BEIJING _ The pomp, drama and advanced military technology on show at the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China sent a dramatic, carefully-rehearsed message to the world on Tuesday that China has emerged as a global military power trying to rival the United States.
The dazzling parade played an important domestic role as well, drumming up fervent nationalism and loyalty to the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping, at a time when the Party feels threatened, with the economy _ the main source of its domestic legitimacy _ slowing.
It also faces a bruising trade war with the United States, as other Western powers turn against the Chinese government's policies, particularly its detention of around a million minority Muslims, mainly Uighurs, and Beijing's support for a tough crackdown on pro-democracy protesters by Hong Kong authorities.
The parade sent a confident, almost defiant message to the world that China's time has come and that its past humiliations and its strategy of hiding its power and biding its time are over.
"It's a military parade that is political shock and awe," said Richard McGregor, China analyst at the Sydney-based independent think tank, the Lowy Center. "It wasn't so long ago that when China had military parades, they were much smaller. The hardware was much less impressive and they took place in a different diplomatic context _ when China was trying to lie low rather than the other way around.
"The medium is the message. It's designed to look powerful and slightly intimidating and instill a sense of pride at home and deter enemies abroad."
Another theme that permeated was the party's determination to reenergize Chinese people _ particularly its youth, a generation often obsessed with their smartphones, e-shopping and livestreaming _ with deeper loyalty to the party.
Xi said no force could undermine Chinese sovereignty, urging greater efforts to reunify Taiwan and to uphold Hong Kong's integrity as a territory with a different political system under the leadership of the Communist Party.
"There's no force that can shake the foundations of this great nation. No force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation forging ahead!" he declared.
Just 10 months after Xi's January warning to party apparatchiks that growing political and economic risks in China could threaten the party's long-term grasp on power, the parade marked a remarkable turnaround in the party's effort to rejuvenate its own legitimacy.
"This is a very important milestone. The party struggles to define and defend its legitimacy and right to rule and it relies very heavily on this narrative of having liberated the country," said Bates Gill, an expert on China based at Macquarie University Department of Security Studies and Criminology in Sydney.
"The Red Army was instrumental in achieving the victory in 1949 and in celebrating the military in this way underscores that the Communist Party, which controls the gun, brought the country out of its humiliation and has now set it on this path to great power status," he said. Gill said Xi's position at the heart of all the military power on display sent a message of firm control to any remaining enemies he had in the party.
Ordinary Chinese watching the parade on television posted messages on social media that they were moved to tears at the message that the nation that has risen to greatness after decades of struggle.
"China today is created by hundreds of millions of hard-working Chinese and China's tomorrow will be even more prosperous! Long live the great People's Republic of China! Long live the great Communist Party of China! Long live the great Chinese people!" Xi said.
Fifty-six cannons fired 70 times shattered the silence in Tiananmen Square as a formation of soldiers goose-stepped forward to raise the national flag before the parade.
Beijing's sky was smoggy as Xi and other Chinese leaders took their places on the podium at precisely 10 a.m.
Thousands of people waved flags rapturously throughout the parade, as gigantic portraits of Communist Party leaders, beginning with the founding leader Mao Tse-tung and ending with Xi, were borne along on floats.
The controversies or missteps of the past were carefully airbrushed from history _ the massacre of student protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the famine induced by party policies in 1958 or the chaotic Cultural Revolution when officials, teachers, academics and others were denounced by young Red Guards and killed, jailed or sent to the countryside for "reeducation."
The parade saw China display some of its most advanced military technology for the first time, including 16 Dongfeng-41 long-range ballistic missiles, each capable of striking the U.S. with 10 separately targeted nuclear warheads. Also on show were advanced Chinese attack and reconnaissance drones and unmanned submarines.
Fifteen thousand servicemen marched in razor-sharp formation, 160 military aircraft flew over and 580 pieces of military equipment was shown off, 40% of them seen on parade for the first time.
"The message there I think is pretty clear: We still control the gun. These guys are loyal to us that's in some ways the ultimate guarantor of our legitimacy and power. That's an important message for the domestic audience to absorb," said Gill. "All that technological prowess speaks to the nationalism or patriotism among the Chinese people of whom many, not all, are proud to see the advances that have accrued to China's military, able to be used for the defense of China's expanding international interests."
The excitement around the 70th anniversary _ replete with selfie moments _ seemed to unleash a wave of fervent patriotism among young and old alike. McGregor said the parade was an example of the Party's power mobilize the country emotionally, a potent tool as it confronts successive difficulties.
He Shunyi, 31, owner of a tiny, narrow cafe serving steamed buns, rice porridge and tea eggs, sat crossed-legged with his chef, watching the parade on his cellphone.
"Nothing was easy," said He emotionally, linking his own personal hardship with China's struggle to overcome difficulties. "For the nation to be able to put together everything we see is not easy. Look at the soldiers! Look at their uniforms, their equipment! Everything!
"It also has not been easy for us ordinary people. We came from a small village in Shanxi province. It took our family almost 10 years to be able to move to Beijing to be able to settle down. We came a long way. It wasn't easy but we made it."
In a Beijing restaurant, 29-year-old salesman Zhang Chang from Jiangxi province was so busy watching the parade on his brand new iPhone 11 that he barely paid attention to his girlfriend, Li Jiayi, who vainly tugged at his hand trying to get him to stop staring at the screen and order some food.
"Just order whatever for me," he mumbled, mesmerized. "Just look at it!" he added pushing the phone under her nose. "Look how exciting it is! Look at the vehicles! Look at the planes!"
