BEIJING, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- China's Communist Party marked its 46th year in power Sunday, but celebrations were dampened by strained relations with Taiwan.

Gloomy, overcast skies over the capital seemed to characterize this year's National Day, which passed in relative calm compared with last year's 45th anniversary extravaganza of fireworks and dance performances in Tiananmen Square.

The party put on a bright face, however, adorning the capital with hundreds of thousands of colorful flowers and bright lights hailing the "Great Communist Party," which founded the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

In keeping with China's new emphasis on national pride and unity and reunification with Taiwan and Hong Kong, leaders took out of mothballs a massive portrait of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China in 1912, and placed it in the square.

"Britain has forcibly occupied Hong Kong for more than a century and Japan occupied Taiwan for 50 years, but they had to be reverted to China," a front-page editorial in the party newspaper, the People's Daily, said.

"Taiwan will surely return to the embrace of the motherland and unite with the Chinese mainland," it said.

Taiwan, notably the leaders of its ruling Nationalist Party, look to Sun as their patron saint, while the communist government in Beijing considers him a great revolutionary who laid the groundwork for China to cast off the shackles of imperialism and feudalism.

Relations between the two arch rivals were thrown into crisis in June when the United States granted Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui a visa so he could attend his college reunion at Cornell University.

Beijing accused Lee of fomenting independence sentiments on the island and the United States of violating its "one-China" policy, which recognizes Beijing and limits contacts with Taipei to "unofficial meetings."

China considers Taiwan a renegade province that one day will come under mainland control by force if necessary.

Beijing retaliated against Taiwan with guided missile tests in the East China Sea in July and August.

The People's Daily said the military exercises were a show of resolve "aimed at safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of China" and directed at foreign countries supporting Taiwan's independence.

THe newspaper crowed over the Communist Party's transformation of China from an "extremely poor and backward country...into a prosperous, great socialist nation."

But for others the occasion was a chance not to celebrate but to reflect on serious challenges, with a growing sense of urgency over basic economic problems.

"Who the hell cares about Taiwan?" asked a middle-age worker from Anhui province, one of the estimated 100,000 people who visited Tiananmen Square. "I'm worried about everyday things. I'm just trying to support my family."

Another visitor to the square, a young woman from Sichuan province looking for job in Beijing, said, "There's no work in my city. If I don't find a job here, I don't know what I'll do."

Festivities were kept to a minimum, although Chinese leaders toasted the achievements of the country late Saturday at a banquet for 3,000 Chinese and foreign guests in the Great Hall of the People.

More than 5,000 police patrols made up of 300,000 law enforcement personnel were put on the streets round-the-clock in Beijing to prevent any possible disturbances over the two-day holiday.