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Standing straight and steady for an hour, no blinking allowed for 40 seconds. These are by no means simple endurance tests for ordinary people, but are a part of normal life for hundreds of soldiers taking part in the Tian'anmen Square-Chang'an Avenue military parade on China's National Day.
Soldiers from the Second Artillery Corps of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) now stationed in several camps on the outskirts of Beijing, they said "precision" was the exact word to describe their everyday life.
The soldiers are going through rigorous training for the massive National Day parade on Oct. 1 in downtown Beijing.
In training, the maximum time discrepancy allowed for military vehicle drivers exceeds no more than a quarter of a second.
To monitor the timing, experts are using electronic devices to detect the speed of each vehicle -- and displacement restrictors to moderate speed -- to achieve uniformity.
"Shou Zhang Hao"(Hail to the Chief) and " Wei Ren Min Fu Wu"(It's to serve the people), two sentences of only eight Chinese characters that will be the responses to military chiefs' greetings during the national military review, are practiced thousands of times until they are perfect.
Skillful and delicate craftsmanship is also required in army manoeuvers. Military trainers told Xinhua Wednesday movements had been practiced hundreds of times. .
But the most challenging endurance test takes place in drivers' cabs in times of high temperatures. Heat in the cabs can reach to nearly a scorching 60 degrees Celsius. To achieve uniformity of the parade vehicles, soldiers, even during practice, choose to operate them without air conditioners and, after hours of practice, are soaked in sweat.
Wang Puze, a phalanx pivot, said each soldier on average had worn out two training uniforms and three pairs of leather shoes during five months of training.
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