In December 1981, the CPC Central Committee made a decision to hold a military parade to mark the 35th anniversary of the founding of New China on October 1, 1984. That was the first military parade after the introduction of the reform and opening-up policy in China.

　　In mid-November 1983, the leading group of the military parade was set up with Yang Dezhi as the group leader and Qin Jiwei as commander-in-chief. The general headquarters of the military parade was established in the Beijing Military Area Command.

　　In late December 1983, the military parade general headquarters worked out the military parade plan, which said that the parade would be composed of 1,0370 officers and men, including 42 ground formations and four air flight formations.

　　At 9:40am on October 1, 1984, the Party and government leaders, together with representatives from all walks of life and invited foreign guests, ascended the Tian'anmen Tower.

　　At 10:00am, the military parade began.

　　Standing on an inspection car, Deng Xiaoping first reviewed the guard of honor of the three services. After that, he reviewed the formations of three services one by one. The military review ended at 10:18am, after that, Deng Xiaoping gave an important speech on the Tian'anmen Tower.

　　At 10:23 am, the march past began. The guard of honor of the three services marched in front of all other formations, bearing the PLA flag amid them. And then the officers and men of the three services and various arms in neat formations marched into the Tiananmen Square. Behind them were the motorized and mechanized troops formations, including anti-tank missile units, artillery, land-to-air missile units, and strategic missile units, etc. When the air defense missile formation passed across the Tian'anmen Square, the first air formation flew over the Tian'anmen Tower, which was closely followed by the second air formation. At the time when large trucks towing China-made strategic missiles passed across the Tian'anmen Square, No. 3 Air Formation fly over the Tian'anmen Square at low altitude. And then, No. 4 Air formation flew over. The march past ended at 10:56.

　　This national day military parade was the largest one since the founding of New China, and 28 types of homegrown new weapons and equipment made their debut at the military parade, and 19 of them had reached the world's advanced level.

　　That military parade indicates that the PLA has entered an entirely new stage in its efforts to build itself into a more modernized and regularized army.

　　By Shi Gan, Shen Jifei and Zhu Ziqiang

　　(October 8, 2008, PLA Daily)