Whatever you might think of the politics, the performance was nothing short of perfect.
Tens of thousands of service personnel in lines so straight they could almost have been animated.
Every flex of the foot, every turn of the head, every cry of allegiance exactly in sync.
And the noise, you could feel every bit as much as you could hear.
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The stamp of boots, the rumble of the tanks and the roar of the jet engines literally reverberated through the stand where we were sitting.
“We serve the people” came the cries when called on; the passion, of course, had been practised, but it felt authentic too.
The security to get here spoke volumes about just how tightly controlled this whole event has been.
Our meet time, dictated by the Chinese government, was over seven hours before the start of the parade itself, bussed in at the dead of night, no fewer than three separate rigorous security scans.
But once onto Beijing’s historic Tiananmen Square, we were free to film in places that are normally strictly off limits.
And that is because today, nothing less than China itself, in all its prowess, is on show.
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A projection of power
While this parade is officially to mark 80 years since the official surrender of Japan in the Second World War, it is about so much more than that.
It is about the projection of power, both internally and around the world, too.
To the domestic audience, it is about showing just how far China has come since the war.
From a country invaded and ‘humiliated’ by Japan, to a global superpower, all thanks, they say, to the Chinese Communist Party and the vision of President Xi.
It is notable that even in official communications to the foreign media, the objective of “demonstrating loyalty to the party” was listed as a more important motivation than “commemorating” victory in the war and the sacrifices of the Chinese people.
But be in no doubt, they know the world is watching too, and this was also about projecting power internationally.
Close company
That is largely about the military might, of course, the huge array of Chinese-produced, cutting-edge new weaponry was notable. So is the fact that Xi’s reorganisation and modernisation of the military has been a key theme.
But the messaging was also about the power of China’s allegiances and its political heft too.
Indeed, today was especially notable not just for what was on show, but also for who was here.
No accident at all that Xi Jinping was continually staged with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on his right and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to his left.
There has been speculation that the recent blossoming alliance between Putin and Kim has irked China somewhat. No sign of that today, the signals were all that this is a trio in lockstep.
Indeed, Kim rarely leaves his hermit kingdom, and he has never been to a multilateral event as big as this. His presence speaks volumes about his confidence in this company.
All of this comes after four days of intense diplomacy here, where China has hosted leaders from across the world in an attempt to cast itself as a great convener of nations and a preserver of a peaceful global order.
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It’s a message perhaps a little undermined when stood before such a show of military might, with one leader wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and another sanctioned by much of the world for its accumulation of nuclear weapons.
But perhaps to many, disillusioned with America, this simply doesn’t matter, and that is the gap Xi is successfully exploiting.
Not everyone will be buying in, but this was in some ways a vision for a future Xi would like to see, and it is a vision that’s centred on Chinese power.
