Flying in fighter jets, riding on military vehicles and marching in goosesteps, Chinese female troops are dazzling a military parade in downtown Beijing on Thursday marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII). [Special coverage]
Two female pilots, part of the lead aircraft formation, flew over the Tian'anmen Square in the indigenous J-10 fighter jets on Thursday morning, leaving streaks of colorful smoke in the sky.
Fifty-one female guards of honor of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), dressed in green, white and blue ceremonial PLA uniforms, held their rifles at precisely the same level and marched in goosesteps. They impressed the audience with an average height of 1.78 meters and age of 20 years old.
Selected from the Beijing Military Area Command in 2014, 88 percent of the female guards of honor hold college degrees. They are the first females in the 63-year history of the PLA guards of honor.
A female medical soldier formation, led by 56-year-old Major General Tian Ou, passed the Tian'anmen Square riding on military medical vehicles.
Tian, director of the Political Department of the 301 PLA General Hospital, is the only female general in the military parade.
The formation, which comprises of 264 female medical students from the Bethune Medical Officer School, is named after the Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune who aided China's fight against Japanese aggression during WWII.
Women played an important role in China's war against the Japanese aggression. Vast number of women enrolled in a variety of auxiliary assistance and armed resistance led by Chinese Communist and Nationalist parties.
Chinese women also sacrificed a lot during the war. Some were forced to become comfort women, or sex slaves, for Japanese troops, while many were raped and killed in the Nanjing Massacre and other atrocities.
