Huabei military exercise,September,1981
Since the early 1980s, Wang Jianmin has recorded the modernization of the Chinese armed forces with his camera. During this period, four years stood out – 1981, 1984, 1999 and 2009 – when the military made significant achievements.
Sept. 14, 1981, north China.
A signal flare flashed across the sky. With combat aircraft roaring overhead, 100,000 troops of the Red and Blue armies with tanks and armored vehicles began a live-fire exercise in the mountains of Zhangbei County.
Wearing combat fatigues, Deng Xiaoping observed through a telescope the largest-ever live-fire exercise of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to date.
The exercise lasted for five days and Deng was present from beginning to end. During the exercise, he first proposed building the PLA into a mighty, modern and standardized revolutionary troop. This goal represented the overall target of China’s military construction in a new era.
Armored vehicles,1984
On Oct. 1, 1984, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, a military parade was held to mark the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The last formation of the parade comprised nine guided missiles of three types. When the China-made Dongfeng-4 strategic missiles went past on large trailers, the audience cheered, for not just the debut of the PLA’s strategic missile troop but also the unveiling of China’s nuclear weapons.
All personnel in the parade wore the new 85-style uniform with its eye-fetching hat and shoulder straps. The previous red star cap badge had become the Bayi star flanked by wheat sheaves and cog wheels. The previous red flag collar insignia was bordered with yellow strips and silvery stars. The new uniform symbolized changes in the PLA and China.
As the previous National Day parade had been held in 1959, this parade demonstrated the development of China’s defense forces over 25 years. About 28 kinds of armaments, all domestically made, were reviewed. Of these, 19 were new, representing progress in China’s military modernization.
On Oct.1, 1999, in Tiananmen Square, a parade was held to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China.
The marine corps in navy camouflage and carrying 95-style automatic rifles appeared for the first time in the parade. Also making their debut were the navy fighter aircraft, ship-to-air missiles, army aviation troops, navy submarine units, armed police and reserve units. These new units indicated the enhanced fighting capacity of the PLA.
At 11:05, ten flights from air, army and navy aviation units flew across Tiananmen Square, trailing colored smoke. Refueling planes and receiver aircraft appeared together for the first time, with two receiver aircraft taking fuel through a 30-meter-long pipe from one refueling plane. The air display showed an improvement of the air force in long-distance combat and a change in the structure of the PLA.
The ground troops on show comprised 17 marching contingents and 25 vehicle formations.
The strategic guided missile troops consisted of four formations. Operational and tactical missiles, strategic nuclear guided missiles and intercontinental missiles were on show for the first time. Compared with the parade in 1984, the strategic nuclear guided missiles were smaller, but more powerful.
