XIAN, CHINA ¨C Feng Jianhan, 9, puts on his olive-colored army uniform, cap and white satin gloves each morning, and goosesteps across his living room.
As the national anthem plays in the background, he stands by a homemade pulley system, solemnly hoists the Chinese national flag and raises hand to cap in a salute.
Dubbed the ¡°national flag baby¡± by Chinese media, the boy has captivated the country, appearing on videos and TV shows, especially in the run up to Communist China¡¯s 70th anniversary on Tuesday.
¡°I¡¯ve made raising the flag my daily habit,¡± said Feng. ¡°Just like brushing my teeth or washing my face, you can¡¯t not brush your teeth or wash your face.¡±
The boy¡¯s father, Feng Xie, said Jianhan¡¯s habit started when he was a toddler. Upset one day, he stopped crying when he heard China¡¯s national anthem playing on TV during a flag-raising ceremony.
Since then, his parents have played the national anthem and shown him recordings of flag-raising ceremonies to soothe him whenever he was crying.
As Jianhan grew, he wanted to enact the flag raising ceremony in his home and asked his parents for a uniform, a flag and a pulley system to raise it.
¡°We didn¡¯t know where to buy them,¡± his father said.
But slowly, it all came together.
Material for the uniform came from bedding sold at an army surplus market; the flag from a flag seller, and the pulley system from a construction supplies store.
The boy now has bigger dreams.
¡°I want to raise the flag at Tiananmen Square in Beijing,¡± he said, in reference to the square in the center of the nation¡¯s capital where a daily flag raising ceremony takes place.
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