by: HUA Xu
update: Sep 3, 2015 16:33 GMT+8
China holds grand military parade to commemorate victory of war against Japanese aggression
China held a grand military parade in Beijing on Thursday morning to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with world leaders and posed for photos with them, prior to the grand military parade.
A total of 24 heads of state and government, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye, attended the V-Day commemoration.
The event was also attended by government representatives from 19 countries and heads of 10 international organizations, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Six former foreign leaders, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, were also present at the commemoration.
Foreign diplomatic envoys to China were also present.
At 10:00, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the beginning of the ceremony.
A 70-gun salute was fired by 56 guns placed in the southern part of the square. The number of 56 represents 56 ethnic groups of China.
Amid the 70-gun salute, the guard of honor carrying a furled national flag walked down from the platform of the Monument to the People's Heroes in the center of the square, and marched northward on a red carpet toward the national flag post.
While the five-star flag was being hoisted, the crowd sang the national anthem to the accompaniment of a 1,200-member military band and a 1,200-member choir.
Xi delivered a speech at the commemoration, saying that the commemoration of war victory is to bear history in mind, honor all those who laid down their lives, cherish peace and open up the future.
He stressed that China will remain committed to peaceful development and will never seek hegemony or expansion.
"We Chinese love peace. No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any other nation," Xi said.
President Xi reviewed the lineups of war veterans, three services of the People's Liberation Army(PLA) and foreign troops after delivering the speech on the Tian'anmen Rostrum.
Riding in an open limousine along Chang'an Avenue in downtown Beijing, Xi inspected the foot and armament formations composed of serving soldiers.
He greeted the formations of troops, saying "Hello, comrades!" "Thanks for your hard work!" And the formations responded with "Hello, President!" "We serve the people!"
Following the review, the march-past segment of the parade started, with an air flag guard formation carrying China's national flag and People's Liberation Army flag roaring across Tian'anmen Square.
Respectively escorted by motorcycles, the two formations of veterans and families of those who gave their lives in the war rode in open-air buses, representing the anti-Japanese forces led by both the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang Party.
The veterans are 90 years old on average and all live on the Chinese mainland, and the families of those who gave their lives in the war are all in their 70s and 80s.
The veteran formations were followed by the PLA honor guard formation.
China's female guards of honor for the first time attended the military parade. A total of 51 servicewomen from the Army, Navy and Air Force marched alongside 156 male honor guards, 17 in each line.
After the honor guard formation were ten formations respectively representing the heroic units from the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, Northeast United Anti-Japanese Force and the South China Guerrillas.
These ten units have been honored either for their bravery or brilliant achievements in the war and were respectively led by two generals.
A total of 56 generals, including lieutenant generals and major generals, led the foot and armament formations, as the previous military parades rarely featured generals leading troops.
About 1,000 foreign troops from 17 countries participated in the parade.
It is the first time that foreign troops have been invited to participate in a military parade in China.
Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan and Russia each dispatched a formation consisting of about 75 members to march.
Another six countries, namely Afghanistan, Cambodia, Fiji, Laos, Vanuatu and Venezuela, sent military teams.
China displayed its armaments in the military parade with six modules.
Around 80 percent of armaments in the military parade made their debut and all of the armaments are domestically produced.
Some 200 Chinese-made military aircraft took to the sky.
The Beidou navigation satellite system was used to offer precise positioning for making echelons in the sky.
The parade, which lasted for more than one hour, concluded with the release of doves and multi-hued balloons to the sky, expressing the Chinese people's hope for a peaceful world -- never forget history and cherish the hard-earned peace.
Japan signed its formal surrender treaty on Sept. 2, 1945, and China has since commemorated its victory on Sept. 3.
Japan launched its military invasion into northeast China in September 1931, and began full-scale aggression on July 7, 1937 when Japanese troops attacked a bridge that acted as a crucial access point to Beijing.