A MORE OPEN ARMY
The video was not the PLA's only bid for attention on social media.
The military debuted a five-episode live-streaming program on China's Twitter-like Weibo service on Tuesday.
The first episode featured China's airborne troops and showed the tough training soldiers must undergo.
The other four episodes will focus on soldiers from other service branches, the descendants of war heros, and war veterans.
Last year, the military released an action-packed online video featuring rap music to attract young recruits.
The PLA has also made real-life outreach efforts.
In early July, a flotilla including the aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for a visit. During the trip, the Liaoning opened to the public for visits for the first time.
More than 5,000 Hong Kong people boarded the aircraft carrier and three escorting warships, during their stay in Hong Kong from July 7 through July 11.
"I have witnessed the progress of my country, and I am so proud standing on board the Liaoning," said a Hong Kong visitor who spent 14 hours queueing for the free ticket.
A PEACEFUL ARMY
In 2017, China, the world's second largest economy, budgeted 1.04 trillion yuan (about 153 billion U.S. dollars) for annual military expenditures, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in March.
The figure is second only to the United States, which has a military spending budget of 583.7 billion dollars.
However, China's defense budget growth in 2017, at 7 percent, is actually the slowest in at least a decade. The increase last year was 7.6 percent, down from a multi-year run of double-digit growth.
"The majority of the defense budget will be spent on deepening national defense and military reforms, bolstering military and civilian integration, and improving the living, training and working conditions for service personnel at grassroots levels," said the MOF.
China's per capita military spending represented only about 5.6 percent of that of the United States, 11 percent of Britain's, and 25 percent of Japan's, said Maj. Gen. Chen Zhou.
Showing its determination in peaceful development, the country announced a cut of 300,000 troops from September 2015 levels.
China is also continuing its efforts in international cooperation.
As of June 2017, the Chinese military had participated in 24 UN peacekeeping missions, sending 31,000 personnel, 13 of whom lost their lives in duty, according to the MND's "PLA Today" video.
Since 2008, the Navy has dispatched 26 escort task force groups, including more than 70 ships for escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. More than 6,300 Chinese and foreign ships have been protected during these missions.
To improve cooperation in Africa and western Asia, China is setting up its first overseas support base in Djibouti in July. According to the PLA Navy, the base will ensure China's ability to perform missions, such as escorting, peacekeeping and humanitarian aid in the region.
The base will also assist with overseas tasks such as military cooperation, joint exercises, emergency rescue, evacuation and protection of overseas Chinese, and jointly maintaining the security of strategic international seaways.
