People's Liberation Army Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids People's Liberation Army 中国人民解放军
Emblem of the People's Liberation Army
Established	August 1, 1927
Parts	PLA Ground Force PLA Navy PLA Air Force Second Artillery Corps
Leadership
Leaders of Central Military Commission	Xi Jinping (Chairman) Fan Changlong (Vice-chairman) Xu Qiliang (Vice-chairman)
Minister of National Defense	General Chang Wanquan
Chief of PLA General Staff	General Fang Fenghui
Serving soldiers
Military age	18–49
Conscription	None enforced
Available to be a soldier	385,821,101 males, age 16–49 (2010 est), 363,789,674 females, age 16–49 (2010 est)
Fit to be a soldier	318,265,016 males, age 16–49 (2010 est), 300,323,611 females, age 16–49 (2010 est)
Reaching military age annually	10,406,544 males (2010 est), 9,131,990 females (2010 est)
Active employees/soldiers	approximately 2,285,000(about 0.18% of population) (ranked 1st)
Reserve personnel	800,000
Deployed personnel	Overseas: ~300 anti-pirate personnel in Somalia Paramilitary: approximately 1,500,000 Total: 4,585,000~ (ranked 6th)
Expenditures
Budget	US$119 billion (2013) (ranked 2nd)
Percent of GDP	1.46% (2012 est.)
Industry
Suppliers from foreign countries	Russia
Annual imports	Israel Turkey United States Russia
Annual exports	Indonesia Cambodia Malaysia France Pakistan Bangladesh United Kingdom Turkmenistan Hungary Eritrea Kyrgyzstan
See also
History	History of the PLA Modernization of the PLA
Ranks	Army Navy Air Force

The People's Liberation Army (or simply PLA) is the armed forces of the Communist Party of China. The army was established (founded) on August 1, 1927. The People's Liberation Army is the largest military force in the world. It has about 2,250,000 personnel or employees (about 0.18% of the population of China) under the Central Military Commission.

The PLA consists of five main branches: the PLA Ground Force, PLA Navy (PLAN), PLA Air Force (PLAAF), Second Artillery Corps (strategic missile force), and the PLA Reserve Force. Military service is compulsory (required) of for all men and women who reach the age of 18.

Images for kids

PLA troops entering Beijing in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War
Chinese troops gathered on a T-34/85 or a Type 58 medium tank leaving North Korea in 1958, 5 years after the Korean War ended with an armistice (a ceasefire) in 1953. The banner in the background of the picture bears a slogan (in Chinese) which declares "The Friendship And Unity of the North Korean And Chinese Peoples Are Always Steadfast And Strong!"
Marshal Lin Biao surveying the soldiers during the 10th-anniversary military parade in 1959.
The PLA Honor Guard in Beijing, 2007
The CMC is ceremonially housed in the Ministry of National Defense compound ("August 1st Building")
A Type 99A main battle tank in service with the PLAGF
A PLAN destroyer conducting maritime interdiction operations at RIMPAC 2016
A Chengdu J-20 5th generation stealth fighter
DF-21Ds at the 2015 Victory Parade
A PLA Navy Special Operations Forces marine during a maritime operations exercise in RIMPAC 2014.
The range of the PLA Rocket Force's medium and intercontinental ballistic missiles (2006)
PLA Factory No. 6907, Wuhan. The white characters on the blue sign roughly translate to: "Secret/Classified Area, Do Not Enter Unless Invited."
The Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China at the Great Hall of the People. The band is a common performer of the military anthem of the PLA at ceremonial protocol events.

People's Liberation Army facts for kids

Images for kids

See also