Origin of ranks
In Chinese history, rank has generally been used to indicate the status of officials at all levels. The succession of military officials is called "Wu Rank", and as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, there were military titles such as Terracotta Grand Marshal and Grand General of The Horse Riding. Ranks that are truly modern appeared in some Western European countries, such as Italy and France, in the 15th and 16th centuries.
With the development and evolution of the form of war, in order to clearly and accurately define the hierarchical status, responsibility, rights and honorary treatment of soldiers, after more than 400 years of strict changes, a complete rank system from the supreme commander to the ordinary soldiers was finally formed.
Since the military rank originated in Europe, it is inevitable to have a strong European color. For example, the title "colonel" first appeared in 16th-century Russia, meaning an officer who served as a regimental commander. The "major" that first appeared in Spain meant the elder among the officers. The title "general" comes from the Latin word for military superintendent, while the origin of the title "marshal" as a French word was originally used to refer to the court officials in charge of the king's stables.
Nowadays, although the settings at different national levels are slightly different, in general, they are composed of six basic levels: commander, general, colonel, lieutenant, non-commissioned officer, and soldier. Usually, the main focus of what kind of rank is set in the rank system is to consider the size and organization of the army. The second is to consider the general parity of military ranks with most countries in the world.
Characteristics of military ranks in various countries
At present, the military rank settings of most countries in the world include three basic grades: general, colonel and lieutenant. The generals of U.S. officers are divided into five ranks, the lowest of which will be five-star generals, but only in wartime awards to certain special generals, and few in the history of the U.S. military have been awarded the rank of five-star general. Under normal circumstances, it is also capped by the admiral.
The highest rank in Russia is Marshal of the Russian Federation, and the generals are divided into four levels: major general, general, lieutenant general and major general. The officer ranks of Mongolia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and other countries around china, no matter how many troops he has, the highest rank is basically general. In some small countries, the army is too small, and their highest rank is correspondingly lower, and in the Congolese country, the rank of major is the supreme commander.
From 1904 onwards, the Qing government promulgated and implemented a series of charter systems, and gradually implemented the Western European-style, third-class, nine-level military rank system. After the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Sun Yat-sen, who led the Xinhai Revolution, became the first Grand Marshal of the Army, Navy and Air Force during the Republic of China period. However, at that time, the military rank system was still very irregular, especially during the Beiyang government, the warlords who had guns in the melee were the grass king. Warlords of all sizes everywhere who have appointed themselves as grand marshals and generals abound.
The rank system of our army
During the period of the revolutionary war, the main task of our army was to establish revolutionary base areas to seize power by force in accordance with Mao Zedong's strategic thinking of "encircling the cities from the countryside." The environment for struggle was rather arduous and the material support was extremely scarce. In this special historical background and environment, the basic living conditions are difficult to meet, let alone solve the problem of military ranks. Even so, however, our army has twice prepared to implement a system of ranks within a certain range.
At that time, this kind of military rank system, which was implemented on a small scale, was the same as the rank system of the Kuomintang army at that time, and the purpose of awarding titles was only for the special needs of certain jobs.
The issue of implementing the rank system for the first time in our army was after the founding of the People's Republic of China was the first time that the military rank system was implemented in order to strengthen the regularization and modernization of the armed forces. In 1955, the Chinese People's Liberation Army officially implemented the rank system.
On February 8, 1955, the Regulations on the Service of Officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army were officially adopted, stipulating that the People's Liberation Army adopted the internationally accepted rank system. This time the military rank set is based on the traditional Chinese rank hierarchy system, which is divided into four grades and 14 grades.
From the Grand Marshal, the general below the marshal, the colonel, the lieutenant, etc. are all set according to the four levels of major, upper, middle and less. The military rank system introduced in 1955, although the rank of Grand Marshal was clearly set in the regulations, was not actually implemented.
At that time, in the process of setting up the military rank system, our country was preparing to set up the rank of grand marshal, and the grand marshal was Chairman Mao. At that time, Chairman Mao was also made the costume of a grand marshal, but Chairman Mao and his old man were resolute not to wear it.
Great men are gone, and glory lives on. Today, this set of Grand Marshal's uniforms that Chairman Mao resolutely does not wear has become an extremely precious historical relic for people to remember forever the lofty style and great achievements of his old man.com.
The title was awarded in 1955 with several outstanding features. First, at that time, the military rank level was relatively high, and the four levels of general, colonel, and lieutenant were readily available. This is due to the fact that at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many senior officers of our army spent several decades on horseback and made great contributions to the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people. The state should give high honors, especially some outstanding founding fathers, and the award of high titles is also expected.
The second feature is the generally lower age of officers at all levels. At that time, the ten marshals, ten generals, and 57 generals who were awarded the title were all in the middle age of youth and strength. The average age of the first generation of republican generals was only 45.6 years.
Third, a large number of generals with special status and unique style have emerged, some of whom are from ethnic minorities, including General Su Yu of the Dong ethnic group, General Ulan Fu of the Mongolian ethnic group, and General Wei Guoqing of the Zhuang ethnic group. Among the lieutenant generals and major generals, there are also 33 ethnic minorities from Tibetan, Manchu, Hui, Uyghur, Tujia and other ethnic minorities.
The military rank system, which began to be implemented in 1955, marked an important step forward in our army's regularization and modernization drive. Chinese People's Liberation Army had its own rank system for the first time since its establishment, but the implementation of this rank system lasted only ten years, and the rank was abolished in 1965.
The whole army is unanimous, the officers and men from top to bottom are equal, and there are not so many levels. A red star is worn on the head, and the red flag of the revolution is hung on both sides. From 1965 to 1988, our army abolished ranks for 23 years.
However, no matter what kind of political environment was affected by the environment at that time, this image of the soldier marked by the red collar badge and the red hat emblem still left a good memory that will never be forgotten in the hearts of countless Chinese.
In July 1988, the Chinese People's Liberation Army resumed the implementation of the rank system. In 1987, Comrade Xiaoping proposed that with the regularization of this area to restore the rank, so we re-designed it.
Since the implementation of the new rank system in 1988, our army has been in use to this day, and the rank system has not changed. In 2007, our army renewed its military uniform, added some new accessories armbands, name plates, and military armbands, and new samples of military rank epaulettes were also presented. From the epaulettes, the expression of military rank has not changed, but in the choice of the color of the bottom plate of the epaulettes, it has gone through a lot of twists and turns.
After several studies, the current epaulette color similar to the color of the military uniform was finally determined. At the same time, new amendments were made to the signature style of civilian cadres.
Ranks serve as a proof of military status and are also an honorary mark. This special function determines that the rank has a strong seriousness and cannot be interpreted arbitrarily.
In the new Type 07 uniform, a rank chapter that is consistent with the rank of the position has been added, also called the Seniority Chapter. Through different color signs to indicate the job level of the wearer, it has a distinct recognition, and together with the rank, it can more clearly show the information of the soldiers.
The level of the seniority badge is determined by the number of cards on the seniority badge holder, and each row should be filled with three medallions. There are seven platoons at or above the level of members of the Central Military Commission, six platoons at the level of major military regions, five platoons at the military level, four platoons at the division level, three platoons at the regimental level, two platoons at the battalion level, and one platoon at the company platoon level.
Another prominent change in the rank representation of the Type 07 uniform is the naval attire. Ranks on the Navy's dark navy blue tunic are no longer represented by epaulettes, but are instead represented at the cuffs. The rank armband is composed of three grades of general, colonel and lieutenant decorative belt and star emblem, the thickest decorative belt represents the general, followed by the school officer, the most detailed is the lieutenant officer. The use of such forms of expression is also aimed at being in line with international standards.
Our army's Type 07 military uniform, with its mighty and solemn, masculine and handsome characteristics, shows the heroic self-confidence of Chinese soldiers facing the 21st century in front of the world, highlights the neat and dignified military appearance, and becomes a beautiful scenery of the Type 07 military uniform.
Recently, the "People's Liberation Army Daily" released a news that the whole army began to issue new "Type 21" training uniforms and work uniforms this year, and after 14 years, our army has completely changed into new training uniforms.
(The above is only part of the exhibition)
Chinese the rank system of the People's Liberation Army has gone through several ups and downs, and the pace of our army's modernization can be seen from the changes in military ranks. In the future, our military uniforms and accessories will develop in the direction of more beautiful and practical, and will also be improved according to different occasions and combat conditions.
The implementation of the rank system is the external embodiment of the modernization and regularization of the armed forces, which is convenient for the command and management of the armed forces and is also conducive to exchanges and exchanges between the armed forces of various countries. More importantly, he made every soldier in military uniform feel the responsibility on his shoulders and the mission of defending national security.