Twenty-three heads of state and government leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, attended the parade.
Some 1,300 members of the PLA Chorus performed alongside the Military Band for the first time, including around 100 female performers.
It was the first time that Xi Jinping had observed troops as the country's top leader and delivered a speech atop the Tian'anmen Rostrum.
Twenty helicopters formed the number 70 to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory. It was the first time a commemorative number had been formed in any military parade.
It was the first time that veterans had joined a parade. Veterans include both the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang who fought against invading Japanese soldiers.
Ten foot formations of the People's Liberation Army were named after the most famous army units during the War of Resistance against the Japanese Aggression.
Nearly 1,000 foreign soldiers from 17 countries participated in the parade and it was the first time China had invited foreign troops to attend a parade since 1949.
Dongfeng-21D, nicknamed the “aircraft carrier killer” and the latest variant of the DF-21 medium-range ballistic missile system, is reportedly capable of hitting an aircraft carrier within a range of 1,500 km.
Nicknamed "Flying Shark," J-15 is China's first -generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet, with the capability to carry out various tasks.
Seventy thousand doves were released over Tian'anmen Square followed by 70,000 balloons.
