WORLD NEEDS JUSTICE

Ahead of the ceremony, Xi and world leaders stepped onto the Tian'anmen rostrum, shaking hands with Chinese war veterans in turn. Moments later, under Xi's gaze, PLA troops in various formations marched through this vast square.

That same gaze was present in past May, when he watched PLA troops march across Moscow's Red Square during commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War. Shortly after, Xi joined Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders to lay red flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall, pausing in silence for those who died in the fight against fascism.

Ahead of the trip, Xi published a signed article in the Russian Gazette newspaper -- "Learning from History to Build Together a Brighter Future." He wrote: "The world needs justice, not hegemonism."

His appeal has roots in history. In 2017, during a visit to the Memorial of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, Xi lingered before three images capturing China's suffering more than a century ago: a late-Qing-dynasty cartoon showing foreign powers carving up China, a chart of the crippling indemnities China was forced to pay, and Karl Marx's sharp critique of then China's isolationist complacency.

"How much humiliation. How much disgrace. China back then was a fat sheep awaiting slaughter," Xi said.