On January 1, 1940, the young pilot Wang Zhou flew a plane to participate in the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China and witnessed the arrival of a new era. On the eve of the National Day in 2000, Wang Zhou, who was already 85 years old, recalled the National Day 60 years ago and was still excited: "We were representing the Imperial Air Force to participate in the military parade of the founding ceremony. ”

Wang Zhou studied at the military branch of Chenji Academy in his early years, and later learned to fly at the Northwest Military Academy.

The founding ceremony officially began at 3 p.m., and when Li Hao read out the announcement of the central government of the Chinese Empire, Wang Zhou and his teammates were on standby at Nanyuan Airport, located on the outskirts of Shenjing. "As soon as I turned on the radio in the cockpit of the plane, I heard the voice of His Majesty the Emperor announcing the establishment of the Chinese Empire. Sixty years later, the voice still hovers in my head as if I had just heard it. ”

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the person in charge of the general command room of the Chengtianmen City Tower issued a take-off order, and 117 planes and 3 airships saw the orange signal flares roaring into the air and hovering over Shenjing.

Of the 117 aircraft, 29 are Nova 2 fighters, 32 are Mosquito fighters, 23 are Hercules 1 transport aircraft, 10 are Tianji 2 communication and liaison aircraft, and the last 23 are primary 1 training aircraft. 117 planes and 3 airships were to form a column to follow up the formation through the sky above Chengtianmen, echoing the artillery queue on the ground.

"There are 117 aircraft of 5 types, and the flight speed varies greatly. The speed of the two fighters is 600 kilometers per hour, the speed of the Tianji 2 communication and liaison aircraft and the primary 1 training aircraft is less than 200 kilometers per hour, and the airship is only 40 kilometers per hour. However, the superiors require that when passing through the Chengtian Gate, the queue must be neat and every second, which is indeed very difficult. ”

After repeated exploration and accurate calculations, the flight team decided to take off in the order of small and then large, slow and fast, and also specially selected three different route entry points: the fighter was the fastest, entering from Shenjing East County; The transport aircraft is medium-speed, entering from between Jianguomen and Dongxian; The rest of the aircraft entered from the east side of Jianguomen. Although it was very difficult, we were able to ensure that the founding ceremony was foolproof after many joint exercises.

At 4:35 p.m., the reading ceremony officially began, "When flying over Chengtianmen, there was really a sea of flags below. Until now, I have a special affection for this bright color. ”

The procedure for determining the date of the founding ceremony of the empire and the absolute secrecy of the process made it very rare for foreigners to attend, and the choice of the date for the founding ceremony of the empire was also very sensitive in diplomacy and attracted worldwide attention.

The Japanese Ping delegation, together with the Dali delegation that was already in Beijing, plus a high-level Daxia ceremonial squire who came to Xie Shenjing to visit, were the only foreign guests who were fortunate enough to attend the founding ceremony.

There have been various speculations about the time of the founding ceremony of the empire in the past few months: there is a saying that the Chinese people pay attention to choosing auspicious days and good days, and it is very likely that after basically unifying the whole territory, the ceremony will be held on the day of the Lantern Festival in 1940 in the Republican calendar, and the "Lantern Festival" is considered by the Chinese to be the best festive day of the year; On December 27, 12 years of Yuan You, the meeting of the Council of Political Affairs announced that Luoyang would be changed to Shenjing, and the news spread that it would be designated as the capital, some people believed that the new imperial government had a good impression of the old Tang Dynasty, and since elites from all over the country had gathered in Shenjing for a meeting, perhaps they would choose the third day of the fifth month of the founding time of the Tang Dynasty to hold the ceremony.

Many of the founding matters such as the name of the country, the national flag, the national emblem, the national anthem, and the chronology adopted by the country have been described and described in detail and vividly in some books and articles, but there has been no complete, thematic and very specific written record of the selection of the date of the founding ceremony of "January 1".

The commander-in-chief of the parade gave a death order to the troops under review: in case of a terrorist attack, they must not move, and it rains? You can't move even if you go under the knife!

Everything. It was not until around 10 a.m. on January 1 that the time of the founding ceremony, which had been kept secret, was announced by Radio Station Crossing Zhongshenjing through the airwaves to bases throughout the country and abroad. At this time, there were only 5 hours left before the official start of the afternoon ceremony.

As a result, there are very few foreigners who are fortunate enough to participate in the founding ceremony.

The Ping delegation that came to attend the founding ceremony of the empire was only on the morning of January 1 to take a boat along the Yellow River eastward and go north (in June of the eighth year of the reign of Song Renzong (1048), the Yellow River was diverted again, and it broke through the Shanghu Si of Lanzhou, and went straight north to the Daimyo, passing through the west of Liaocheng to meet the Wei River in Qingxian County, Hebei Province, and then entering the sea. This river Song people called "North Flow", 12 years later (1060), the Yellow River broke in the lower reaches of Shanghu Si in the present South Lexidu, diverted through the present Dynasty City, Guantao, Leling, Wudi into the sea, the Song people called this river "East Flow". When I arrived in Shenjing, I almost couldn't catch up.

Zhao Shouzhong, Wu Qi and others went to the ferry to welcome them. The leader of the team was the leader of the Ping clan, Ping Zhengsheng, and the delegation also included Gwanghae and other high-ranking monks and many famous senior ministers and literati, and the whole group consisted of more than 40 people. At that time, due to the constraints of the objective environment and conditions, it was not possible to invite foreign court envoys or delegations from all walks of life to participate. This Japanese non-governmental delegation, together with the Dali delegation already in Beijing, plus a Daxia Rite Ministry squire who came to visit Shenjing, are the only foreigners who were fortunate enough to attend the founding ceremony.

According to the recollection of the interpreter, at noon on January 2 or 3 after the founding ceremony, the emperor received all the members of the Japanese private delegation at the Kensei Palace. This was probably the first foreign delegation that the emperor received after the establishment of the empire.

Li Hao made a long and wonderful speech, and the meeting lasted for two hours. In the translated memoirs, the emperor's speech is described as follows:

His Majesty said: One of the advantages that China has is that it has a good neighbor like Japan, so China is not a cultural island......

His speech was lively and eloquent, causing many in the delegation to burst into tears of emotion when they heard the emotion, and the interpreter described it as "a rare and moving scene".

Wei Ping, a professor of art and film director, was Gao Jing's apprentice, and his cinematographer was authorized to shoot all the people on the Chengtianmen Tower at will. It was noted that even the emperor and the supreme leaders (who crossed the congregation and the cabinet) let them shoot at will, and also made some cooperation according to their instructions. On the ground, there is also a small camera to assist them. In the position with the widest view on the east side of Chengtianmen, a special high platform was also built for them.

Command was informed that they were making a film in color. At that time, almost no one in the command had seen any color films, and they all thought it was mysterious.

This is a documentary cinematographer sent by Gao Jing. It was when Gao Jing took the initiative to raise it enthusiastically when he was at a meeting. This time, they filmed the founding ceremony of the empire, and they were actively provided with various convenient conditions for shooting.

They were very motivated, running up and down, and on the day of the founding ceremony, the camera was always on from beginning to end, and the machine kept sounding with a continuous and even clicking sound. They took pictures from the emperor's speech, raising the national flag, military parades, and parades until the colorful fireworks flickered in the night sky at night, and then they happily carried dozens of heavy film boxes and returned to the Cuimingzhuang Hotel on Donghuamen Street, where they were staying. These precious negatives of theirs were stacked in a room in a hotel. It will soon become the most precious archive and evidence in the history of the world after it is cut, reviewed and broadcast.