China has completed a second overnight rehearsal involving about 40,000 personnel for a military parade that will mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The full-scale drill, held from the evening of Aug. 16 to the early hours of Aug. 17 around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, tested logistics, command and crowd control ahead of the Sept. 3 event. Briefing reporters on Aug. 20, the State Council Information Office said parade preparations are “basically completed.” The 70-minute ceremony will unfold in two stages—a troop review by President Xi Jinping along Chang’an Avenue followed by a march-past through the square. Forty-five marching contingents, ground hardware groups and aircraft squadrons will present more than 100 models of active-duty, domestically produced weaponry. Officials said land, sea and air-based strategic systems, hypersonic precision-strike missiles, as well as unmanned and counter-unmanned platforms will be shown publicly for the first time. Fourth-generation tanks, carrier-based aircraft and fighter jets will be arranged in combat-function modules to highlight what the military called a new, system-based force structure. Foreign dignitaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been invited to attend the parade, which Chinese officials describe as the first large-scale display of the armed forces since the country embarked on what it calls a “new journey” of modernization. Taiwan has criticized the commemorations, accusing Beijing of distorting historical narratives.