Chinese President Xi Jinping told the military on Sunday to transform itself into an elite force, as he oversaw a parade with flybys of advanced jets and a mass rally of troops to mark 90 years since the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
China's armed forces, the world's largest, are in the midst of an ambitious modernisation programme, which includes investment in technology and new equipment such as stealth fighters and aircraft carriers, as well as cuts to troop numbers.
Xi presided over the large-scale military parade at the remote Zhurihe training base in China's northern Inner Mongolia region, where he inspected troops from the back of a jeep, an event carried live on state television.
Travelling down a long strip lined with tanks, missile launchers and other military vehicles, Xi, wearing military fatigues and a field cap, greeted thousands of troops.
Xi, who oversees the PLA in his role as head of the powerful Central Military Commission, repeatedly shouted, "Hello comrades!" and "Comrades, you are working hard!" into four microphones fixed atop his motorcade as martial music blared in the background.
Unlike a massive 2015 parade through manicured central Beijing to mark 70 years since the end of World War II, Sunday's spectacle had fewer frills.
Thousands of troop marched in combat garb, not dress uniforms, and vehicles kicked up clouds of dust as they rounded sections of the base's track.
It was the first time China has marked Army Day, which formally falls on August 1, with a military parade since the Communist revolution in 1949, state news agency Xinhua said.
It was also the first time Xi has reviewed troops in the field like this, Xinhua added.
Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said in a statement that the location for the parade embodied a "dust-covered battlefield atmosphere" for the 12,000 troops who participated.
The country's military is more nimble and technologically proficient following reforms to make it more compact and responsive, and less reliant on its sheer troop numbers, Xi said last week.
China has not fought a war in decades and the government insists it has no hostile intent, but simply needs the ability to properly defend what is now the world's second-largest economy.
However, China has rattled nerves around Asia and globally with its increasingly assertive stance in the East and South China Seas and its military modernisation plan.
Some of the military reforms have also been controversial at home. Sources with ties to the military say Xi's announcement at the 2015 parade to cut 300,000 troops has caused unease within the ranks.