CCP should not be above the state

But the celebrations also succeeded in highlighting, perhaps inadvertently, the fact that China is still not a normal country.

In the morning celebrations, with the entire Chinese leadership on display atop the Tiananmen Square rostrum, one man stood out: Hu Jintao, the country's leader.

This was not only because he is the nation's president and the leader of the Communist party. It was more because he was dressed differently from the other leaders, all of whom wore Western-style business suits and ties.

Hu, however, wore a Chinese outfit, often referred to in the West as a “Mao suit,” but known in China as a “Zhongshan suit,” named after the founder of the Chinese Republic, Sun Yat-sen, who is commonly known as Sun Zhongshan. This outfit was created by him and worn by members of his government.

Interestingly enough, at the evening celebrations, Hu had changed into a Western suit like the other members of the Chinese leadership.

Why this metamorphosis?

Well, Hu appeared in the morning in his capacity as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission to review the armed forces. This is his third hat, in addition to being president and general secretary of the party.

And, it appears, the commander of the armed forces must not wear a Western business suit. It doesn't look revolutionary enough.

Certainly, Hu's predecessors, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, never wore business suits. But by the time Jiang Zemin became China's leader, it was customary for officials to wear Western suits, which Jiang did on most occasions. But whenever he appeared before the troops he would discard his business suit.

There is more than sartorial preference involved. The People's Liberation Army is not a part of the Chinese government. It is part of the Chinese Communist Party. The troops are directly under the party's military commission, not the Defense Ministry.

This is one reason why Hu, while in Italy to attend the G-8 meeting, had to fly home after the July 5 riots in Urumqi. As chairman of the military commission, he had to take personal command of troops to be deployed.

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