Arise! Arise! Arise!

I am about to get ready for dinner with some friends at a Teppanyaki restaurant where free flow seafood, sushi, and sake is the order of the evening. The challenge beyond imbibing optimal quantities of food and drink so that jeans stay intact and gut still postulates one area code, is to remain in that gray area between sobered fatigue and inebriated sopor by 5 in the morning.

This is because on the first day of every month, the flag is raised at Tiananmen Square with especial gravitas, with the aid of a live marching band and singing of the national anthem. And our mission, is to last tonight throughout all-you-can-eat sushi, all-you-can-drink sake and plum wine, through the night and into the morning frost at Tiananmen Square to watch it all take place! If successful, the pictures will be posted soon.

The national anthem:

Arise! People who refuse to be slaves!
Make our flesh and blood into our new Great Wall!
As the Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,
Everyone is forced to give a last roar.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Our million hearts beat as one,
Braving the enemy's fire, March on!
Braving the enemy's fire, March on!
March on! March on! On!