On the following day, the Ministry of National Defense organized an award ceremony for the Field Officer Category military ranks, during which Peng Dehuai awarded military ranks to some field officers stationed in Beijing. Various armed services, military commands and armed forces held respective military rank-awarding ceremonies. Zhou Enlai said happily that the implementation of the ranking system had ended China’s history of an unranked military. The National Day military parade of 1955 demonstrated the new face of the PLA following the implementation of a ranking system.
During the military review, all officers and soldiers, dressed unanimously in a new style of service uniform and wearing both military badges and collar insignias, marched briskly through Tiananmen Square with firm, resolute steps and in high spirits. All the Marshals and Grand Generals, to whom a military rank had just been awarded, also wore their military badges and collar insignias and stood on the reviewing stand to inspect the armed forces. After the military parade, these Marshals and Grand Generals took a group photo on Tiananmen Rostrum in high spirits, a happy smile on everyone's face. This National Day military parade declared an end to China's history of an unranked military, marking a step forward in the military's normalization construction.
The general situation of the National Day military parade of 1955 was similar to that of the previous year in that, accompanied by Parade Commander-in-Chief Yang Chengwu, Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai reviewed the armed forces. The reviewed troops numbered 10,344 in total.
