BEIJING - More than 100 journalists from around the world enjoyed a military extravaganza, usually performed for heads of state, during a rare visit on Thursday to one of the most elite brigades of the People's Liberation's Army (PLA).

Foreign media reporters and journalists from Taiwan get a rare glimpse of China's honor guard in Beijing on Thursday. Wang Jing / China Daily

In the base of the PLA Guard of Honor, in Beijing's northwestern Haidian district, reporters and cameramen from foreign and Taiwan media watched muscular soldiers standing in three phalanxes representing the ground force, air force and navy of the PLA, saluting top officer Senior Colonel Liu Shixu, who was inspecting them.

The soldiers then goose-stepped in front of Liu and the reporters who crowded each other for a good view of the parade.

The parade is traditionally staged on the country's most important occasions such as welcoming ceremonies for visiting foreign leaders and the National Day parade.

The unit is renowned in China, not only because these ceremonies are always shown on Chinese television programs, but because the honor guard also appeared at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the handover of Hong Kong from British rule in 1997.

Visitors were later guided to a conference hall to debrief Senior Colonel Liu.

The PLA Guard of Honor was founded in March 1952 and has now four battalions with around 700 officers and soldiers in active service, said Liu.

All the servicemen of the regiment should have a minimum height of 180 cm and a very shapely build. A good honor guard should also possess a fair academic and political background, he said.

Zhang Hongjie, a captain who has served 14 years in the brigade and who participated in two National Day parades as an honor guard in 1999 and 2009, told the reporters that he and his fellow countrymen in Shandong province are "extraordinarily proud" of his service in the elite unit.

"The acquaintances of my family in my hometown told me that their pride was beyond expression when seeing me on TV marching in front of the Tian'anmen Rostrum during the National Day parade in 1999," he recalled.

Talking about his experiences in Mexico, Italy and Venezuela, where the Chinese honor guard took part in parades at the invitations of the local military authorities, Zhang said they had done their best to extend a good image of Chinese armed forces and the servicemen, noting he made some friends of other countries' honor guard during those visits.

"This visit is very useful since it enables me to have a look at the mentality and mindset of the Chinese servicemen, which have long intrigued me," Park Hong Hwan, chief correspondent of the Seoul Shin Mun Daily's Beijing bureau, told China Daily, adding he thinks the PLA Guard of Honor is the best of its peers.

"It is truly interesting. I didn't even know there is such a brigade in the Chinese military," said Ediz Tiyansan, a Beijing-based reporter for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, the national public broadcaster of Turkey.

"Their training and performances are very well organized, which most impressed me."

"Journalists from overseas and Taiwan media zealously applied for this opportunity to visit the PLA Guard of Honor," Guo Weimin, a senior official with the State Council Information Office, which organized the event, told China Daily.

"I am convinced that this tour will definitely help the reporters satiate their curiosity about the unit and solve some of their long-held questions on it," he said.

Some journalists suggested the PLA open more military facilities to foreign media to help them deepen the understanding of Chinese armed forces and their modernization drive.

"I do hope the Chinese military will continue to improve its openness and transparency," said Andrey Evkin, Beijing bureau correspondent for the ITAR-TASS News Agency.