Scenes from the edges of parade

Female soldiers march proudly

CHINA DAILY Zou Hong PHOTOGRAPHER

"Chest out! Belly in! Look ahead!"

Under a scorching sun in late summer in Beijing, hundreds of female soldiers in formation replied to their instructor's orders with neat and accurate movements. When the formation moved on the training ground, it looked like a square green blanket floating on the land. Each soldier was a blanket stitch.

They were expected to be perfectly synchronized, to use each other as reference points in whatever movement the formation executed.

Humans normally blink their eyes every five to 10 seconds. But these soldiers were required to extend the period to a minimum of about 40 seconds.

In August, I interviewed some of the women at their training site, which was known as "parade village". They joined the parade on Thursday in Beijing commemorating the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

The women caught my attention more than the males, because their femininity seems further away from the rigid requirements of a military parade than does masculinity. It was the first time, for example, for female soldiers to carry rifles－weighing about 4 kilograms each－in a top-level parade in China.

The performance provides the women, whose age averages about 22, with an opportunity to understand the meaning of a Chinese saying: "There is no light luggage in a lengthy journey." Most are their parents' only child.

The People's Liberation Army started enlisting female honor guards in February last year. They first appeared at diplomatic ceremonies on May 12 last year.

Because the average physical size of female soldiers is smaller than their male counterparts, the women in a square formation with males in front must take bigger steps and stretch their arms laterally from the chest when carrying their rifles to fill the spaces between them.

Soaked in sweat, the women exercised eight hours a day, six days a week. Although physically exhausted, their spirits remained high. I frequently heard a similar message: "I was chosen from among many applicants, and it is an honor－not only myself but for my family－to march in the parade."