PLA Day () also known as Army Day is a professional military holiday celebrated by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on 1 August. It commemorates of the founding of the PLA during the 1927

Nanchang Uprising The Nanchang Uprising () was the first major Nationalist Party of China–Chinese Communist Party engagement of the Chinese Civil War, begun by the Chinese Communists to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang. The Kuomint ...

. Six years later, on 30 June 1933, the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

's Central Committee for Military Revolutionary Cases voted to declare 1 August an annual holiday, being solidified later on 11 July by the government of the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR ...

Traditions

Every year, the

PLA Honour Guard The Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion (), officially the PLA Honour Guard, is a ceremonial honour guard and specialised unit of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It is composed of representatives of the People's Liberation Army Ground Forc ...

marches on

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...

for a traditional Flag Raising Ceremony. The Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army often gives holiday performances. Army Day is a working day, although soldiers have a shortened work schedule. The

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

holds an annual meeting at the

Great Hall of the People The Great Hall of the People is a state building located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ruling Chinese Co ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Events are hosted by the military attaches of China in foreign embassies such as the Chinese Embassy in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. Ceremonial events between the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

and the PLA on PLA Day are traditionally held at the Border Personnel Meeting point. The first instance of this was in 2015.

Military parades

Parades held on Army Day are not very common. In 2004, the first

military parade A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching. The military parade is now almost entirely ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the lat ...

held on PLA Day took place in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to mark the PLA's 77th anniversary. The 3,000-strong parade saw the unprecedented attendance of anti-CPC lawmakers in the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

at the parade. It began at 10:30 that morning with the performance of ''

March of the Volunteers The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was ...

''. The

2017 PLA Day Parade The 2017 PLA Day parade was a military parade at Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia, on 1 August 2017 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Nanchang uprising that caused its founding. The pa ...

was a

held at

Zhurihe Training Base The Zhurihe Training Base (), also called the Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, is a People's Liberation Army (PLA) base in Inner Mongolia, China, founded in 1957. The largest military base in China, Zhurihe covers , has its own hospital, ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

to celebrate the 90th anniversary of founding of the PLA. The parade was the first one to be held outside of

since 1981, with 12,000 troops participating dressed up in combat garb instead of the usual

Type 07 Type 07 () is a group of military uniforms used by all branches of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the paramilitary Chinese People's Armed Police Force. Introduced in 2007, the Type 07 uniforms repl ...

full dress uniform Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is the most formal type of uniforms used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for official parades, ceremonies, and receptions, inclu ...

Legacy of 1 August

*The August 1st aerobatic display team is named after the founding day of the PLA and inturn, the day marking PLA Day. *The

Flag of the People's Liberation Army The flag of the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the war flag of the People's Liberation Army; the layout of the flag has a golden star at the top left corner and two Chinese characters "" to the right of the star, placed on a red field. The c ...

features the two Chinese characters "" as a reference to the anniversary day (literally meaning 8th month, 1st day).

References

{{reflist, 30em

Traditions

Military parades

Legacy of 1 August

References

See also