A celebration of China in the San Gabriel Valley

The marching band played the Chinese national anthem. The red Chinese flag slowly reached the top of the pole. The crowd roared and released colorful balloons into the blue sky.

Zhiyong Yuan soaked it all in and felt tears well up.

The Monterey Park resident was standing in a small patch of grass in the middle of the San Gabriel Valley, where on Sunday hundreds of residents and community leaders celebrated the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The annual event has been drawing large crowds since it moved a few years ago to the Barnes Park amphitheater in Monterey Park, which seats about 600 and has a nice stage to showcase performers and dignitaries. On hand Sunday were the Chinese consul general in Los Angeles, Zhang Yun; the first Chinese American congresswoman, Judy Chu; and her husband, Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park), whose Chinese name, Guoqing, happens to mean “national day celebration.”

The flag-raising ceremony’s growing pomp speaks to the rising power and influence of China in a community that is increasingly dominated by mainland Chinese immigrants.

“This event is so moving not just because I am the same age as new China,” said Yuan, who emigrated from Shanghai and was born the same year as Communist China, 1949. “We are so far away from home. To see a celebration like this confirms the Chinese people’s place in the world. It also shows what a great country America is to give us this much support and respect.”

In Barnes Park, the festivities are more about folksy patriotism than professional slickness. When the loudspeaker broke down several times, the singers went silent and the dancers dropped their scarves in confusion.

In China, such glitches would be a rarity. Not here.

“We don’t mind at all,” said Chunsheng Tian of Rosemead, kneeling to take pictures of his wife and friends holding Chinese and American flags. “It’s not about how professional the performers are. It’s about the feeling they evoke. This feels more intimate, more special than watching the perfect performers in China.”

Many people brought entire families for a chance to bask in the nostalgia of home and a taste of what’s possible in their adopted country.

“My parents are retired professors from China; they want to see what it’s like to celebrate the Chinese national day here in America,” said Xiaoxi Yi of Temple City, sitting in the grass with her parents and two children. “It definitely feels special.”

Members of the Falun Gong spiritual group, banned as a cult in China, set up camp at the entrance to Barnes Park and on the edge of the amphitheater, holding massive anti-Communist banners in sight of the stage.

“They draw big crowds here because they tend to give away free gifts like $5 phone cards,” said Christina Loo of Alhambra, one of the protesters. “The Chinese flag is a bloodstained flag. The Communists have killed so many innocent people. Chinese history goes back more than 5,000 years. The Communists ruled China for the last 61 years, and it has shown to be incompatible with human nature.”

Sue Zhang, president of the Roundtable of Chinese American Organizations, an umbrella group that organized the ceremony, said that a difference of opinion is what America is all about.

“This is a public space, anyone has the right to hold up a banner,” Zhang said. “These people don’t demonstrate against just any event. This also shows they think we are very important.”

chingching.ni@latimes.com