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Mai Hongzhen, 88
After her businessman father died  when they were still young, Mai Hongzhen's only brother took on the role of providing  for the family of six children. She graduated from Henan University,  and worked at the Ministry of Agriculture until she retired.  She married Chang Shujia  in August 1949.  The couple have three children.
What were you doing on the day?
I was in Tiananmen Square with my work unit. 
Had you been aware of what  would happen?
One or two days before October 1, we were told that there would be a ceremony. Because I worked for a ministry, the news had come from the top. But I also found out from reading the papers. 
Do you remember how you felt?
I was very happy and, just like my husband, I was expecting it to happen.
What was the reaction of people  around you?
Most people were happy. My brother, even though he was not working with the communists at the time, was very happy. My mother, who was a housewife, was very happy too.
How did your life change right after?
I graduated in 1949 and was immediately given a job at the Ministry of Agriculture and a flat, so my mother could come and live with me. I remember that my mother was surprised that I would get a monthly salary. Men and women became more equal and women had priority when apartments were awarded.
Chang Shujia, 92
One of five siblings, he has raised three children with his wife of 60 years, Mai Hongzhen. He worked at the Ministry  of Agriculture.
What were you doing on the day?
I was in hospital near Zhongnanhai so I could not attend the ceremony on Tiananmen. I had just accepted a job at the Ministry of Agriculture, but then I fell sick.
Had you been aware of what  would happen?
Yes, I was aware of what was about to happen. I was reading the People's Daily and the information was in the newspapers. The news was out.
Do you remember how you felt?
I was happy and with my wife we were expecting the republic to be declared. 
What was the reaction of people  around you?
I was in a working-class environment so people around me were happy. A good example is to see how happy people were when the communist army entered Beijing at the beginning of 1949.
How did your life change right after?
I felt that the communists were much better organised. The danwei (work unit) became the most important part of our lives. It was providing for everything. It was even dealing with people's personal problems.
Zhou Futian, 75
The youngest child of a farmer, Zhou Futian moved to Beijing in 1947. By 1949, his mother had died. He joined the Communist Party in 1958. He has four children.
What were you doing on the day?
I was 15, and I was an apprentice in Bu Ying Zhai,  a shoe shop in Dazhalan  (the shop is still in Dazhalan - two doors down from where it was at the time). I don't remember it very well but I have the feeling that my work unit sent me to the parade on Tiananmen. But I must not have stayed long as I really needed to work.
Had you been aware of what would happen?
No, I was not aware of what was about to happen. I was working for a private business and we were working until 11pm every day. We had no time to discuss that with our work mates. As an apprentice, I had to make the beds for the older boys. So every day was very busy.
Do you remember how you felt?
Because I was young and so busy every day I don't remember having a special feeling. But in the weeks and months after, I felt that I was really representing the working class.
What was the reaction of people around you?
What I remember is that our bosses had been afraid since the beginning of the year, when the communist army had seized Beijing. After October 1, you could really feel their fear. Older people were a bit more conservative and work units were selecting younger people. I never discussed politics with my work mates.
How did your life change right after?
Most changes were gradual. But one thing changed immediately for me after October 1 - for the first time in my life I received a salary every month, 20 or 30 fen worth (about 1.5kg at the time) of xiao mi (millet). The other thing that also changed very quickly was our bosses' attitude towards us, the workers. They did not dare to treat us as badly as before any more.
Zhang Minxian, 71
His family came from Tianjin, but he grew up in Beijing, in Jianguomen. Though his grandparents were poor farmers who did not own the land they cultivated, his parents received a good education because they were Christian. His father was a sports teacher and his mother a housewife, and he was one of five children. He is a living encyclopedia on Beijing. He has two daughters.
What were you doing on the day?
I was 11 and was living near Jianguomen. I knew that there would be a ceremony on Tiananmen, so with a classmate we followed Changan Avenue to try to sneak in but the avenue was blocked. By the way, did you know that the gate at Dongdan  had been removed in 1948 by the Kuomintang? Because the liberation army was holding the airfield outside Beijing and the KMT thought Changan Avenue could be used as a runway, right in the middle of town! Anyway, since Changan Avenue was closed, we had the idea of going to the highest point in the city - that was how we ended up in Beihai Park.  We climbed the stairs to the white pagoda and we were just below it in the Shan Yin Dian.  We did not stay long though because we could hear the fireworks but we could not see anything. So we just went down to the park to play. I don't think my parents knew where I was. Parents were not always chasing after the kids in those days, like they are now. 
Had you been aware of what would happen?
I had heard that that was about to happen because my parents read the papers. I have always been very curious. I always wanted to know about new things.
Do you remember how you felt?
Happy and relieved! Before that everybody was depressed and the atmosphere was very tense. For instance we could not play with fireworks for fear that the KMT soldiers would shoot us because they were so nervous.
What was the reaction of people around you?
At that time when the city was liberated, everybody was in a very good mood. People knew that there would be no more war and that good mood affected me as a kid. 
How did your life change right after?
Things did not change immediately but improved over time. Before the liberation there was no electricity and the quality of the water was bad. I remember my mother queuing for food. The queues were so long that people had their number in the queue written on their arms.
Liu Zhijie, 80
His family, which hailed from Shunyi, was educated but fell on hard times after his brother's ill health drained their finances. They were so poor, he said, that they often did not know where their next meal would come from. When he turned 15, his mother asked him to go to Beijing to find work. He did - walking the 25 kilometres to the city with a friend. He worked as a calligrapher at the Palace Museum from 1975 to retirement. He is married with two children.
What were you doing the day the People's Republic was proclaimed?
I was jobless, having lost my job at a candle and incense shop in Wangfujing.  I was living with a former co-worker in his uncle's shop in Nan Jian Zi Xiang (south of Jiaodaokou).  The shop was very small and the uncle was selling alcohol. The three of us lived there.
Had you been aware that China was on the verge of this momentous event?
I knew something was under way and the district leader had told everyone to keep the radio turned on, but it's only while listening to the radio that I realised what was happening.
Do you remember how you felt when you heard the news?
Very happy because life was very hard. My friend's uncle wanted us to celebrate but being so young I was not used to drinking so much baijiu,  having neither the money nor the opportunities to go out drinking.
What was the reaction of people around you in Beijing?
Everybody was very happy and there were parties and parades but to be part of those you had to belong to a work unit. Being jobless, I couldn't. Although people did not usually speak much to one another on the streets, during those days everybody was exchanging gong xi (congratulations) with everybody else.
How did your life change in the days and weeks after the proclamation?
After October 1, there were adverts in the newspapers announcing which work units were hiring so I took the exam to become an accountant at the China Film Corporation,  and I passed. My salary was 30 yuan, which quickly increased to 60, then 70 yuan. It allowed me to pay for my brother and sister's education and also give money to my parents for food. That was a big change from the job in the candle shop, where I was not paid at all.
Qi Shizhen, 81
Her parents sold water door to door.  She married at 16 and bore six children, including one born before October 1949.
What were you doing on the day?
I was at home in Shi Tou Pu (near Xidan) doing housework. My husband, a teacher, was at school. 
Had you been aware of what would happen?
No, I was not aware that something that important was about to happen. The society still being feudal, women were not allowed to go out very much and were not kept informed. I rarely took part in the conversations held by my husband and my father-in-law.
Do you remember how you felt?
I was relieved. I knew there was a war with the Japanese and since the Japanese army was close to our home I was always afraid that my husband would be drafted by the army.
What was the reaction of people around you?
My father-in-law said that we had won and my husband was happy but I was not participating in the discussions. Everybody was excited and relieved.
How did your life change right after?
Life improved day by day. My father-in-law's business (making food with beans) got better.
Bao Binglin, 87
Bao, who counts Manchu empress Xiao Zhuang  among his ancestors, lived in Tokyo for two years when he was seven to nine. His grandfather was teaching Chinese there, and had taken the family along with him. Bao is married to Tong Minkuan, and they have six children. The family has lived in the same courtyard in the Gulou  area since 1947.
What were you doing on the day?
I was on Tiananmen Square with my work unit. At the time I was working as a technician for the telecommunications bureau and my salary was 80.50 yuan per month, which was very high at the time.
Had you been aware of what would happen?
In early September, our work unit leader told us that the republic would be declared on October 1. As soon as we heard the news, we started to prepare for the day and decide who would go to Tiananmen. 
Do you remember how you felt?
I was quite happy. The Kuomintang was very corrupt and people really wanted to change that. 
What was the reaction of people around you?
Most people around me thought that was a good thing happening to China. Others did not care, or were ignorant of what was going on. 
How did your life change right after?
After October 1, we had to go to meetings after work, instead of going home for instance, and that was not very pleasant. There were too many meetings we had to attend. The communists did a good job at teaching people that private property did not exist any more . In the end we were convinced we did not own our courtyard any more. Actually we ended up paying rent to the state to live in it. It was given back to us in 1983. But the major changes only happened in the next two or three years following the declaration of the republic.
Tong Minkuan, 84
She has been married to Bao Binglin since 1945, and the couple have six children. The family has lived in the same courtyard home in Gulou since 1947. She is a housewife.
What were you doing on the day?
I was at home in Gulou in the courtyard my father-in-law had bought two years earlier and where I still live with my husband and three of our children. I was taking care of our daughter Bao Hua  (born at the end of 1945) and of our son Bao Hao . 
Had you been aware of what would happen?
No, I wasn't really. Being a housewife I did not follow politics very much. I had the sense that something had to happen because there were gunfights in our neighbourhood and sometimes bullets fell in our courtyard.
Do you remember how you felt?
I was not so preoccupied by the declaration. I had never worked outside and the children and the house chores kept me busy.
Wei Zhi , 77
Wei's father was a teacher at Peking University, and his mother was in charge of the Qing and Ming archives at the Palace Museum. The family lived in Taiwan in 1947 and 1948, while Wei's father taught Chinese there following the end of the Japanese occupation. The family moved back to Beijing in 1948. Wei's father, a Communist Party member since 1926, later joined the board of a commission to promote simplified characters. Wei  said events on October 1 were recorded by Soviet technicians. But all the tapes had been burned, except the one containing footage often shown in documentaries.
What were you doing on the day?
I was on Tiananmen Square at the Zhongshan Park's  south gate. I was 17 and had just enrolled at the Beijing police school. We left the school immediately after breakfast and went to Tiananmen. I remember there were a lot of horses. There had been rumours that the Kuomintang would plant bombs at the ceremony or try to shoot the air force planes down, so the ceremony was delayed and only began at 3pm. Because I was on the side I did not see Mao Zedong  but I heard everything he said and to this day I remember very clearly all that was said. (Here, he broke into a good impersonation of the way Mao spoke.) But I do not remember Mao saying 'The Chinese people have stood up'* and I don't think he said it. I think it was too emotional a sentence to say at such a formal event. 
Had you been aware of what would happen?
I knew a ceremony was planned but I did not know exactly what the ceremony was for. I found out only that very day.
Do you remember how you felt?
I was quite happy about it all. The liberation army had been in Beijing since the beginning of the year so I felt that all this was happening quite naturally.
What was the reaction of people around you?
The people belonging to the educated and cultured circles I grew up in were mostly happy.
How did your life change right after?
Before the Japanese war, our family was very well off, but after liberation our life could not really be compared with what it was before. I remember that at school we were given 3kg of xiao mi (millet) a month and also very good socks and shoes.
*Mao Zedong announced that the 'Chinese people have stood up' at the opening of the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on September 21, 1949, and is often quoted as repeating that line while proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic on October 1 that year. While the historical evidence is sketchy, it is believed he did repeat it at a government meeting that day, but not in Tiananmen.
Li Li, 82
Li Li's parents died when she was 12, and she was adopted by an aunt. She started work at a Japanese factory making quilts, but later joined the costume department of the Beijing Film Actor Theatre, part of the Beijing Film Studio,  where she worked until she retired.  Her husband, who used to work in the film censorship department of the Ministry of Culture, has died. She has five children.
What were you doing on the day?
I was on Tiananmen Square. I had been sent there by my work unit to help carry some flowers. Because I was small (155cm), I was in the front rows so I had a good look at all the leaders. At the time I was working at the Capital Cinema  selling tickets. I was wearing a white shirt and a dark green tie and a skirt.
Had you been aware of what would happen?
Yes, because my husband was an underground communist I knew what was about to happen before a lot of people. Two months before October 1, we had been told to move back to Beijing from Tianjin , so we knew what was about to happen.
Do you remember how you felt?
All the bad memories flowed back to my mind and I knew it would be the end of all those bad things, things like the Japanese calling us dong ya bing fu (East Asian sick man). The idea that things would change was overwhelming.
What was the reaction of people around you?
People around me were happy but not everybody was allowed to go to Tiananmen. Based on your everyday behaviour, the leaders would decide if you could go or not. There was a lot of competition. My parents, who were working in a factory in Beijing making socks, were happy too.
How did your life change right after?
Changes did not happen right away. My salary went up by a few kwai (yuan). I was paid 28 yuan which was a good salary. Our work unit established a kindergarten, things like that.



On this day, 60 years ago, history was made at Tiananmen Square that irrevocably changed the lives of millions