An official from Office of the Mayor of Chicago Thursday voiced his congratulations to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1.

"From our Mayor Daley and the people in Chicago, we would like to offer our congratulations to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and wish the Chinese people have a healthy, happy and prosperous future," Gene Lee, Chief of Staff at Office of the Mayor told Xinhua.

Lee helped organize and plan the China Day Parade to be held on Sept. 27 in Chicago's Chinatown.

"This is going to be a historic parade with so many floats, marching bands and many other performances. We have been planning this special celebration for many months and already had many meetings. It is amazing to see so many Chinese and American organizations get involved," he said.

Besides the Mayor's Office, many departments from the city government are helping with the China Day Parade too, Lee said.

"For example, Mayors' Office of Special Events is helping with a lot of promotion and organization, the sanitary department and police department will make sure the parade goes well on Sunday," he said.

Being an American Chinese who was born in Chicago just eight days after his mother arrived from China, Lee is very proud when talking about his experience with China.

"Last year's Beijing Olympics was a great showcase of what China is today," he said. "We can see the national pride throughout the country and we as overseas Chinese are certainly very proud too."

He said Chicago was bidding to be the host city for the 2016 Olympics.

"We too would like to have a chance to showcase Chicago to the world, just like what Beijing did last year," he said.

When talking about the economic development in China, Lee said, "China is a huge market and the whole world wants to connect with China to do business."

Source: Xinhua