Qi Ruhong: Essays on Life on Double Ten National Day

Qi Ruhong: Essays on Life on Double Ten National Day I returned to Phoenix from Vietnam and had the honor to participate in a performance celebrating the Double Ten Festival. I was very happy. The centenary of the Republic of China is worthy of cheering...

Qi Ruhong: Life Essays Double Ten National Day I returned to Phoenix from Vietnam and was lucky enough to participate in a performance celebrating the Double Ten Day. I was very happy. The centenary of the Republic of China is worthy of cheering. The unparalleled women's band from Taiwan is composed of beauties from the Chinese music department of various universities. There are only twelve beauties using different instruments. The music has a variety of styles. It is indeed wonderful. In addition, the four beauties of "Chun Li Dance" are accompanied by them. They are full of youthful vitality. They are indeed dazzling and joyful in Fengcheng. It makes people applaud endlessly! Although I was lucky enough to participate in these huge celebrations, I am also grateful for the hard work of all walks of life in the overseas Chinese community. After all, the Republic of China has been a hundred years, and it has not been easy to go through ups and downs in a century. But after I was happy, I left the scene and returned to the real society. I watched with a cold eye and felt that the current status and situation of the Republic of China was not optimistic. I had mixed feelings in my heart and could not help but sigh. I feel this way because I love China, or to be precise, I love the Republic of China. Perhaps because I grew up in Vietnam, and was influenced by the education of the Republic of China from a young age, "Nanjing is the capital of our country. The mountains and rivers are majestic, and the scenery is beautiful." These texts are deeply rooted in my mind; the name of the great revolutionary and founding father Sun Yat-sen has long been engraved in my mind. I admire the successful history of the martyrs of the Revolution of 1911; singing the national anthem and reciting the Prime Minister's will at various ceremonies were common practice at that time; even the song "Beautiful China": "Beautiful, the Republic of China, the Pacific Ocean, the Asia continent; the rivers are circling, the mountains are undulating...", I can still hum a few words casually. When I was a teenager, I participated in many Double Ten celebrations. At that time, the celebrations were always held on October 10th, either in the theater or in the school auditorium, full of the solemn significance of the National Day. Unlike here in Phoenix, they were held as usual, sometimes later and sometimes earlier. I first learned about the Double Ten Festival in the year after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. The overseas Chinese in Vietnam held a grand parade to celebrate the National Day. The venue was on Sailor Street (now known as Tran Hung Dao Avenue) on the embankment. I vaguely remember that there were huge crowds of people standing and watching along the way. My father held his brother’s hand. Calling me "riding a horse" means holding me on his shoulders. There were many parades, including lion dances, twisted lanterns, gongs and drums... and the fellow travelers also inserted small flags into my pockets. I was only a few years old at the time, and I didn't really know much. I only had a vague impression of it because my father kept mentioning old events when Double Ten Day came every year. However, those who participated in the Double Ten celebrations in Vietnam or wrote congratulations in newspapers were all before I turned thirty-five. After I turned thirty-five, that is, in 1975, the situation in Vietnam completely changed, and the Double Ten celebrations disappeared. It wasn't until I immigrated to the United States that I officially participated in the celebration in Phoenix. However, the reputation of the Republic of China is very different from before. It is almost covered by the word "Taiwan". However, in the United Nations, the flag of the People's Republic of China is used, and the sky is no longer blue and the ground is red. Because of this change in environment, memories of the past are recalled, and nostalgia is easy to arise. Every year when the Double Ten Festival comes, I always recall an editorial published by Vietnam Asia Daily on the Double Ten Festival decades ago. The title was "Celebrating Double Ten with a smile, looking at the mountains and rivers with tears." The editorial represents the position of the newspaper, not Signed, but insiders know that it was written by the main author Fang Zhongge. The content points out how hard the founding father Sun Yat-sen and the martyrs worked so hard to succeed in the Revolution of 1911 and create the Republic of China. The glorious National Day on October 10 was bought with blood. The Chinese people did not cherish it and protect it. Instead, they established another party to fight for power. The country was divided. It was sad and sad to shed tears. At that time, the editorial expressed the sentiments of overseas Chinese celebrating the National Day, expressed the desire of the overseas Chinese, and prayed for the blue sky and white sun to fill the ground with red flags, shining brightly around the world and fluttering in the wind. The permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council was still in the name of the Republic of China, and the overseas Chinese were once proud of it. But in the era when the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were fighting each other to the death, they would not give in to each other. Pro-Communism was not allowed here, and anti-Communism was not allowed there. This reporter, who made sharp arguments with his pen, could not escape the fate of being shot to death. This incident shocked the entire Vietnamese overseas Chinese community, and once made Chinese journalists feel frightened and terrified all day long. At that time, the editor of the Yuehua Evening News, Yao Jingxin, discouraged me from joining the newspaper and told me to just work on the periphery. This is why. Time is gone, the past is gone. Today's international situation is changing. The situation is stronger than the people. The Republic of China is gradually losing its strength. Not to mention the diplomatic relations with foreign countries, it can be clearly seen among the overseas Chinese groups. Therefore, when it comes to the Double Ten National Day on October 10, even if the overseas Chinese who love the Republic of China try their best to organize a general meeting to celebrate, just like the celebration performance that night, there are cheers and enthusiastic encouragement. The lyrics of the last song "Ode to the Republic of China" are full of heroic, " The Republic of China, the Republic of China, forever and ever!" But after the show, I left the enthusiastic theater and couldn't calm down. I carefully considered the real social environment outside, which made me lose the excitement I had in the past!