Flag Raising Ceremony

Upon marching out of the Tiananmen Gate and the Golden Water Bridge, following the sounding of a fanfare, the unit commander for the Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion orders the unit to begin goosestepping in slow time, when it crosses the bridge, it returns to its normal pace and splits off to have two formations on each side of the flagpole while the color guard moves into position.

Once this is done, the PLA Central Band plays March of the Volunteers as the flag is unfurled and raised precisely with the timing of the Sun rising, after which Ode to the Motherland is performed (only the first day of a month) and dozens of birds are released past the flag as the color company forms up for the march off.

The first flag-raising ceremony on Tiananmen Square took place on 1 October 1949 during the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China.

This continued until 28 December 1982, when the newly formed People's Armed Police and its honour guard took over the ceremony which would last for 35 years.

[7] This followed the then-recent attachment of the Beijing Garrison Color Guard Company to the BGHGB which led to its reformation, this time, with PLA personnel.