For non-capital Chinese, traveling to Beijing, taking a picture in front of Tiananmen Square and watching the heart-pounding flag-raising ceremony would not be a bad idea. During holidays, many tourists stay up late to queue up to see the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square. As a result, the flag-raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square is one of the most spectacular flag-raising ceremonies in the world, with extremely shocking scenes that make people's blood boil. But do you know where the world's strangest flag lowering ceremony is?
The World's Strangest Flag Lowering Ceremony
For tourists, the world's hottest, most ornamental, most confrontational, and strangest flag-lowering ceremony takes place on the borderline between Pakistan and India. The place is called Wagah, located between the Pakistani city of Lahore and the Indian city of Amritsar. The two sides every day, the swords are drawn, angry eyes, compete with the flag lowering ceremony in the tourists seem interesting, witty and funny, but also not lose the excitement of the group. I do not know when, but has become a famous tourism program of the two countries, known around the world.
Preparing for the ceremony
The Wagga Crossing has an auditorium in front of the gates of both countries, which is filled every day with thousands of "cheerleaders" made up of residents and tourists from both countries. Both sides are playing their respective national anthems, there are special honor guards waving flags, shouting slogans to mobilize the audience and the mood of tourists, a time crowded, emotional, deafening sound. After that, four honor guards from each side entered, striding toward the national gate and unlocking it to take their positions.
Entrance Ceremony
After the preparatory ceremony is in place, a short entrance ceremony is performed by the honor guards of both sides through the closed gate (tourists can see the performances of both sides if they sit in the higher seats of the audience), and the 8 majestic honor guards formally enter the gate, perform the formation and step performance. The majestic military posture made the audience cheered. After the preparations, the soldiers in front of the gates of both sides opened the gates together.
Military confrontation
After the gates are opened, the music stops and the audience quiets down. At this point, the two sides will each send a guard of honor to perform a military posture confrontation, where they walk toward each other with the same footwork of lifting their feet high and stomping on the ground, both holding their breath and competing to see who lifts their feet higher and who stomps the ground louder. When the performance is complete, the two men shake hands in anger (and sometimes with a smile), after which the gates of the country close again.
Mobilizing the audience's emotions
After the closure of the gate, the two sides do the final preparations, shouting slogans, again mobilizing the audience and tourists, drums, shouting, cheering a wave, the honor guards are performing military posture, each in position. After the preparation of the national gate is opened again, the flag bearer and the honor guards to military posture against the way towards their respective flag poles (flag poles on both sides of the national gate), the flag bearer to untie the rope, ready to lower the flag.
Flag lowering ceremony
The flag bearers of the two countries untie the ropes at the same time, pull the ropes and walk to the opposite side of the flagpole at the same time, so that the ropes are in the shape of a "cross". Both flag guards and then in a military posture against the way in position, the whole field immediately quiet down, waiting for the lowering of the flag. At the sound of the bugle, the flag bearers of both sides slowly lower their flags at the same time. After the lowering of the flag is completed, the military posture confrontation show again, each side sent an honor guard to shake hands, then close the national gate, complete the whole flag lowering ceremony.
Such a strange flag lowering ceremony is unique in the world, it is worth seeing, the whole process lasts about 30 minutes. Partners traveling to Pakistan can not be easily missed, from Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad to Wagah is only a 4-hour drive, there is a day time is enough.
Note: Black uniforms are Pakistani honor guards; earthy yellow uniforms are Indian honor guards