The Ministry of Propaganda will be working overtime this week as the nation gears up for the festivities surrounding the 75th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army on August 1.
Those living on the mainland will be treated to excessive media reports extolling the virtues of model soldiers who embody the revolutionary martyrdom of the mythical Lei Feng, and there will undoubtedly be discourse about how China's armed forces are a critical component of President Jiang Zemin's Three Representatives (san ge daibiao) political theory.
Ubiquitous television broadcasts will most certainly feature uniformed infantrymen and women singing operatic praise of Communism, and perhaps we will see an even greater crescendo of heart-stirring song than was evoked at the 2000 'Suite of Songs on the Ethics of Military Men' sung for Jiang Zemin, which was praised by Xinhua for 'climaxing time and again'.
Not to be missed will be inevitable dancing wartime re-enactments, featuring soldiers in camouflaged leotards and tights, stained and bandaged with wounds apparently inflicted by an overzealous bottle of tomato sauce.
Of course, the 75th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army will be far more than mere song and dance.
While the August 1 holiday might not yield substantive changes in military policy, we can expect key speeches by Defence Minister Chi Haotian and Central Military Commission vice-chair Zhang Wannian that will shed some light on the inner sanctum of this remarkably opaque military force.