The Liaoning aircraft carrier XINHUA
Destroyers sailed the sea, submarines slid under the surface and fighter jets flew across the sky. It wasn’t a scene from a war movie, indeed, it was a grand naval parade.
驱逐舰出海启航，潜艇驶入深海，战斗机划破长空。这并非是战争片中的场景，而是一场盛大的海军阅兵。
This parade was held in waters off the port city of Qingdao on April 23, as part of a series of events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
4月23日，这场阅兵在青岛附近海空域举行，作为庆祝中国人民解放军海军成立70周年的系列活动。
In 1949, the navy had just 20 old ships when it was founded in Taizhou, Jiangsu province. At the parade, however, the PLA Navy sent 32 ships and 39 warplanes, including China’s newest destroyers and submarines, reported China Daily. The parade showed that the PLA Navy is on its way to becoming a “world-class” force, said Xinhua News.
1949年，人民海军于江苏泰州成立，当时海军只有20艘破旧的舰艇。而据《中国日报》报道，在如今的阅兵仪式上，人民海军派出了32艘舰艇和39架战机。新华社称，这次阅兵展现了人民海军逐渐形成的“世界级”力量。
As a large country with more than 18,000 kilometers of coastline, China needs a strong navy. This was a hard lesson taught by history. According to Xinhua, from the 1850s until 1949, foreign forces used the sea to make about 470 invasions of China. Hence, the PLA Navy has become a key line of the nation’s defense.
作为一个拥有一万八千多公里海岸线的大国，中国需要一支强大的海军。历史曾给我们上了沉重的一课。据新华社报道，从19世纪50年代起至1949年，外国势力对中国发起了约470次海上入侵。因此，人民海军成为了国防的关键。
Apart from improving our nation’s safety, the navy also plays an important role in protecting the nation’s overseas interests and helping with global peacekeeping. It has fought pirates in the Gulf of Aden and waters near Somalia. After a civil war broke out in Yemen in 2015, a nearby Chinese fleet managed to evacuate 621 Chinese citizens as well as 276 people from 15 other countries.
除了保卫国土之外，人民海军在保护我国海外权益以及支持全球维和行动方面都发挥着关键作用。人民海军在亚丁湾和索马里附近海域抗击海盗。2015年也门爆发内战后，正在附近执行任务的中国舰队将621名中国公民和15个国家的276名外国公民撤离也门。
The Navy also has a hospital ship called the Peace Ark. According to China Daily, the ship has traveled to 43 countries and areas since 2010. It gives free medicine and surgeries to more than 230,000 people.
人民海军还拥有一艘“和平方舟”号医院船。据《中国日报》报道，该船自2010年起已到访43个国家和地区，为超过23万人提供免费医疗和手术。
As President Xi Jinping said, the oceans are of great significance as they sustain life and connect the world. “The blue planet that humans inhabit is not divided into islands by the oceans, but is connected by the oceans to form a community with a shared future, where people of all countries share weal and woe,” said Xi during his speech at the event.
正如国家主席习近平所言，海洋具有重要意义。海洋孕育了生命，联通了世界。“我们人类居住的这个蓝色星球，不是被海洋分割成了各个孤岛，而是被海洋连结成了命运共同体，各国人民安危与共，”习近平在阅兵仪式的讲话中如此说道。
