Well Choreographed: The Victory Day Parade in Beijing
The V-Day parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on September 3, marking 80 years since the defeat of Japan, has prompted many observations. Among them: The symbolism of Xi Jinping flanked by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un. The tone of Xi’s speech – China is “never intimidated by any bullies” and stands between “good and evil, light and darkness, progress and reaction.” The display of new generation weapons. The many affirmations that the Chinese Communist Party won the victory against Japan and has created the New China. And this metamessage: the whole Chinese people are firmly united against hegemony, meaning American hegemony. The world’s China specialists will be thinking this through for some time.
What I noticed, however, was how the pageant of the parade, broadcast worldwide, available live on YouTube, was singly designed – indeed choreographed — to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s narratives and goals. There was no cacophony of journalists from many outlets reporting their own takes from this or that corner of the square. There was one video feed and one scripted narration.
The work was surely more than a year in preparation.
On the military side, the thousands of troops who paraded in front of the leaders assembled on Tiananmen must have spent months on the grinders learning to march in lockstep. All were the same height and built to assure flawless symmetry in their formations. Every motion – the head movements, the shouts of loyalty – was perfect. Every uniform was fresh, new, and fitted.
When the formation of troops standing aside their vehicles broke after Xi Jinping passed them in review, they double timed in perfect formations. How they leapt through the hatches with full packs and weapons took my breath away. Their movements were well practiced!
The vehicles and the flatbeds carrying weapons, missiles, aircraft, boats, torpedoes, and aircraft drove past Tiananmen in perfect alignment – surely the product of many rehearsals.
On the media side, every view and sound was scripted, each camera perfectly placed to reinforce the event’s messaging. (I imagine that as Xi and the international leaders climbed the stairway, no camera was on the landings to record Kim Jong Un’s exertions.)
Xi Jinping and those who interpreted his speech into foreign languages were perfectly synchronized. Sound and video engineers assured the outdoor patriotic songs by young people (with perfect youth in front of the cameras) were broadcast clearly.
As the troops passed in review before Xi Jinping, the formations had been shaped and the cameras placed to show each formation filling the camera frame – soldiers and broadcasters so well coordinated that each shot of marching troops communicated unity, mass, resolve, and prowess.
International television or social media viewers may have compared the V-Day parade in Beijing with the 250th Birthday of the U.S. Army Grand Military Parade and Celebration on June 14 earlier this year. The American troops who gathered in Washington from different divisions around the nation marched capably, but they did not show the same military precision. Uniforms were not fitted. Some ranks and files had tall and short soldiers together – just as they serve together. Their utilitarian military boots did not snap with each step. They hadn’t spent months practicing.
The President and the American public saw a fighting Army, not Potemkin parade units. Yet many overseas viewers may have gathered erroneous impressions that the PLA is somehow more committed and more soldierly.
I must give a grudging acknowledgment to China Central Television and the many cadres and soldiers who made the parade such effective propaganda. They showcased China’s military and informational power. Yet in those tight shots of soldiers filling the camera frames, I also saw an homage to Lani Riefenstahl.
In the Air Force before his career in the Foreign Service, the author marched in many parades. While he served in Beijing, he watched all the patriotic holiday specials.
After his Air Force service in Vietnam, Korea, and the Air Force Academy faculty, Donald M. Bishop entered the Foreign Service. His 31 years as a public diplomacy officer took him to East Asia, Africa, and South and Central Asia, and he was detailed to the Pentagon as the Foreign Policy Advisor to two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare at Marine Corps University. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Marine Corps University, the Department of the Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, or the U.S. Government.