Chinese military parades are known for their spectacular goose-stepping and formations, but they also provide important hints about the structure of the People’s Liberation Army and its new weapons.

The history of these parades highlights how the PLA has evolved from being a guerrilla force that relied on captured foreign weapons to a modern force that aims to compete with the US in terms of combat ability and advanced equipment.

Mao Zedong 1949-1959

It involved more than 16,400 personnel from the navy, army and air force and featured equipment captured from the Japanese in the second world war and the Nationalists in the ensuing civil war, including American P-51 Mustang fighters, British Mosquito bombers and Japanese Type 97 medium tanks.

China’s first-ever military parade was held on October 1, 1949, when Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People’s Republic. Photo: CCTV

A year later, at the parade to mark National Day, as China had designated October 1, the total number of participants exceeded 24,200, making it the largest to date, with a lot of imported Soviet weaponry on display.

At the time the National Day parade was an annual event, and by 1959 the weapons on display were mostly domestically produced, even though they were still largely imitations of Soviet equipment and made with the help of the USSR.