Fireworks over Tiananmen Square

China Celebrates End of "Shameful Era"

After the beating of drums, dragon dances and choral patriotic songs, the huge red digits of the countdown clock fell to zero here in Tiananmen Square.

Crowds cheered as they watched the British flag being lowered on giant television screens.

Hand-picked guests watch the celebrations

For the second time in one evening, China let off a massive fireworks display above the mausoleum of Mao Tse Tung and the monument of People's Heroes. 100,000 hand-picked performers danced and sang in a sound-and-light show ringed by the illuminated buildings of communist architecture.

The mayor of Beijing, Jia Qinglin, opened the ceremonies, saying that the return of Hong Kong marked the beginning of a unified modern China.

The cheers were echoed in cities around China, as hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen to mark Hong Kong's return to the mainland after 156 years.

Joy at Hong Kong's return to China

As soon as the fireworks display ended, silence descended on the square - where just eight years ago Chinese troops fired on pro-democracy demonstrators - and people turned once again to the TV screens to listen to the speech of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The silence was broken only by enthusiastic applause as the president hailed an event that would "go down in the annals of history as a day that merits eternal memory".

Hong Kong Protestors Vow To Fight For Democracy

"The message is that we want democracy and we want it now," said pro-democracy leader Emily Lau at a rally in Statue Square.

She had just led hundreds of people carrying a giant yellow ribbon in a walk around the central legislature building. "The yellow ribbon is our wish that democracy returns," said Lee Cheuk-yan, another pro-democracy leader.

China's own Hong Kong legislature is sworn in

Beijing dissolved the elected legislature after taking over the British colony and was to swear in its own within hours. Members of Hong Kong's Democratic Party refused to join the pro-Beijing assembly and have launched a protest campaign.

In the nearby Wan Chai district, the April 5 action group pushed and shoved with police. Protesters carried aloft a large paper model of a Chinese army tank to symbolise the crushing of mass student-led demonstrations centred on Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989.

A dozen April 5 protesters carried banners with slogans including "Down with Li Peng" and "Remember the June 4 Slaughter".