[4] In 1946, the first Chinese ceremonial unit was formed in Yan’an to welcome the visit of General George Marshall, the special envoy of US President Harry Truman.

The 500-member honor guard was commissioned by Eighth Route Army Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and rehearsed the day before the visit at Yan'an Airport.

On 16 October, 16 days after the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China, members of the unit provided honors to incoming Soviet ambassador Nikolai Roshchin.

In its early stages, it was based in Yilong Camp and only conducted small arrival ceremonies such as the one for Indonesian President Sukarno in 1956 and North Korean leader Kim il-Sung and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

On 2 March 1992, Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, signed an order to award the honorary title of the "Jiangsu Model of the Yilong Brigade" to the battalion.

[6] In December 2017, the BGHGB officially attached the Beijing Garrison Color Guard Company as part of the battalion, formerly under the People's Armed Police, which had been responsible for flag raising ceremonies for 35 years.

During the Moscow parade, the contingent led by Li Bentao surprised hundreds of locals by singing the wartime Katyusha song during their march back to their living quarters during a nighttime rehearsal.

After reviewing the honor guard upon arrival, he proposed to his Chinese counterpart Chi Haotian, that members of the battalion will go to Gabon to help set up and train professional ceremonial units in the Gabonese Armed Forces.

[15][16] It would later visit other countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Mauritania and Qatar train their honor guards as well as active duty soldiers for parades.

[20] In July 2016, the unit launched a special report called Telling Stories of Powerful Armed Forces on state television.

According to international practice, the highest specification is a 21-gun salute, however, Mao proposed increase this to 28 as to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.

[23][24] After the meeting, Mao asked Tang Yongjian, director of the Training Division of the North China Military Region to draft a description of the sound of the salute.

On 13 June 1961, President Sukarno visited China on a second trip, during which the guns were sounded once again during the welcoming ceremony held at the airport at the request of the Indonesian government.

From its founding to 1955, the battalion did not have an official ceremonial uniform and just wore overcoats captured from the Japanese Army after World War II.