China had a spectacular celebration to mark 60 years since the Communist Party came to power. in Oct 1, 1949, the country had been preparing for months for this celebration, which rivaled the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic games for pomp and pageantry..

Whereas the Olympics makeover was mostly in northern Beijing, this year the focus is in the heart of the city, especially around Tiananmen Square, where Mao Tse-tung announced the birth of the People's Republic of China.

As happened with the Olympics, extensive preparations went on in the city, with streets are being widened and parks, monuments and subway stations refurbished. Zhang Yimou, who directed last summer's spectacular opening ceremony, was commissioned to stage a huge outdoor party with fireworks. Feature films, commemorative television specials and an opera were also made for the occasion.

The organizing committee for the 60th anniversary is located in the former offices of the Olympics organizing committee, and has taken over some of its staffers. But Zhang Heping, a key official for the Games' opening and closing ceremonies and who is organizing the anniversary events, promises that the costs will not be Olympian.

"The scale of the event has to be appropriate and the budget must be thrifty," Zhang recently told Chinese business reporters without actually disclosing the budget. Many prominent directors and actors have promised to donate their time for an epic film on China's founding -- what Han Sanping, chairman of the China Film Group Corporation, called a "gift to mother."

The day started with the raising of the red national flag, while President Hu Jintao, wearing a black Mao Zedong-style tunic, looked on with his predecessor Jiang Zemin, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior party leaders at the vast lines of tanks, soldiers and missile launchers parading through the capital. National heroes like champion hurdler Liu Xiang and astronaut Zhai Zhigang along with other Chinese celebrities, rode through the crowds on brightly decorated floats with giant portraits of all of China's past communist leaders.Later, there was a massive fireworks display in Tiananmen Square followed by a concert of patriotic songs and dancing.

While it is normal for National Day to be celebrated, a great deal of extra effort was made to mark their 60th anniversary. Chinas ambassador to the UK, Fu Ying, described the celebrationas as "a farewell to poverty and backwardness."