Marching with honor: Women soldier carrying the flag

Cheng Cheng trains for the military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In December 2008, she was told to attend the training for the 60th anniversary of National Day military parade. Suffering severe gastritis and being hospitalized, Cheng decided to join the training because she didn't want to lose such a valuable chance.

During the nine months of high-intensive training from Dec 2008 to Sept 2009, Cheng never thought of giving up no matter how hard the training was. Cheng's endeavor paid off and she was arranged as the leader of women soldiers' formation, which made her practice even harder.

However, Cheng had to be replaced as a spare member in September 2009, just one month left to the parade. She grew 1.8cm higher in the last month, which made her height inconsistent with other two formation leaders. Considering her excellent behavior, she could be arranged to stand at the head of the first row. But Cheng declined because she knew if she nodded, another girl in the first row would be replaced.

"I had suffered the feeling of being replaced, and I knew it was painful, I didn't want anybody else to go through all this once again," Cheng recalled, chokingly.