In 2017, the 90th anniversary since the Nanchang Uprising and the beginning of the People's Liberation Army was marked by a military parade, the first time ever that a military parade had been held in its honor and the first time it was held outside of the capital, having been held at Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia under the direction of General Han Weiguo of the Central Theater Command. This was also the first field parade to take place since September 1981 when a parade consisting of troops participating in an excersise in Zhangjiakou in the presence of Deng Xiaoping to commemorate Deng's assumption to the post of Chairman of the Central Military Commission. During that parade, Deng reportedly said "Let’s hold a large-scale one if we are to hold a military exercise, so that it can be of use" in reference to the size of the parade. Naval parades have also been reintroduced in recent years with a parade (which was the biggest naval review since 1949 and according to the Chinese government, the biggest in 600 years.) being held in the South China Sea in 2018 and a parade for the platinum jubilee of the People's Liberation Army Navy being held in early 2019.