Former model, now a female honor guard, ready for V-Day parade debut

Men Jiahui in place in the marching unit of the PLA Guard of Honor. [Photo/Xinhua]

A female honor guard, once one of the most popular models in the 11th CCTV model contest, will make her debut with 50 other female honor guard members in the Sept 3 parade.

Men Jiahui, 23, joined the army with her dream of becoming a female honor guard after graduating from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in July 2014. At the time she was a well-known car model in China.

The ex-model realized her dream and will appear in the Sept 3 parade with other female honor guards who have won worldwide acclaim since their debut at a diplomatic event on May 12, 2014. They were selected in February 2014.

The female honor guards, whose average age is 20 with an average height of 1.78 meters, have bachelor's degrees and higher qualifications.

Sept 3 will witness the debut of the female honor guards, who will march in the parade with male honor guards to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

To achieve orderly military marching, the female honor guards had to overcome the figure differences between males and females during the training. On average, their male counterparts are 10 centimeters taller and have wider bodies.

So with the same stride length of 0.75 meter, the honor guards have to adjust their movements to ensure horizontal spacing between them is identical.

"The female honor guards have to widen their elbows while the males narrow their elbows," said Han Jie, who is in charge of the PLA Guard of Honor.