On a brisk morning at Guangli Port in Shandong province, the arrival of a Type 056A missile corvette was greeted not by a military strike group, but by several hundred cheering civilians and local dignitaries. The vessel, the Dongying, was making its first official return to its namesake city since being commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in early 2021. This ‘homecoming’ serves as a potent symbol of China’s ‘dual support’ policy, which seeks to fuse the identity of military units with their geographic namesakes to foster a sense of shared national destiny.
Technologically, the Dongying represents the more agile end of China’s naval spectrum. As a Type 056A Jiangdao-class corvette, the vessel is a specialized anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform, boasting a displacement of 1,300 tons and a design optimized for stealth and high-level electronic integration. While the PLAN has been making headlines with its massive aircraft carriers and Type 055 destroyers, the 056A remains the indispensable workhorse for coastal defense and near-seas security, allowing larger assets to project power further abroad.
The timing of the visit, coinciding with the Navy Day celebrations on April 23, is a calculated move in public relations. By opening the hatches of a modern, high-tech warship to the public, the PLA is effectively rebranding itself from a traditionally insular force into a more transparent, modern institution. For the citizens of Dongying, the ability to walk the decks of a ship bearing their city’s name provides a tangible connection to the massive naval modernization program currently underway in the South and East China Seas.
Beyond the festive atmosphere and the demonstrations of naval skills, the event underscores the critical role of domestic narrative-building in China’s maritime strategy. These open-day activities are designed to inspire patriotic fervor and, more pragmatically, to bolster recruitment efforts for a navy that is growing faster than any other in the world. As the PLAN transitions from a green-water to a blue-water force, maintaining a strong, supportive domestic base remains as vital as the hardware itself.