Military personnel and equipment of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Second Artillery Corps (SAC), or strategic missile corps, which make up of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), joined the parade on Tian'anmen Square.

Dressed in the PLA's 2007 Style Uniforms, most of the parading personnel in 56 phalanxes belong to generations born in the 1980s and 1990s, symbolizing the country's 56 ethnic groups marching along the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The one-hour great show televised live worldwide gave the world a chance to watch the ongoing transformation of the PLA from a labor-intensive force to technology-intensive might capable of joint operations in modern warfare.