communist Party of China revolutionary, the second female vice-premier, held several other key posts including state councillor, Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress vice-chairwoman and All-China Women’s Federation president. In 1985, she became the People’s Bank of China governor and was credited by some as a pioneer of China’s financial reform.
The leaders
1984 leaders present – Government top:
President Li Xiannian
Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping
Premier Zhao Ziyang
As reported in our RCB Bulletin dated 19 August 2008, it was announced during the weekly lunch that on 17 August 2008, former Olympic Pole Vaulting Gold Medal winner Sergey Bubka and a number of Rotarians visited Sun Children’s Village. Sergey’s second visit to the Village of this year drew media attention to the program, resulting in stories in the local press and China Daily. Sun Village was created in 1996 by Zhang Shuqin.
See here the pictures taken during the visit.
The original Bulletin and pictures were posted on the old website, later all trashed. I found back the original Bulletin: 080819_bulletin
In our auction list for the 2009 Rotary Ball, item 10 said:
10. T-shirt signed by Sergey Bubka, voted the world’s best athlete
More about Sergey Bubka
The interesting news is that Bubka is one of the contenders to be the next IOC President, to succeed Jacques Rogge.
See the article: “In I.O.C., New Obstacles for an Expert at Clearing Them”, NYT 14 August 2013 (updated link): https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/sports/olympics/15iht-bubka15.html
His name is also spelled Sergei Bubka:
Wikipedia:
Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka (Sergey Nazarovich Bubka; born 4 December 1963) is a retired Ukrainian pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991, was repeatedly voted the world’s best athlete, and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.
Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympics gold and broke the world record for men’s pole vaulting 35 times (17 outdoor and 18 indoor records). He was the first to clear 6.0 m and the only (as of July 2013) to clear 6.10 m.
He holds the current outdoor world record of 6.14 m, set on 31 July 1994 in Sestriere, Italy and the current indoor world record of 6.15 m, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine.