On the morning of July 1, a ceremony marking the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. With impassioned music, a total of 100 thousand balloons were released into the sky at the grand gathering's conclusion.
Click on the video
Cui Jianwei from Zhoukou city of Central China's Henan province was very excited at this moment and recorded a video with his mobile phone, which attracted more than 8 million viewers. He unveiled the story behind the balloon team.
Cui, a member of the event's technical instruction team composed of more than 30 technical instructors, was responsible for training balloon volunteers, devising emergency solutions and ensuring the release of the balloons.
To meet the requirements of safety and environmental protection, helium was used for inflation and the balloons were made from natural latex that was 100 percent degradable, colorless, odorless and nonflammable. According to Cui, a total of 100 thousand balloons, colored red, yellow, green, orange, dark blue and light blue, were released into the sky for the grand gathering. These balloons were put into 100 boxes with 4 volunteers responsible for each box containing 1-thousand balloons. There were 2 volunteers in each pair, one responsible for inflating the balloons and ensuring an equal size, and the other for tying them. To achieve the desired effect, balloons had to be exactly 25 centimeters in diameter. Besides, the balloon team had just 90 minutes to inflate the balloons.
To master the necessary skills, according to Cui, each volunteer had to inflate around 300 to 400 balloons per day during the training. After months of practice, their hands were bruised, bloodied and calloused.
The boxes were also specially designed. They were covered in two layers of different material to protect them from the scorching sun.
It was hard for them to release 100 thousand balloons at the same time. At Tian'anmen Square, signalmen, each holding two flags with different colors, were ready at the designated spots to give signals to the volunteers.
"As a member of the CPC, I felt very proud to do so." Cui said that he had imagined the scene when such a large number of balloons were released into the sky, but when it came to the moment in reality, he burst into tears. "Such feelings of excitement and pride were hard to describe." (Chinese source: Henan Business Daily Translator: Zhao Hanqing Poster: Wang Junyi Proofreader: Li Wenjing)
