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Like many of his students, Ji's daughter seems unmoved by the event, in sharp contrast to the excitement he felt about the previous two parades.
When the school first mobilized students in February for the parade, Ji's daughter was unwilling to join. "The drills are demanding and may take away my study time," she said.
Both her parents and her teachers tried to motivate her.
"It will be a rare, memorable and worthwhile experience, something you will realize only when you are there," encouraged Ji's wife.
The daughter finally agreed and the drills started in July. "We trained from 7 to 10:30 each morning, with no free weekends, except for a two-week break during the summer vacation," Ji says, adding that "running and leg lifting are part of the daily routine and are aimed at improving students' physical fitness".
Although Ji's daughter rarely complains, he can sense that the zeal he felt in 1984 is clearly missing in her. Then a 19-year-old high school graduate, he and his classmates regarded it a great honor to be part of the National Day parade.
Teachers had to persuade students in poor health to withdraw from the parade, he recalls.
The parade in 1984 to mark the 35th anniversary of New China, the first in 24 years, was deemed a significant display of national strength and progress. Parades were an annual feature on Oct 1, between 1949 and 1959. After 1984, only the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic was celebrated with a parade in 1999.
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