Thousands of Chinese soldiers — all nearly identical in height — stood motionless at perfect attention for the military review of President Hu Jintao in honor of China’s biggest ever National Day celebration yesterday morning.

In a grand display involving almost 200,000 Chinese citizens, 12,000 performers, 5,000 soldiers and 60 float prototypes, according to UPI, China celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China under tight security.

China currently has approximately one-fifth of the world’s population and continues to grow in terms of both economic development and political influence, making it a key player in the international arena. For members of the Cornell community with ties to China, the PRC’s anniversary provoked varied reactions.

“They have reason to feel proud,” said Prof. Jian Chen, history, as he evaluated the past 60 years of the PRC. “If you compare China today with 60 years ago, 60 years ago China was backwards in industry and agriculture. Today, China is one of the world’s powers and still rising.”

Xu Xin, director of the China and Asia-Pacific Studies, cited China’s fast-growing economy and its increasing political standing as marks of progress.

“It’s difficult to talk about everyone, but in general I think the Chinese people feel pretty good about their country,” Xu said. He explained that while many intellectuals tend to be critical of government, when it comes to China’s increased influence and improved world-wide reputation, “I can sense that people more or less share that feeling [of pride], even among the more critical people, including the intellectuals [in the U.S.],” he said.

The success of the PRC over the past 60 years, however, is tempered by the government’s mistakes and the resultant negative consequences. Prof. Andrew Mertha, government, acknowledged that compared to what the Chinese people’s expectations were at the outset of the Communist regime — a new political order and “a linear upward trend of economic development — the PRC fell short. Instead, he explained, “Most Chinese are supportive of the regime, and it is despite, as opposed to because of, many of the policies the state has embraced.”

Such widely-acknowledged failed policies include the Great Leap Forward from 1958-1961, a reform plan which resulted in an economic disaster as well as famine and death for millions of Chinese people. The Cultural Revolution beginning in the late 1960s similarly led to nation-wide turmoil as Chairman Mao Zedong’s policies caused widespread persecution of the Chinese people, death, lack of education for China’s youth and the halt of much economic activity.

“The achievements have been obtained by heavy prices on the part of the Chinese people. It cannot be denied,” Chen said.

These “obvious mistakes,” as well as the “general marginalization of the intellectual class,” according to Mertha, have been part of the CCP’s trajectory of “muddling through” the past 60 years. As the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping put it, the evolution of the reform era from the Maoist state to the modern commercial state has been a method of “crossing the river by feeling the stones,” according to Mertha.

The successful durability of the Communist regime is “not exciting, but it’s effective,” he added.

Mertha said that he believes the PRC will continue in the short and medium term much the way it exists today. The government will proceed by “increasing muddling through,” he explained.

The National Day celebration itself provoked varied reactions in the Ithaca community.

“As Chinese, we love and are proud of our country very much,” Xinwei Wu grad, president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, stated in an e-mail. “We really appreciate [what] the CCP did in the past 60 years for the Chinese people.”

Xu, a Chinese citizen, said: “In a sense, I still have that strong attachment as Chinese. In some way, I share this sense of national pride. I think it is a good thing for Chinese in general to be more confident about their nation.”

Others, like members of the Tibetan Association of Ithaca, have little reason to celebrate. Kunga Delotsang, vice president of the Tibetan Association of Ithaca, was born in Tibet and said that there remains “so much tension” with China.

The PRC invaded the then-independent Tibet in 1950 and asserted control, Delotsang said.

“It has been 60 years since [Tibet] lost its independence,” he said. “In Tibet there are still no freedoms.”

As he expressed his personal frustration with the PRC, Delotsang explained: “Our fight is not with the Chinese people. It’s with the Communist government. It’s the government we hate.”

Mertha explained: “Parading a truck with an ICBM on it may bring about some sense of national pride among citizens of China because it represents China’s emergence from the previous century’s humiliation and the hands of Western powers. Internationally, the same spectacle sends a far less reassuring image.”

For Emily Zhang ’11, an international student from Hong Kong, the celebration was “the most gaudy display of national pride,” though given the past century of humiliation, she said that she believes some Chinese looked forward to such a “spectacle.”

“For the Communist Party, [the military celebration] is a sign of strength; for me, it doesn’t mean a thing. It’s a ridiculous use of resources,” she said. “Why not spend money in a way that will actually benefit the people?”