China paid tribute to its revolutionary heroes and leaders, as the portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), passed the Tian'anmen Rostrum at a mass pageant celebrating the 60th founding anniversary of New China in Beijing Thursday morning.

The first session of the civilian parade marking the 60th anniversary of the PRC's founding, consisting of more than 12,000 participants in three phalanxes, was a panoramic presentation of New China's founding and development under the leadership of the first generation of central leadership.

Veterans of the People's Liberation Army stood on the leading float adorned with huge military medals, saluting the nation they once fought for.

The music Dongfanghong, or East is Red, was played during the session to pay tribute to the first generation of the central leadership, with Mao, the "Red Sun", at the core.

In the parade were huge models of China's first homemade automobile in 1956 and the "Dongfanghong-I", its first man-made satellite, launched in 1970, making China the fifth country in the world with such a capability.

Sixty years after the country's birth, China is among the world's top auto producers and the world's third country to put a man in space with its own rocket.

In the parade, a total of 1,020 farmers from Yan'an City of the northwestern Shaanxi Province, with white towels wrapped around their foreheads, performed Ansai waist-drum dance in high spirits. They marched forward to the music "No New China without Communist Party."

Ansai is a county subordinate to Yan'an, which served as the CPC-led revolutionary base during the 1930s-40s, before the party took power in 1949.

China's early leaders, especially Mao, are well remembered in the country. Mao's portraits can be seen on the Tian'anmen Rostrum and on the country's currency, the Renminbi notes.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2009)