The 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China took place on 1 October 1999. A military parade was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and various celebrations were conducted all over the country. China's paramount leader Jiang Zemin inspected the troops along Chang'an Avenue in Beijing. This parade was immediately followed by a civilian parade.
It was the first one to be held since 1984 since the 1989 parade celebrating the 40th anniversary was cancelled due to the Tiananmen Square protests. Known as the Chinese Army's Trans-Century Parade due to 1 October 1999 being months away from the turn of the 21st century, it was commanded by the Commander of Beijing Military Region Li Xinliang and inspected by then-Chairman of the Central Military Commission and General Secretary of the CCP Jiang Zemin. It was the first time that the sole Chinese leader (who served as party leader, head of state and Commander-in-Chief by this time) had inspected the parade. It was also the first time that the national flag was raised before the parade began. 42 divisions (formations) took part in this parade: 17 from the ground column and 25 from the mobile column.
Broadcast
China Central Television and Beijing Television was responsible for the live broadcast of the National Day celebrations military parade from 8:30 a.m. (CST) to noon, on CCTV-1, CCTV-4 and CCTV HDTV test channel
China National Radio provided live audio coverage throughout mainland China
And "Xinwen Lianbo" anchors Xing Zhibin and Luo Jing served as commentators
Prelude
At 9:58 a.m., Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing, Li Lanqing and other party and state leaders came and stood atop Tiananmen amidst the welcome music.
At 10 a.m., Jia Qinglin as the Beijing municipal Communist Party Secretary was the master of ceremonies for the event., announced the begin of the "Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China". A 50-gun salute was fired, and 200 National Flag Guard of the Armed Police walked down from the Monument to the People's Heroes, passing the portrait of Sun Yat-sen and walked along the central axis to the flag-raising area. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Joint Military Band (中国人民解放军联合军乐团) composed of more than 1,100 people played the "National Anthem of the People's Republic of China", and the audience sang in unison. The Five-star red flag was rising and flying high over the square
Inspection
At 10:07 a.m. Jiang Zemin inspected the troops standing onto a Hongqi CA772TJ limousine with a license 申A 02156. drove out of Tiananmen Gate.
General Li Xinliang, chief commander of the military parade and commander of the Beijing Military Region, took a review car from the East Red Wall to the Jinshui Bridge, and went forward to report to President Jiang Zemin:
"Comrade Chairman, the troops under review are ready. Please review them!"
"Start!" President Jiang Zemin issued an order. Following an order, more than 1,000 military band members played "Troops Review March of the PLA"
At 10:08 a.m. the review vehicle drove up to the parade line and drove slowly from west to east. Jiang Zemin reviewed the troops accompanied by Li Xinliang. ground force formations, navy formations, air force formations and militia formations stands on Chang'an Avenue. The inspection cars passed by one after another
The inspection cars drove past the troops, and the officers and soldiers under review show respect to President Jiang Zemin. The reviewing car passed by the tanks, missiles and artillery painted with camouflage
After reviewing the troops, President Jiang Zemin returned to the Tiananmen and delivered a speech.