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Fast Facts about China
Formal name: People's Republic of China (PRC)
Capital: Beijing
Head of State: President Hu Jintao elected March 15, 2003.
National flag: Red flag with five stars.
National emblem: Tiananmen Gatetower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below.
National anthem: March of the Volunteers, written in 1935, with lyrics by the poet Tian Han and music by the composer Nie Er, honoring those who went to the front to fight the Japanese invaders in northeast China in the 1930s. Decided upon as the provisional national anthem of the new China on September 27, 1949, at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the song was officially adopted as the national anthem of the PRC on December 4, 1982, by the National People's Congress (NPC).
National Day: Chinese celebrate October 1 as National Day in honor of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
