A formation of Chinese military reserves, with bayonet fixed, marched past the Tian'anmen Rostrum in the center of Beijing on Thursday.

Members of the group are selected from a reserve division in Beijing and include civil servants, company officials, workers, college students and retired servicemen, Bai Zhihong, head of the formation, said before the parade.

The 500,000-strong reserves are a back-up to the country's armed forces and only become soldiers when a war breaks out.

For equally grand performances, the semi-professional soldiers walked up to 12 km of goose steps during their training each day, compared to about 8 km of other formations, Bai said.

The reserves were created in 1983.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2009)