rebirth of change

At exactly eleven o'clock, the military bands from both sides had already entered the arena, and the guard of honor was on standby.

In order to welcome the arrival of 7:1 on July [-]st on time, the Chinese and British military bands and guards of honor conducted many rehearsals, and the time was accurate to the second.The British side is unwilling to end its ceremony before midnight, and the Chinese side is unwilling to raise its national flag and regional flag when the time is up. If that happens, it will cause the people of the country to lose face and national dignity, because the joint statement clearly states At [-]:[-] on July [-]st, the sovereignty of Hong Kong will change hands, and the raising of the national flag at that moment is the symbol.

In order to show that the handover ceremony is co-hosted by both parties, all the things and procedures are divided in half by both parties. Even the invitations for the guests are shared, one side is English and the other side is Chinese, so that there is no need to distinguish which guests are invited from which side This formed the fact that every guest was jointly invited by China and the UK.

The master of ceremonies who served as the host was also one from each side of China and India. English and Chinese were used alternately. Before [-]:[-], the British emcee spoke first, and the Chinese side spoke behind. After [-]:[-], it was reversed.

Seeing the appearance of the military band, the crowd began to quiet down. It was clear to everyone that the solemn ceremony had begun to enter normal procedures, and the staff of both the Chinese and British sides were also performing their organizational functions.

The mood of the British personnel began to drop, while the mood of the Chinese personnel present began to rise. This can be seen from the red and white complexions of the two personnel.

At this time, Chen Kangjie was also sitting upright, with a correct attitude to welcome the solemn moment, and stopped gossiping with Wei Liang.

Today's Chinese military bands are full of enthusiasm, although they have seen many big scenes, but at this special point in time, Chen Kangjie guessed that some of them might be nervous.After all, more than 4000 guests from all over the world sat in the empty hall, and for the time being, this is still the land of the British.

Behind the broad rostrum, a huge five-star red flag and a huge Mizi flag hang high, and the British flag and a Miziqi pattern in the upper left corner and the British national emblem in the lower right corner are flying on the flagpole on the right. Old Hong Kong After a while, the lowering of these two flags is a sign of the end of British sovereignty and governance in Hong Kong. They will announce the end of an old era.Behind the rostrum, special distinguished guests between the two governments have already taken their seats.

The two flagpoles on the left were still vacant. After the British flag was lowered, the Chinese national flag and the regional flag were raised immediately, which in turn announced the beginning of a new era.

At 38:[-], the master of ceremonies located on both sides of the rostrum began to speak, introducing the leaders of the two countries who participated in the handover ceremony today.

On the British side are Prince Charles who has not been on the throne for decades, Prime Minister Blair who has just taken office for less than two months, the foreign minister, the last governor of Hong Kong and the minister of defense.On the Chinese side is Wei Zhonghua, Premier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, newly elected first Chief Executive and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The ten leaders are all in one-to-one correspondence.In fact, it should not be Prince Charles who came to this ceremony, it should be the Queen of England, she is the real head of state, maybe she is concerned about face, and she doesn't want to come here in person to lose the face of the empire on which the sun never sets. She found an excuse to push her son forward.

But no one would be angry with this white-haired old lady. Such a dishonorable thing, if no one is willing to rush to the front, it is barely reasonable to replace the mother with a child. The Chinese side did not hold on to this point .

At 42:[-], amidst thunderous applause and festive music, the leaders of China and the UK walked into the hall from both sides at the same time. Perhaps it was a consensus or a tacit understanding. The steps and frequency of the two sides were almost the same. They met at the same time. The middle position in front of the rostrum, and then walk to the rostrum at the same time, the Chinese side is on the left, and the British side is on the right, tending to be parallel, in no particular order.

Before the leaders entered the arena, the mighty guard of honor had already attracted everyone's attention.

Normally the British are a bit taller than the Orientals, but not today.The more than 100 members of the guard of honor in China have an average height of 1.85 meters and an average age of only 19 years old.And the clothes are simple and clear, they are the military uniforms of honor of the three armed forces, while the British side, because of the tradition, looks solemn, but it looks muddy, with an extra piece of cloth here, and a skirt protruding there. This mixed dress, on the contrary, sets off The young guy on the opposite side is tall and straight.

In order to ensure that no mistakes were made, the Chinese guard of honor conducted thousands of drills for this handover ceremony.As soon as they entered the arena, everyone present could feel the aggressive aura exuded by their uniformity and high-spirited standing.They didn't seem to be gritting their teeth hard, but they landed lightly, but the floor was still trampled by them, which could be heard from far and near.

The guards of honor from both sides stepped onto the small flagpole square of the rostrum. After some drills, they lined up neatly. Under the command of the master of ceremonies, Prince Charles delivered a short speech on behalf of the British side.

I don't know if it's because of today's atmosphere that made him uninterested. This middle-aged man with a slender face always looks gloomy, and it seems that rain will fall from his face at any time.When he spoke according to the speech into the microphone, there was a hint of loneliness in his voice, faint resentment, and continuous hissing.

On such an occasion, the British side represented a kind of failure. In the atmosphere of failure, there was no way to speak in a pompous manner. It was normal to have a little bit of sadness.

Although there were no words that lost dignity in his words, Chen Kangjie, who was sitting in the audience listening to the slow voice, still felt that they were very unwilling in their hearts, and they were not very happy to make this international university a reality. They will all give in, and they are not reconciled to making such a disgraceful head.

Thinking of the history of more than 100 years ago, when the British with foreign guns and cannons set foot on the land of China, they were so arrogant, so high-spirited, and so arrogant.In that era, foreigners on the land of the Chinese nation could walk sideways like crabs, losing all their dignity and dignity.It was the prelude to a century of humiliation, and every Chinese will remember it in their hearts.

Today, we can bring this history to a happy ending.As the old chief said, from now on, we will not sign any unequal treaties, and no one will be able to force us to sign such humiliating treaties.

As a pure British aristocrat, Prince Charles' gesture has drawn a lonely end to the relationship between the two countries over the past 100 years, after which the relationship between the two countries will open a new era.

After Prince Charles finished his speech, the procedure was the flag-lowering ceremony of the British side. The time was approaching [-]:[-] a.m., and the remaining time was only enough for the British to carry out their last independent procedure in Hong Kong. .

Three British flag-bearers in military uniforms and skirts and three Chinese flag-raisers from the army, navy and air force first stepped under their flagpoles, followed by six Hong Kong police flag-bearers in white uniforms. The three of them went to the Chinese side The Bauhinia flag was raised under the flagpole of the British side, and the Hong Kong flag of the colonial period was lowered under the flagpole of the British side.

Originally everything was normal, but in the final procedure, there were tiny waves that others could not detect, but they couldn't escape Chen Kangjie's keenness.

Chen Kangjie had heard the British national anthem. He raised his left hand and glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was less than one and a half minutes before the handover time in Hong Kong.If the British side follows the strict standard time, then the time is just right.

The football field pays attention to finishing touches, and the key to this handover ceremony is the last minute.After a whole set of slogans, the melodious music of "God Save the King" finally sounded.

As a rule, the music for the British flag-lowering is 36 seconds, and the Chinese flag-raising national anthem is 46 seconds, which is just right in terms of timing.

When other people's attention fell on the two flags with rice characters that were slowly descending, perhaps due to professional reasons, Chen Kangjie was attracted by the unfamiliar music of the people of that country.

It's not that the music is very charming. At this moment, for Chen Kangjie, no amount of charming music can match "March of the Volunteers". He is keenly aware that the rhythm of the British music has slowed down. It has slowed down by two seconds.

If it's an ordinary occasion, it doesn't matter if you go faster or slower, but on this occasion, it's absolutely not allowed.Their rhythm slows down, which means that the time for raising the flag of China will be reduced. The flag bearer is directed by music. At [-]:[-], our national flag and regional flag will not rise on time, but will be delayed by a few seconds.

No one would have imagined that the British would make mistakes in such small details. If such mistakes are allowed, then this handover ceremony will be imperfect, and it will be a damage to our dignity.

In fact, what Chen Kangjie didn't know was that Prince Charles' speech was delayed for three seconds. If the two were superimposed, the gap in time would be longer than six seconds.

Chen Kangjie stared at his watch, and his ears were focused on the music of the British side. Just as the last beat of the British side was about to be completed, Chen Kangjie calculated the time. The British delayed the time by seven seconds in total, leaving the Chinese side The time is not 46 seconds, but at most 40 seconds.

In desperation, Chen Kangjie couldn't care less.Fortunately, the military band was right in front of him, and at the end of the British music, Chen Kangjie quickly walked over to the side of the military band conductor, and lightly whispered a sentence in his ear: "Speed ​​up the time by 7 seconds" and then went back extremely fast back to his position.

In fact, the Chinese military band conductor, as a professional, also noticed something was wrong, but he couldn’t move around casually, and he didn’t wear a watch, so he didn’t know how many seconds the difference was. After being reminded by Chen Kangjie, he didn’t think too much about it. According to what Chen Kangjie said, as soon as the British music ended, the Chinese national anthem played immediately, and the rhythm accelerated.