Xinhua | 2012-11-1
Colorful fireworks lighted up the sky over Tonle Sap River in front of the capital's Royal Palace Wednesday night to commemorate the birthday of the late former King Norodom Sihanouk.
Tens of thousands of viewers enjoyed the fireworks display that lasted for about 20 minutes.
"The fireworks are to remember the birthday of late King Norodom Sihanouk, the father of independence, territorial integrity, and national reconciliation and unity," said an announcement from the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals.
It was the last celebration of the late King-Father's birthday. From next year onwards, the country will observe the Memorial Day for late King-Father Norodom Sihanouk on October 15.
Sihanouk died of illness at the age of 90 in Beijing on October 15 and his body was returned to Phnom Penh by Air China jumbo jet on October 17.
After a week of mourning, his body has been lying in state for at least three months at the Royal Palace for the public to pay their last respects before it is cremated in the first week of February next year.
Sihanouk reigned the country from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on Oct. 7, 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.
He was the king who led the country to gain independence from France in 1953. He had been a presence through decades of political and social turmoil in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas.
He suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his death.
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