China Holds Grand Military Parade Marking 80th Anniversary of WWII Victory

01 Solemn Moment: Honoring History and Peace

Flanking the Monument to the People's Heroes on Tiananmen Square stood the numbers "1945" and "2025" – two historically significant years. Classic wartime songs including "On the Songhua River" and "Defend the Yellow River" played triumphantly as attendees waved five-star red flags, creating a sea of red.

Eighty artillery salvos echoed across Beijing, symbolizing the eight decades since victory. During the flag-raising ceremony, the entire audience stood solemnly singing the national anthem, many with tears of emotion in their eyes.

The parade proceeded in two parts: the military review and the march-past, lasting approximately 70 minutes. During the review segment, troops lined up along Chang'an Avenue to be inspected by Xi Jinping.

02 Display of Strength: Participating Elements and Innovative Design

The parade featured 45 formations (echelons) representing various strategic directions, service branches, and unit types.

The foot formations reflected characteristics of "both old and new": "old" referring to veteran units that fought during the war, with participants drawn from units tracing their origins to the Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army, and Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army; "new" representing the new layout of military forces, including the "three-combination" armed forces system.

The battle color formations displayed historically significant flags from different periods, regions, and units, carried by soldiers from their respective units.

All equipment showcased was domestically produced active-duty main combat gear, representing the first major display of the military's new generation weaponry since the 2019 National Day parade. A significant proportion of the equipment was revealed for the first time, including some strategic land, sea, and air-based systems, hypersonic precision-strike weapons, and unmanned/counter-unmanned equipment.

03 Technological Highlights: New Equipment and Combat Capabilities

The paraded weapons primarily featured new fourth-generation equipment, such as new tanks, carrier-based aircraft, and fighter jets, organized according to operational modules to demonstrate systematic combat capabilities.

The parade showcased advanced equipment including hypersonic weapons, air defense and anti-missile systems, and strategic missiles, displaying substantial strategic deterrent strength. New-type forces including land, sea, and air unmanned intelligent systems, counter-unmanned equipment, and cyber-electronic warfare capabilities were also prominently featured.

The aerial echelons were organized in modular, systematic formations comprising advanced early warning aircraft, command aircraft, fighter jets, bombers, and transport aircraft, essentially covering all main active aircraft types in service.

Many were star attractions that had drawn public attention, with some making their first public appearance, fully demonstrating the leapfrog development of China's air combat capabilities.

04 Meticulous Preparation: Scientific Training and Comprehensive Support

Organizing the parade – involving tens of thousands of participants, hundreds of aircraft, and hundreds of ground vehicles – required military-level precision to achieve perfect synchronization, accurate coordination, and split-second timing.

Training followed combat standards, utilizing Beidou positioning, intelligent assessment systems, and simulation technologies to assist with basic training, formation training, and air-ground coordination training.

Instructors used smart training assistance systems that could capture real-time postures of individual soldiers and formations, with capabilities for video capture, editing, frame-by-frame replay, and statistical analysis to help identify issues precisely.

The parade's organizational design emphasized demonstrating the improved structure of military forces, increased proportion of new-domain and new-quality capabilities, and more complete armed forces system.

05 Profound Significance: Remembering History and Facing the Future

This parade represents the People's Army's new appearance as it advances toward the centenary of its founding, embodying the continuation of the great spirit of the Resistance War and the national spirit in the new era.

Yang Huawei, an expert from the National University of Defense Technology, explained the historical background: "First, it honors the great victory; second, it defends historical truth; and third, it safeguards the outcomes of WWII and international fairness and justice."

Eighty years ago, after 14 years of bloody struggle and at the cost of 35 million casualties, the Chinese people defeated the Japanese invaders and achieved the first complete victory in China's resistance against foreign aggression in modern times.

Wu Zekai, Deputy Director of the Parade Leadership Group Office, stated that this parade primarily conveys four messages: affirming the military's steadfast loyalty to Party command, highlighting the clear theme of commemorating victory, demonstrating the new layout of military service structures, and showcasing the strength and confidence to win battles.