Behind roadblocks and hundreds of police in Beijing on Friday, fireworks resembling the national flag bloomed over the city as part of a secretive and tightly choreographed rehearsal for the 100th anniversary of China's Communist Party.
Beijing has shut down traffic, decked streets in patriotic flower arrangements and national flags, and ramped up surveillance and security in preparation for the centenary event on Thursday.
The covert rehearsals represent the final stages of a yearlong planning effort, designed to glorify party history and cement domestic loyalty to China's socialist system.