Some 30 foreign leaders attended the memorial event, representing countries from Russia and Belarus, to Egypt, South Korea and Venezuela. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also attended the parade, while the majority of "high-profile" Western leaders have passed on the event.
Over 200 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers and dozens of helicopters, zoomed above the fascinated crowd.China has rolled out seven types of missiles on to Tiananmen Square, including four ballistic nuclear missiles.
Among them was the Dong Feng-21D anti-aircraft-carrier medium-range nuclear missile ('Carrier-Killer'), which currently is the world's only ballistic missile capable of engaging a moving target out at sea.
Beijing also demonstrated the Dong Feng-26 nuclear missile, a medium-range ballistic projectile prohibited in Russia and the US because of a bilateral agreement. This intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was dubbed the "Guam killer" because it can reach the US Pacific Ocean base.
The PLA also presented its newest intercontinental strategic ballistic missiles, the DF-5 with a range of 12,000 kilometers and the DF-31A - range 8,000 kilometers.
#China's #VDay parade: Over 80% of military hardware to be shown in public for 1st time http://t.co/VMOr63bWLR pic.twitter.com/CdRZuwrzTZ
โ RT (@RT_com) September 3, 2015
During an almost two-hour-long People's Liberation Army (PLA) parade, several hundred military vehicles of around 40 different types rolled across the square.
The whole event was accompanied by an army orchestra and a 2,400-strong massed choir that sang some 30 songs.
Chinese troops were not marching alone on the commemorative date: They were joined by their fellow soldiers from Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Tajikistan and Russia.
Troops from Belarus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan, & Russia join #China's #VDay parade http://t.co/VMOr63bWLR pic.twitter.com/c1Z06zPFJY
โ RT (@RT_com) September 3, 2015
Additionally, for the first time in the history of Chinese parades, female soldiers marched on Tiananmen Square.
Addressing the nation and guests prior to the show, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment to the path of peace.
LIVE: For 1st time in Chinese history, female soldiers participate in #VDay parade http://t.co/VMOr63bWLR pic.twitter.com/CYCyEsgdy6
โ RT (@RT_com) September 3, 2015
"Prejudice and discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and pain," Xi said, announcing plans to reduce the number of the country's troops by 300,000, some 13 percent of the current 2.3-million strong PLA, as part of the country's long-term military reform.
"China will always uphold the path of peaceful development," Xi said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took part in the celebratory events in Beijing on Thursday, said that the lessons of World War II should be remembered to minimize military conflicts around the world.
During a meeting with Xi, he agreed with his counterpart that Russia and China are "united by a strategic relationship and, as we say, a comprehensive partnership," adding "what is also important is the way we perceive historical problems."
Russia and China should not forget "the cruel actions of invaders on the temporarily occupied territories, which resulted in innumerable victims."
"But we must remember this to make sure that nothing like this happens again in the future. I listened carefully to your speech at the parade, I believe that was the main message of your speech addressed to the people of China and the peoples of the entire world, namely: everything must be done to prevent large-scale military conflicts in the future and to minimize military conflicts in general," Putin said.
At the meeting, Putin confirmed that large bilateral projects will be implemented despite "economic turbulence in Russia and China."
"During bilateral meetings today, we exchanged opinions, and we have full confidence that we will move forward consistently, develop our relations, implement our plans, including large projects which will definitely have a positive effect on the development of the Russian and Chinese economies, and the global economy as a whole," he said.
Comment: No, that's not our term for WW2; the 'Great Anti-Fascist War' is what the Chinese call it. It's the best term for it because it accurately describes what it was.
This is the first time the Chinese have ever held a military parade to commemorate a war in which they were second only to Russia in terms of military and civilian casualties. They haven't held one before now because Sino-Communist ideology held that nothing prior to 1949 was worth remembering. But, like Russia revisiting and reintegrating the totality of its history, China is remembering its past.
The fact that (nearly) all Western countries boycotted it (undoubtedly because Washington told them to), while the same leaders of Eurasian countries attending the Moscow May 9th parade also attended here, speaks volumes about the division of the world into those contributing to or anticipating a post-American, post-hegemony world, and those desperately clinging to the violent, unjust, and ultimately doomed order.
They will tell you they are wary of China's 'militaristic intentions'. This 'concern' is laughable given the country's relatively peaceful and extraordinarily long history. Still waters run deep...