Delivery men, the world cup-winning women's volleyball team and a special float hailing "Xi Jinping Thought" were part of a colourful 70th anniversary celebration of Communist China's 70th anniversary Tuesday -- a stark contrast with unrest in Hong Kong.

A huge fireworks show in the evening capped a day of festivities that included a pageant of more than 100,000 civilians and a massive military parade showcasing China's emergence as a global superpower.

The daytime event included giant portraits of the top leaders of the People's Republic of China, including its founder Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the economic reformer who opened the country's doors to the world.

President Xi Jinping waved from the Tiananmen rostrum as his enormous portrait rolled by.

Xi -- who has increasingly styled himself after Mao by lifting presidential term limits and inscribing his political philosophy in China's constitution -- was applauded for "making China great again" by a group that paraded with his giant portrait.

There was also a special float dedicated to his anti-graft drive, which has punished more than a million corrupt officials but has been criticised for being used as a weapon to weed out political rivals.

Xi's two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, were also at the Tiananmen Rostrum, south of the Forbidden City, to see their images.

A group of foreigners were seen on a float to promote Xi's $1 trillion global investment drive -- the Belt and Road Initiative -- which is viewed with suspicion in the West for spreading Chinese influence and debt-trapping countries.

In broad brush strokes, the parade attempted to tell the story of how China had lifted millions out of poverty, with farmers, fishermen and scientists all showcasing their achievements.

- Romantic throwback -

China's ubiquitous electric bike-driving delivery men -- the footsoldiers of its rise as an e-commerce empire -- were also part of the celebrations.

The show included a romantic throwback into the 70s with couples cycling along Chang'an Avenue, reminiscent of the time when bicycles were the main mode of transportation for the masses.

But it omitted tumultuous periods in the 50s and 60s when tens of millions died in a famine during the Great Leap Forward and political terror reigned in the Cultural Revolution.

Also missing was any mention of months-long protests in Hong Kong, which was mired in more violence on Tuesday during which an 18-year-old demonstrator was shot by police in the chest and taken to hospital.

Hong Kong's embattled chief executive Carrie Lam was seen beaming from the rostrum as a float representing the semi-autonomous financial hub passed by.

Floats celebrating the cultures of the western frontier regions of Tibet and Xinjiang were also on display -- but there were no references to accusations of abuses against Muslims and Buddhists in those areas.

Other floats featured China's high-tech ambitions.

Pictures of a float for Liaoning province, an industrial base in northeast China -- which included a giant winged robot striding forward -- went viral on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

The parade also put the spotlight on China's rise as a sporting and entertainment power, with the women's volleyball team that recently won the world cup and renowned pianist Lang Lang appearing before the crowds.

In the evening, a fireworks show lit up the skies above Tiananmen Square, with some bursts forming a "70" in the air as Xi and other officials looked on.

Thousands of dancers held up special screens to form shapes depicting the Great Wall and the Chinese flag as an orchestra played revolutionary songs.

Ordinary people barred from parade for the People's Republic
Beijing (AFP) Oct 1, 2019 - For most ordinary citizens in the People's Republic of China, the only way to see the military parade marking 70 years of Communist Party rule was on television or their smartphones.

Authorities would not allow just anyone to get near the parade route, with large swathes of central Beijing on lockdown so troops, tanks and missiles could file past Tiananmen Square.

Security staff near the city's military museum turned away children carrying Chinese flags and elderly women who had hoped to catch a glimpse of the parade.

Authorities also edged back crowds gathering near Chang'an Avenue -- the east-west artery used for the parade. Many had stuck small red flags that said "I love China" on their cheeks.

Even access to screenings of the festivities at select movie theatres was restricted.

Chu Zuoyuan, a 33-year-old from southwestern Sichuan province, told AFP he had planned to watch the parade from a movie theatre -- one of 70 chosen to livestream Tuesday's celebrations.

The experience would cap off a trip tracing "revolutionary" sites in China, from Tiananmen Square to Linyi, a city in east China where the Communist Party triumphed over the Nationalists during the civil war, said Chu.

"I hope today will leave me with beautiful and deep memories," he exclaimed, while waiting for the show to start.

But in the end, the Chengdu native was barred from the screening, which admitted residents pre-selected by local officials and community leaders.

At the end of the parade, many were finally able to see tanks and other equipment roll across city streets as they headed back to their bases, with security guards keeping people at a safe distance.

- 'Less authentic' -

Though locals in Beijing strained to catch sight of the parade in person, the Chinese government made sure to widely disseminate broadcasts and ramp up publicity for the 70th anniversary.

Ahead of Tuesday's festivities, more than 620,000 households in poor areas in China received donated TV sets with access to shows, reported official news agency Xinhua.

Cities around the country had also thrown up red propaganda banners in honour of the 70th anniversary, some bearing slogans like "striving towards a new era" or "happiness comes from struggle".

Tuesday's celebrations featured some 15,000 troops along with tanks and a supersonic drone -- a display of military prowess meant to highlight China's extraordinary rise from the ravages of war to a modern, powerful nation.

Xi, who wore the distinctive "Mao suit", delivered a speech invoking the "Chinese dream" of national rejuvenation, his grand vision of restoring the country to perceived past glory.

But a new day of violent protests in semi-autonomous Hong Kong threatened to upstage Beijing's party.

Pro-democracy protesters in the financial hub organised defiant "Day of Grief" rallies as nearly four-months of unrest continue in Hong Kong.

Chinese people outside the country should watch the parade, commented Wang, a 60-year-old man who only gave his surname.

"It doesn't matter if we watch it," he told AFP. "But people outside China should definitely watch."

A lot of them "simply do not understand" people on the mainland, he added.

Other locals, like Fang Changping, told AFP they had no plans to watch the live broadcast.

"I've seen too many of them, and I can see right through them," said the 80-year-old tai-chi practitioner.

He was part of a National Day parade back in 1956, Fang explained, and in comparison, today's celebration feels "less authentic".

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Strife-torn Hong Kong braces for China anniversary violence
Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 30, 2019
Ripped-up paving stones lay scattered around the graffiti-scarred streets of Hong Kong after one of the most violent days in a summer of rage, as protesters ready for fresh clashes on Tuesday's 70th anniversary of communist China's founding. The protest-wracked financial hub witnessed its fiercest political violence in weeks Sunday as riot police spent hours in running battles with protesters, the streets blanketed in tear gas and smoke from burning barricades. Millions have hit the streets duri ... read more