Applause and cheers engulfed Tian'anmen Square Thursday morning when a float featuring the scale model of Taiwan's landmark 101 Tower and colorful local fruits appeared at the celebrations of New China's 60th founding anniversary.

The dazzling float of the "Treasure Island" was the last one of the "Splendid China" formation to pull into the square at the heart of Beijing, following 33 others representing China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Standing high on the float was a statue of Zheng Chenggong, who reclaimed Taiwan from Dutch occupiers more than three centuries ago.

Two passenger plane models "flying" over a rainbow on the float symbolized direct air and sea transport links and postal services across the Taiwan Straits, which did not begin until December, 2008. Previously, air and sea connections, including mail, were routed via a third location, usually Hong Kong.

Some 250 Taiwan compatriots were invited by the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots to attend the grand celebrations, as had been done during the 1984 and 1999 festivities.

A total of 48 journalists from 17 Taiwan media organizations also registered to cover the event.

"My feelings were mixed," said Lin Cheng Weng, chairman of the Taiwan-based China Association of Planning. "It took about 60 years for me to turn the black-and-white image of the mainland in my mind to a color one."

"We have the same skin color and the same bloodline, thus let us lay aside our historical grudge and look forward together," said Weng, who has been engaged in cross-Straits exchanges for 20 years and was among the Taiwan compatriots invited to watch the parade.

Weng said he wished for a greater unity of the Chinese people across the Taiwan Straits based on mutual understanding.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan, with a long feud after the civil war six decades ago, have been cementing ties in recent years, seeing financial cooperation, disaster relief donations and exchanges between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang and other political parties on the island, in addition to the breakthroughs in transport links.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2009)