From October 1980 to March 1981, Deng Xiaoping determined that a military exercise was necessary for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and chose the largest version in terms of exercise scale from the three proposed plans.[2][3] The details of arrangement and organization were left to the Beijing Military Region.[2] On March 12, 1981, a central committee for the exercise was established, with Yang Dezhi, then PLA Chief-of-Staff, being the director of the committee; Yang Yong, Zhang Zhen and Qin Jiwei were appointed the vice directors.[1][2]
In September 1981, Deng Xiaoping attended and observed the military exercise along with other senior officials including Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Li Xiannian.[2][3][4][5] A total of over 32,000 military and governmental officials observed the exercise.[1]
Specifically, 114,000 PLA soldiers participated in the exercise, in addition to 1,327 tanks and armored vehicles, 1,541 cannons, 475 airplanes as well as 10,606 army trucks.[1][3] The exercised was funded by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, and accounted for 1/16 of China's military expenditures of that year. On September 19, 1981, a large-scale military parade took place after the exercise at the airport of Zhangjiakou, where Deng Xiaoping delivered a closing speech.[2][3]