Chinese National Day Parade - Part 1, The Start and Military Section
Chinese National Day Parade - Part 1, The Start and Military Section
October 1st was National Day in China, marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the present regime, The People's Republic of China. This day, along with Chinese New Year's Day, are the two most important celebratory holidays in China. As you have seen at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the Chinese New Year evening concert wherein I posted photos taken of my TV screen, China puts on an absolutely FANTASTIC show, and it just keeps getting better for every major event. This parade was the most amazing I have ever seen. I sat in front of the TV with my camera for almost three hours, which is how long the parade took, and today I am posting more than 60 photos of the starting part, and the whole of the military parade. A few days from now I will be posting a similar number of photos of the civilian participation in the parade.
The NT members who are familiar with military equipment will be interested to see some of the innovative missiles and rockets, along with the other equipment. China will not start a war, but it has learned a big lesson from its "100 Years of Humiliation", culminating in the savagery of Japan, such as The Rape of Nanjing. However, now, should anyone attack China, they will pay the price in spades, because China is no longer unprepared for it.
I am not concerned about being "detained" for espionage for posting these photos as they were of the public TV broadcast which was also broadcast by CCTV's international Global News English language channel.
If you have the time and the patience to go through my commentary and the photos, you will find it to be worthwhile time spent.
1. To the right is Tiananmen Square, where tens of thousands of spectators are seated, while across the street is the Forbidden City, where Xi Jinping, government officials and special guests will sit (just above the huge painting of Chairman Mao) to watch the parade. Something that I have never seen elsewhere is that taped under every spectator seat is a bottle of water and packet of tissues.
2. The hundreds that make up the band are ready to start playing.
3. The choir of hundreds are ready to start singing.
4. The cannons are ready to fire the salute.
5. The government officials and special guests arrive at the viewing balcony, and the flag is raised, followed by the singing of the national anthem. NOBODY KNEELS because they love their motherland. I have always enjoyed watching how the soldier "throws" the flag into the wind.
6. First, the review of the military. As the military stretches along the street for miles, Xi Jinping carries out the review and salutes the soldiers by riding the miles in his limo.
7. All along the side of the street the soldiers, sailors and airmen are lined up.
8. I wonder why the Chinese weaponry is identified with English letters. I heard the DF-17 being described as a supersonic (5 times the speed of sound) missile that is controlled electronically. It could be difficult to detect and defend against.
9. Drones? The soldiers are yelling their response to Xi Jinping's verbal salute.
10. More drones or guided missiles.
11. The blue berets remind me that more Chinese soldiers serve on the UN Peacekeeping Forces than any other nation.
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14. If I could only use one word to describe the Chinese soldiers, it would be "precision".
15. The TV cut to the airfield as well.
16.
17. Watch out for these.
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19. The helicopters form the number "70" for the anniversary year.
20. Back on the ground, the marching progresses.
21. ...and progresses.
22. Let's not forget the women. Before I married I once dated a retired Army Major - she only had to show her credentials and all transportation and admission to parks were free. She was a cheap date.
23. ...and there are many women in the military.
24. ...VERY many.
25. You don't mess with them.
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27.
28. And many more...
29. Now it starts to get interesting...
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31. 2-man helicopters...
32. A better view of them - I've not seen anything like them before.
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37. Looks like the gatling guns they used in the movie "The Last Samurai". I assume that it's used in conjunction with the dish to shoot down aircraft.
38. These are starting to look a little more dangerous - those red noses must mean trouble.
39.
40.
41. Wooooo..
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44. Oh, oh - spaceships.
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47. Okay, I guess they couldn't parade their new aircraft carrier.
48.
49. Now they're getting REALLY serious.
I'm having trouble trying to load more photos on this article. Perhaps there is a limit as to how much it can take. I will continue with the photos on my first comment below.
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Continuation of the Chinese National Day Military part of the huge Parade:
50. I'll bet them's ain't no oil tanker trucks.
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52. Don't stand behind those, just in case.
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55. Could this be a refueling tanker plane?
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There were many big trucks and other such vehicles, including ambulances, that I did not bother photographing as they just appeared to be big trucks, although they could well have been troop transporters, supply and arms/ammunition vehicles and mobile control units.
That's it for the military part of the parade, but "you ain't seen nothin' yet". The civilian part following the military parade is like I've never seen before. It will be posted in 2 or 3 days.
I'm particularly interested in seeing comments from military staff and veterans as to what they saw here.
Amazing photo essay Buzz.
I've read a number of articles on the weapons displayed and how sophisticated they were. What was especially interesting to me is their drone technology and the number of drones the Chinese posses.
Maybe America can "get even" and steal China's advanced military technology. LOL
Very interesting Buzz.
In fact just recently I watched a few news videos of this parade.
Here these and a few other of the Chinese weapon systems, such as the CJ 100 and others are called "hypersonic" as the Mach 5 and beyond speeds get that label. Actually I think some weapons get it at Mach 3.
Also, some of these hypersonic missles fall in to the "Carrier Killer " class.
About the English letters, DF, that stands for Dongfeng.
Good photos Buzz.
Dongfeng (pronounced Dongfung) is the town in the mountains (not too far from the city of Zhengzhou where I first lived in China) where Shaolin Temple is located, where Kung Fu was first created.
This article has now been visible on the Front Page and columnists column for at least two days. I was going to post the comment below, lock the article and forget about posting the rest of the event, but I decided that even though NT members are not interested in a major event in China that has military ramifications, and I even asked for those of military experience to post a comment relating to that, and I know there are many of you who DO have that experience, I will post the rest of the parade because these articles can be seen by the general public and I will not deprive them of the benefit.
If it counts for anything, I have been waiting for more of your coverage. But I understand it may not be an effort you wish to continue.
I was hoping to see more of the DF 17s and CJ 100s...every little angle helps.
I have finished posting the military aspect photos. I have now edited the photos for the civilian portion and ending of the parade and will now write and start posting that aspect. However I note that the internet is particularly sluggish today (Sunday, also the second last day of the National Day holiday) which I assume is congestion of use, so it will be an extremely slow tedious task to post almost 100 photos, so it may have to wait until the holiday is over.
Not sure what the CJ-100 is - I don't see it in the photos I posted. Here is the only other photo of a DF-17 that I have:
Russia is now supplying China with an advanced missile detection system. Only two countries in the world have this system, the US and Russia....Now it's three.
BTW, the Russians, in 2017 sold China the SU 35.
Well, as you know, Kavika, missile detection systems are for the purpose of defence.
Thanks for posting the photo of that fighter jet. It's the answer to the members who say that China has copied the American fighters.
Maybe the question is, was this a ground based detection system or an air defense system?
The Russians have, arguably the best surface to air missile systems...with that come the ability to crack the code.
Is everybody overlooking Israel?
That is not a joke.
What I found sort of odd was that every single soldier in every single unit seems to be exactly the same height.
I've noticed that too - but the huge number of military personnel allows them to choose the ones who took part in the parade.
In Russia, the soldiers are selected based (in large part) on physical factors. There they are designed to look the same. Might be true in China as well.
The female retired woman major I dated before getting married was a little taller than me, so I guess she would not have been chosen to march in a parade.