BEIJING — A new generation of the naval forces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) impressed the audience on Tian'anmen Square on Oct 1 in a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Aged 20.4 on average, the sailors are mostly selected from the Navy Submarine Academy.

From coastal waters to high seas, with the first domestically built aircraft carrier and a 10,000-tonne domestically designed and produced destroyer launched and the carrier-based J-15 fighter jets put into service, the PLA Navy has gradually developed into a strategic service with both nuclear and conventional weapons.

Its efforts in maritime rights protection, participation in the joint training in high seas and the escort missions in the Gulf of Aden also showed that the PLA Navy's development strategies have been going further in line with the rise of China as a major power.