香港庆祝回归15周年

Thousands of people gathered at the Charter Garden in Hong Kong over the weekend, celebrating the day that marks the 15th anniversary since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

The vice-president of the organization that held the gathering, Zhou Guohui, said they have practiced a long time to mark this special event.

"We've been preparing for a month. We heard that President Hu Jintao is coming here to witness the inauguration of the fourth term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and we began preparations immediately. And anytime there is a celebration, we'll always play a part."

Everyone gathered at Charter Garden was wearing a yellow T-shirt and holding the Chinese national flag and Hong Kong's regional flag.

Although it was raining the whole time they were performing, the lively performances showed that the enthusiasm was not affected by the weather.

Mr. Lin is a drummer participating in the performance.

"We practiced for more than a month, and we all practiced at night because we had to work during the day. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with China, so we could expect celebrations of a much larger scale."

He also shared his excitement when he mentioned watching the landing of Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Friday.

"We were very excited. The Chinese people are truly great. We knew that the spaceship was due to land around 10 o'clock, but we didn't have television in the office, so we all watched the online broadcast. We were very nervous while the spacecraft landed."

A month-long exhibition featuring China's space technology is currently being held at Hong Kong's City Plaza.

Zeng Xiangqun, the deputy director of Hong Kong Celebrations Association also told me that the Charter Garden gathering is not the only one.

"Every year we will hold celebrations. This year is the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, and we've organized 8 grand celebrations. The people are pretty excited about it, even with the typhoon coming, they are reluctant to leave. July 1st is not only the anniversary of Hong Kong's return, but also the anniversary of the establishment of the Special Administrative Region, the SAR. It is also a birthday for the Hong Kong SAR and the Hong Kong people. We have high hopes for the new term of government; we wish it a good beginning."

Meanwhile, a grand gala was performed at the Hong Kong Stadium. Local stars, together with an honor guard of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Baoshang Bank and Guangdong Senior Cadre arts troupes performed at the stadium gala.

And a fireworks display was launched at eight o'clock on Sunday evening above Victoria Harbor.

People from all walks of life in the Pearl of Asia attended the celebration events.

For CRI, I'm Ding Lulu in Hong Kong.