In 1946, the first Chinese ceremonial unit was formed in Yan’an to welcome the visit of General George Marshall, the special envoy of US President Harry Truman. The 500-member honor guard was commissioned by Eighth Route ArmyCommander-in-ChiefZhu De and rehearsed the day before the visit at Yan'an Airport. The unit would later serve under the newly formed PRC as Mao Zedong's protocol unit for the presentation of credentials. On 16 October, 16 days after the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China, members of the unit provided honors to incoming Soviet ambassador Nikolai Roszczin. In June 1953, Premier Zhou Enlai ordered to create an official battalion on the unit's basis. Around that same time, the battalion was tasked with guarding the Korean War negotiations. In its early stages, it was based in Yilong Camp and only conducted small arrival ceremonies such as the one for Indonesian PresidentSukarno in 1956 and North Korean leader Kim il-Sung and Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev in 1959. In 1956, the battalion became a tri-service unit and in September 1957, Premier Zhou personally changed the report of the guard commander to: "Comrade ", the Honor Guard of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, has lined up for your inspection", which is still used today. One of its first major state visits that the battalion was tasked with its presence was the Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, which set the precedent for PLA protocol on state visits. The battalion was given the responsibility in May 1977 to raise the national flag on Tiananmen Square. This was among its list of duties until December 1982. In September 1983, it was renamed to the Honor Guard of the 1st Guard Division of the People's Liberation Army. In January 1986, with the approval of the Beijing Military Region headquarters, the unit was renamed for the final time to its current name. On 2 March 1992, Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, signed an order to award the honorary title of the "Jiangsu Model of the Yilong Brigade" to the battalion. In December 2017, the BGHGB officially attached the Beijing Garrison Color Guard Company as part of the battalion, formerly under the People's Armed Police, which had been responsible for flag raising ceremonies for 35 years.
Female soldiers in the PLA Honor Guard
On May 13, 2015, 13 female Chinese soldiers who were added to the battalion made their debut during the welcoming ceremony for the PresidentGurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan. Since then, female soldiers have stood shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in the battalion on state occasions and in parades. In June 2018, the battalion created a separate female detachment composed of 55 female honor guards from the PLA as a result of the reforms in the ceremony of military honours for foreign leaders. This detachment was first reviewed by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyz President, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, during their visits to the capital that month.
Mission
Its missions include:
Providing honours for high ranking national personalities and foreign dignitaries in their visits to the PRC
Providing guards of honour for state funerals of high-ranking officials of the Party and the Republic, deceased veterans of the PLA and active duty servicemen and women killed in action
Notable events and activities related to the mission
Several news reports as well as films have been focused on the battalion, with some news stations including ABC having done reports on it. China's Ceremonial Soldiers, a TV series premiered on CCTV in 2001 on National Day. The eight episode series was directed by Zeng Xiaoxin and stars soldiers Yan Fan, Pan Yaowu and Li Bentao. The show focuses on the history and style of the honor guards in the PLA, as well as the tough training regimen of the guards for their ceremonial duties. The miniseries was co-produced by the Arts Department of the PLA and CCTV. In July 2016, the unit launched a special report called Telling Stories of Powerful Armed Forces on state television. The battalion often holds Media Days, during which journalists have access to its training quarters. During an media day in August 2011, Yang Caiwei of the Sanlih E-Televisioncable TV network in Taiwan described Media Days as "really a sign that the PLA is becoming more and more open".
Salute Battery
The State Honors Salute Battery of the PLA is the battalion's ceremonial salute battery, being only salute unit in the PRC. In August 1949, at the preparatory meeting for the proclamation ceremony of the PRC, Chairman Mao proposed that a salute should be fired at the ceremony, which endorsed by the participants. According to international practice, the highest specification is a 21-gun salute, however, Mao proposed increase this to 28 as to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of China in 1949. After the meeting, Mao asked Tang Yongjian, director of the Training Division of the North China Military Region to draft a description of the sound of the salute. Tang quickly submitted the report to Mao who signed it immediately. Gao Cunxin, commander of the special forces of the North China Military Region was tasked with dispatching 108 mountain light guns from Zhangjiakou, which were mainly mountain cannons seized from the Imperial Japanese Army and were converted to the ceremonial role. The salute was later referred to as the "first generation salute". After the official announcement of the PRC occurred at the founding ceremony, the telephone command: "Salute!" was given to signal the firing of the gun salute. On 13 June 1961, President Sukarno visited China on a second trip, during which the guns were sounded once again during the welcoming ceremony held at the airport at the request of the Indonesian government. On 1 August 1963, the Yilu Camp Salute Company was formally established in Nanyuan and was given the task of acting as a salute battery by Premier Zhou Enlai. Shortly after the start of the Cultural Revolution, the gun salutes stopped occurring. This practice was revived in March 1984 by the People's Armed Police as a separate unit from the original PLA unit and in December 2017, the two units merged to become the artillery salute battery of the PLA, which reports to the BGHGB headquarters. Today, the battery is armed with the Type 60 122 mm field gun converted to the ceremonial role.
Ceremonial uniform
From its founding to 1955, the battalion did not have an official ceremonial uniform and just wore overcoats captured from the Japanese Army after World War II. From 1955, the battalion used Chinese made ceremonial uniforms for the first time. They would continue to use these uniforms until June 1, 1965, when they reverted to using regular infantry uniforms for the next 20 years. In 1987, Central Military Commission of China ordered a reform of army uniforms, ordering the battalion ceremonial uniforms once again, and on October 1, 1992, the battalion gained ceremonial sabres which it first used during the visit of President Nelson Mandela. Today, the unit utilizes the pan-PLA Type 07 uniform.
