North China Military Exercise

The North China Military Exercise (simplified Chinese: 华北大演习; traditional Chinese: 華北大演習) was a massive military exercise carried out by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in North China from September 14 to 18, 1981.[1][2][3] With the participation of more 114,000 soldiers, it was the largest military exercise conducted by the PLA since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.[1][4] Deng Xiaoping, then paramount leader of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended and observed the entire exercise along with other senior officials.[2][4]

History

From October 1980 to March 1981, Deng Xiaoping determined that a military exercise was necessary for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and chose the largest version in terms of exercise scale from the three proposed plans.[2][3] The details of arrangement and organization were left to the Beijing Military Region.[2] On March 12, 1981, a central committee for the exercise was established, with Yang Dezhi, then PLA Chief-of-Staff, being the director of the committee; Yang Yong, Zhang Zhen and Qin Jiwei were appointed the vice directors.[1][2]

In September 1981, Deng Xiaoping attended and observed the military exercise along with other senior officials including Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Li Xiannian.[2][3][4][5] A total of over 32,000 military and governmental officials observed the exercise.[1]

Specifically, 114,000 PLA soldiers participated in the exercise, in addition to 1,327 tanks and armored vehicles, 1,541 cannons, 475 airplanes as well as 10,606 army trucks.[1][3][6] The exercised was funded by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, and accounted for 1/16 of China's military expenditures of that year.[6] On September 19, 1981, a large-scale military parade took place after the exercise at the airport of Zhangjiakou, where Deng Xiaoping delivered a closing speech.[2][3]

See also

• Exercise Zapad-81
• Beijing Military Region
• Reform and Opening-up
• Modernization of the People's Liberation Army
• History of the People's Liberation Army

References

1. Fravel, M. Taylor (2019-04-23). Active Defense: China's Military Strategy since 1949. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-18559-0.
2. "邓小平决定华北大演习的前前后后--邓小平纪念网". Renmin Wang (in Chinese). 2017-08-01. Archived from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
3. Li, Xiang; Zou, Weirong (2017-07-11). "改革开放30年:1981年华北军事演习难忘经历". China Military Online (中国军网) (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
4. Godwin, Paul H. B. (2019-06-18). The Chinese Defense Establishment: Continuity And Change In The 1980s. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-31540-0.
5. "华北地区最大规模的军事演习——"八〇二"军事演习". The Paper (in Chinese). 2018-09-15. Archived from the original on 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
6. "还记得邓小平的1981年华北大阅兵吗？". Guang Cha Zhe Wang (观察者网) (in Chinese). 2017-07-29. Archived from the original on 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-06-19.