Chronicle of military parades marking founding of New China
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China will hold a grand military parade in central Beijing Thursday morning to celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The military parade in front of Tian'anmen Rostrum will be the 14th parade since Oct. 1, 1949, when late Chairman Mao Zedong announced a new era for the country.
China held 11 National Day military parades in its capital Beijing every year from 1949 to 1959.
In September 1960, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, the Cabinet, decided to change the annual parade practice to one grand celebration and military parade once a decade.
According to the decision, a smaller-scale National Day celebration would be staged every five years.
That decision failed to go into effect for 24 years until 1984 when New China resumed military parade in its 35th birthday celebration after tiding through the chaos of Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
The country's most recent mass parade was in 1999 when the 50th founding anniversary was celebrated.
In its National Day military parades, China showcased how it modernized its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), from a peasant troop to an army with high-tech weaponry like nuclear ammunitions.
Following is a chronicle of the previous 13 military parades:
On Oct. 1, 1949, more than 16,400 soldiers of the ground force, navy and air force took part in the first military parade. The parade showed 119 artillery, 152 tanks and armored vehicles, 222 other vehicles, 2,344 warhorses and 17 planes, mainly seized in the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Liberation War with Kuomintang before the founding of New China.
On Oct. 1, 1950, some 24,200 troops and cadets from the infantry, navy and air force units as well as a division of public security army joined the military parade. Exhibited weapons included 88 guns of various kinds, 80 self-propelled guns, 178 vehicles, 28 aircraft, and 2,899 horses.
On Oct. 1, 1951, 13,348 troops including soldiers and cadets from the ground force, navy, and air force as well as militia participated in the military parade. Also displayed in the parade were 128 guns of various kinds, 80 tanks and self-propelled guns, 192 automobiles, 1,104 horses and 148 aircraft.
On Oct. 1, 1952, soldiers and cadets from the army, navy and air force, totaling 11,300, formed 57 square phalanxes and marched through Tian'anmen Square together with 153 aircraft forming nine flying echelons. Also attending were 112 guns, 99 tanks and self-propelled guns, 16 armored vehicles, 156 automobiles, 160 tricycles and 1,104 horses. Parachute troops made their debut in this National Day rally.
On Oct. 1, 1953, military paraders included 10,038 soldiers and cadets from the army, navy air force, accompanied by 144 guns, 67 tanks and self-propelled guns, 168 vehicles, 165 tricycles, 770 horses and 96 warplanes.
Zhu De, the PLA's then commander-in-chief, reviewed all the five National Day military parades from 1949 to 1953.
On Oct. 1, 1954, the military parade involved 38 formations of soldiers and cadets, totaling 10,384, from the ground force, navy and air force troops as well as public security police, accompanied by a number of tanks, guns as well as 111 warplanes, in four squads.
In the previous five National Day parades, all weapons displayed were made in different countries, but in the 1954 parade, the sixth, the soldiers mainly carried Soviet Union-made arms to the show.
On Oct. 1, 1955, soldiers and cadets marched past Tian'anmen Rostrum in 38 square formations, wearing shoulder-marks for the first time as China began introducing a ranking system for the army that year. Jet-bombers and jet-fighters made their debut this time. A total of 10,344 soldiers and officers joined the military review.
On Oct. 1, 1956, participating in the parade were 11,929 soldiers and cadets who were armed with China-made weapons to a considerable extent, marking a new progress in the country's national defense industry.
On Oct. 1, 1957, soldiers and cadets, totaling 7,065, as well as 266 tanks, 112 guns and 81 warplanes participated in the parade.
On Oct. 1, 1958, the military parade consisted of seven formations of cadets, six arrays of ground force soldiers, four of soldiers from other PLA services. Eight formations of guns, four formations of tanks, and 93 warplanes joined the parade.
Between 1954 and 1958, then Minister of Defense Peng Dehuai reviewed the five military parades.
On Oct. 1, 1959, soldiers and cadets in 15 formations, different vehicles 14 formations and six echelons of warplanes appeared in the National Day celebration. More than 11,000 soldiers and cadets, 144 guns, 99 tanks and self-propelled guns, 240 automobiles and 165 warplanes participated in the parade. Many new types of arms debuted.
In 1959, Lin Biao replaced Peng Dehuai as the defense minister and made his first and last review of the National Day parading troops.
On Oct. 1, 1984, Deng Xiaoping, architect of China's reform and opening-up drive and then chairman of Central Military Commission (CMC), reviewed the parading troops -- soldiers and cadets as well as guns, vehicles and missiles of various kinds, in 46 formations and echelons, and 117 warplanes. Chinese missiles were shown to the public for the first time. All the weapons and military equipment on display were homemade.
On Oct. 1, 1999, then CMC Chairman Jiang Zemin, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese president at that time, reviewed the troops. More than 10,000 soldiers in 17 formations and armored vehicles in 25 phalanxes marched past Tian'anmen Square. Units such as army aviation, marine corps, special armed police and reserves, all established after the reform and opening-up drive, debuted in the parade.
Compared with the 35th anniversary parade, the 1999 one boasted a large contingent of defense-related technology. High-tech armament had become major weapons, most of which were made in China.
