BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Slogans, costumes and people's demeanors in the two dozen of National Day parades over the past six decades reflect China's major changes, said veteran parade planner Tian Geng.

    The former chief editor of the Beijing Publishing House acted as chief planner of parade formation and slogans in several National Day parades.

    "The thought in the planning is always to reflect the most important incidents and achievements of the time in the parade, and let the slogan demonstrate the themes of the times and the trend of the nation's development," said the 82-year-old man, who is looking forward to the upcoming National Day parade marking the60th anniversary of the founding of New China on Oct. 1.

    A giant board reading the Constitution of the People's Republic of China was carried through Tian'anmen Square at the 5th anniversary, marking the year when the Constitution was passed, he said.

    The National Day parade in 1958 saw the slogan of "Striving for Steel Output of 10.7 million tonnes," as the government intended to increase the steel production, which was recognized as a symbol of industrial progress, said Tian.

    He remembered the first festooned vehicle which appeared at the35th National Day anniversary celebration in 1984. The vehicle made in Shenzhen, a pioneering economic zone of China's opening-up reform, carried an interesting slogan -- "Time is Money, Efficiency is Life."

    Such a concept was a novelty at that time, when the country had only just begun to pilot the land contract reform, giving farmers the land management rights. At the National Day celebration that year, five trucks carrying the slogans "Good for the Household Contract Responsibility System" passed through the Tian'anmen Square.

    Tian said the most romantic moment in his memory was at the 50th anniversary celebration in 1999, when 75 pairs of newly-wed wearing wedding clothes and holding lily bouquets walked across the square.

    "I feel more and more humanism in the National Day celebrations through the years. The nation is giving more and more respect to individuals," he said.

    Zhang Fuxiang, a resident in Beijing, recalled he dressed in a worn-out padded jacket to join the first National Day parade on Oct. 1, 1949 when New China was founded.

    "There was no rehearsal, no organized motion and no uniform. But everybody was passionate and energetic," said the old man in his 80s.

    Wu Yang, an official in charge of public entertainment activities in the Beijing Cultural Bureau, remembered at the National Day parade in 1956, it was raining.

    "The costume made of thin cotton cloth became transparent after it was soaked in rain, and the colorful dyeing was washed off," she said.

    Three years later, at the National Day parade in 1959, she was also a member of the parade, and walked in the first square array.

    "It was an all-girls array. We wanted to have a little decoration on our dull clothes, but everybody was poor. I created an idea -- we used corn to make a long necklace. Each of us worn acorn necklace as the only ornament," she said.

    Fashion came to the National Day parade in 1979, the year when world-famous fashion designer Pierr Cardin led his fashion team to carry out the first fashion show in China.

    "Girls wearing cheongsam and colorful one-piece dress in the parade became a magnet for the interested gaze of the audience," she said.

Special Report: 60th Anniversary of Founding of PRC