After training over two months, the largest women military band in China made debut at Honggutan of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, on August 1. They performed the national anthem to mark the Army Day.
Following the awarding ceremony of the plaque carrying the name of the band in the morning that day, the band performed the ritual of raising the national flag and the army flag. Wearing red shirt, white skirt, boots and red beret, they performed the National Anthem, March of the People’s Liberation Army and Welcome among others.
The band was set up on May 10 this year. All its 120 members are students of Nanchang Women’s Vocational School with average age of 16, and they are well chosen from 600 students.
According to Chen Lei, vice principal of the school, none of these girls knew how to play instruments at the very beginning. During the past two months, they took their training for four to six hours a day in spite of scorching heat, and they succeeded.
(china.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, August 5, 2002)
