A storied infantry company of the People’s Liberation Army was publicly awarded a first-class merit on January 29 in a ceremony that fused revolutionary memory with contemporary force development. The Central Theater Command Ground Force organized a hall ceremony for the unit known as “Liu Laozhuang Company,” whose ranks stood in sashes as the company commander accepted a heavy honour certificate amid applause and a formal pledge to uphold the unit’s heroic lineage.
The award ceremony emphasized continuity with a brutal episode from 1943, when 82 soldiers from the original unit were killed in a rearguard action covering the evacuation of party and civilian organs near Liu Laozhuang in Jiangsu. The postwar reconstitution of the company and the annual rites held at its honour room — including a ritual “report to the martyrs” — were presented as proof that the company’s identity and sacrifice have been institutionalised across eight decades.
Beyond commemoration, the announcement made clear that Liu Laozhuang Company is being positioned at the leading edge of technological change inside the PLA. The unit has been selected to trial the brigade’s unmanned equipment, integrating multiple unmanned platforms into regular training and experimenting with “manned+unmanned” formations. Officers described recent preparations for an exercise in which the company rapidly mobilised, accepted mission orders, and moved to the training ground to develop tactics for new weapon systems.
The story combines two strands of current Chinese military practice: the cultivation of historical heroism as a source of political and organisational cohesion, and the active retooling of combat units to absorb robotics, autonomy and remote weaponry. In 2025 the Central Propaganda Department named the company an “Era Model,” a political recognition that complements the operational honours now displayed in its honour room.
For domestic audiences, the ceremony reinforces a narrative that modernisation and historical sacrifice are mutually reinforcing. For observers outside China, the linkage carries a different signal: a force that publicly foregrounds both elite morale and experimentation with unmanned capabilities is one that is attempting to translate political legitimacy into battlefield adaptability. The company’s evolving designation numbers — tracked over 82 years from “83” to “6693” — were presented as symbolic evidence of generational continuity behind a focused push to improve readiness.
The company’s publicised shift toward unmanned systems is consistent with wider PLA priorities to narrow the human-machine divide in training and operations. Yet institutionalising new equipment and doctrine is a complex task: success will hinge on logistics, command-and-control engineering, secure communications and realistic training regimes that stress integration under contested conditions. The award is therefore both an affirmation of internal morale and a barometer of where the PLA wants to concentrate resources and reputational capital during a period of doctrinal change.