Zhao Lei: A show of strength in September

Best story: Professional curiosity and personal interest prompted me to trace all possible clues about China's plans for a next-generation bomber aircraft to replace the 50-year-old H-6 family. In July, I noticed a report in a foreign defense publication that indicated officers from the People's Liberation Army Air Force were urging the government to develop a new bomber. I decided to follow up this information and spoke with people I believed could tell me something, and who shared their thoughts and suggestions about what China may need. I also checked a slew of earlier reports and pieced together several useful clues. When the story, which took up a whole page, was published it quickly became a hot topic among professional and amateur military observers and on websites at home and abroad.

Most memorable reporting experience: I covered the preparations for the Sept 3 parade, which marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and China's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. I visited the military bases where soldiers were being trained to march in close formation, interviewed female honor guards and spoke with generals overseeing the grand event. I witnessed long columns of powerful tanks, armored vehicles and missiles passing in front of the leaders of China and other countries, and aged war veterans. President Xi Jinping also announced that China would reduce troop numbers by 300,000.

Best quote: "They are our most effective deterrent to China's potential adversaries."

Senior Colonel Hou Xiaohe, a strategic expert at the PLA National Defense University, as he watched the public unveiling of the DF-21 medium-range ballistic missile and DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Sept 3 parade.