On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China in front of a jubilant crowd in Tiananmen Square. The images of that historic moment have become famous all over the world. But few know who were the people standing behind Mao as he was holding his speech. Most of them were, like Mao, Communist revolutionaries and high-ranking politicians, such as Zhu De (ę±å¾·) , Liu Shaoqi ( åå°å„ / åå°å„) , and Zhou Enlai ( åØę©ę„ / åØę©ä¾) . However, one also finds names of people who were not members of the Communist Party: Song Qingling ( å®åŗé¾ / å®ę
¶é½”) , the wife of Sun Yat-sen , the man who had founded the Republic of China which the Communists had long fought to overthrow; Zhang Lan ( å¼ ę¾ / å¼µē¾) , the founder of the China Democratic League ; and Li Jishen (ęęæę·±), the chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang (RCCG). In fact, the PRC was founded - at least in theory - as a multi-party state under the leadership of the Chine