50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China


The 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China took place on 1 October 1999. A military parade was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and various celebrations were conducted all over the country. China's paramount leader Jiang Zemin inspected the troops along Chang'an Avenue in Beijing. This parade was immediately followed by a civilian parade.

Civil-Military Parade

It was the first one to be held since 1984 since the 1989 parade celebrating the 40th anniversary was cancelled due to the Tiananmen Square protests. Known as the Chinese Army’s Trans-Century Parade due to 1 October 1999 being months away from the turn of the 21st century, it was commanded by the Commander of Beijing Military Region Li Xinliang and inspected by then-Chairman of the Central Military Commission and General Secretary of the CCP Jiang Zemin. It was the first time that the sole Chinese leader had inspected the parade. It was also the first time that the national flag was raised before the parade began. 42 divisions took part in this parade: 17 from the ground column and 25 from the mobile column.

List of participating divisions

In order of appearance :
Armored forces and artillery accounted for 70% of the parade while the airborne portion was increased to 10%.

Military bands and parade music

Military bands in attendance

A 1,100 piece band was present for the musical accompaniment to the parade. The bands were organized as follows:
In order of performance:
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