Flag Raising Ceremony

History

The first flag-raising ceremony on Tiananmen Square took place on 1 October 1949 during the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China. For two decades afterward, the flag was raised electrically, with exceptions on 1 October. An official ceremony began in May 1977 with three PLA soldiers from Weifang raising the flag. This continued until 28 December 1982, when the newly formed People's Armed Police and its honor guard took over, lasting 35 years.

In December 1992, the National Color Guard was expanded into a battalion-sized unit of the PAP, called the Tiananmen Guard Detachment. On New Year's Day 2018, the PLA took over command with a 96-man composite national color guard company made up of guardsmen from the PLA Ground Force, Navy and Air Force, following the attachment of the Beijing Garrison Color Guard Company to the BGHGB. According to Xinhua News Agency, the changes marked a "new era" of national civil-military ceremonies.

Description

After a fanfare, the unit marches out of the Tiananmen Gate and across the Golden Water Bridge. The commander orders the unit to begin goosestepping in slow time; when it crosses the bridge, it returns to normal pace and splits into two formations on each side of the flagpole while the color guard moves into position.

The commander then gives the command "Salute to the flag," ordering the unit to present arms and raise the flag. The PLA Central Band plays March of the Volunteers as the flag is unfurled and raised precisely with the timing of the sun rising. On the first day of a month, Ode to the Motherland is performed and dozens of birds are released past the flag as the color company forms up for the march off.

Similar ceremonies in the country

In Hong Kong, a daily flag raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square is conducted by the Hong Kong Police Force. It has three types: a daily raising, an enhanced ceremony on the 1st of every month (raising the flag and playing the national anthem), and a special ceremony on Establishment Day and National Day that includes the national anthem by the Hong Kong Police Band followed by a 10-minute musical performance. Annually on April 23, a flag raising ceremony takes place in Nanjing to commemorate the anniversary of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, in which the Chinese Communist Party captured the capital of the Republic of China.