Centennial Double Tenth celebrations captivate the nation

Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) The Republic of China celebrated its centennial National Day at the Presidential Office plaza in Taipei on Monday, with the biggest ever air show and a record attendance by overseas Taiwanese. The celebrations attracted thousands of people who swarmed to the Boai Special District to catch the show, which started at 9 a.m. with a parade of bands in front of the Presidential Office. The parade included a military honor guard and marching bands from the Armed Forces, Taipei First Girls High School and Jingmei High School. It was followed by a flag-raising ceremony and the singing of the national anthem, led by Chen Shu-chu, a philanthropic vegetable vendor from the eastern county of Taitung who was on Time magazine's 2010 list of the world's 100 most influential individuals. Chen was accompanied by a choir from Taitung that symbolized ethnic integration in Taiwan, as it was made up of Hoklo, Hakka, indigenous people and immigrants from China and other countries. The military displays, which have always been the centerpiece of ROC National Day celebrations, were expanded this year by the Ministry of National Defense. It required 71 aircraft of various types, 168 ground vehicles and 1,802 officers and soldiers to stage the show. The aerial display included a flyby over the Presidential Office, featuring F-16, IDF and Mirage 2000-5 in formations. One of the highlights was a display by seven AT-3s from the Thunder Tiger Aerobatics Team flying in formation to create red, white and blue smoke trails across the sky. For the first time in years, a paratrooper show was included, drawing applause from the huge crowd as 12 military paratroopers jumped from a plane at an altitude of 5,000 feet. Due to the windy conditions, only half of them landed on target on the plaza. The other six were off mark but unhurt, the military said. In his address at the ceremony, President Ma Ying-jeou focused on the theme of "A Century of Struggle, a Democratic Taiwan." He mentioned several individuals, including Major League pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, world top golfer Yani Tseng and philanthropist Chen Chou, whom he described as "the driving force of Taiwan's advancement." "The ROC is our nation and Taiwan is our home," the president said in Mandarin, Hoklo and Hakka, the three main languages spoken in Taiwan. Vice President Vincent Siew, Premier Wu Den-yih, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairmen Lien Chan and Wu Poh-hsiung, and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong were among the many local political figures who attended the event. Tsai Ing-wen, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairwoman and presidential candidate, chose to attend a smaller flag-raising ceremony in Tainan, southern Taiwan. Shortly before the start of the celebrations in Taipei, Ma and first lady Chow Mei-ching received about 500 foreign dignitaries at the Presidential Office. Close to 1,500 visiting foreign dignitaries attended this year's celebrations, the highest number in 10 years. They included former Prime Minister of JapanTaro Aso and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. The number of overseas-based Taiwanese who returned home this year for the National Day celebrations set a 20-year record at 20,000. Ma and Premier Wu traveled to central Taiwan later in the day to attend the sold-out show "Dreamers," the first musical ever made to celebrate National Day in Taiwan. The traditional National Day fireworks will be held in Taipei on the Danshui River and in Changhua in central Taiwan. (By Wen Kuei-hsiang, Kelven Huang and Jamie Wang)