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You and Me, the theme song of last year's Beijing Olympic Games, will be one of 43 tunes played during the National Day celebrations.

Around 1,500 performers from across China have been selected for a special band to perform music for the military parade and a mass pageant on October 1, said band director Yu Hai.

"The number of songs will be the highest for such a celebration," he said. Just 35 songs were played during the 50th anniversary in 1999.

The National Day parade and pageant are always accompanied by a military band to perform traditional tunes, including the national anthem, the song of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), and the Parade March.

This year's playlist, however, has been updated to include the Beijing Games theme and the pop song Red Flag Flying, said Yu.

He said 19 tunes would be played during the parade and 24 during the pageant. They would be interspersed with recordings of former leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and current President Hu Jintao.

A chorus of 2,500 students from Beijing colleges and a folk music group made up of 200 people will also join the military band for the pageant.

The idea to establish a large military band of at least 1,000 musicians for National Day came from Mao Zedong in 1950, said Yu.

This year's band will be the largest in history, with members selected from 46 bands, including 1,300 players and 29 conductors. Among the players, the eldest is 50 and the youngest is just 16.

"This band brings together the best players in the PLA," said Yu, who enlisted 30 years ago. This year's band was officially set up on March 26 and all participants gathered in Beijing on July 1 for three months of intensive training.

The band will be the first group to enter Tian'anmen Square and the last to leave it on October 1, said Yu. "That means our players must stand for at least three hours and play for more than two hours without a break," he added.

He explained that the national anthem must be played at 96 beats per minute for the raising of the Chinese flag, while tunes for the parade and pageant must hit 116 beats per minute.

Questions:

1. Who is the National Day band director?

2. What pop song has been added to the National Day celebration playlist?

3. How many conductors will there be in this year’s military band?

Answers:

1. Yu Hai.

2. Red Flag Flying.

3. 29.

（英语点津 许雅宁编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move