‘Power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ said Mao Zedong and there were plenty in evidence in Tiananmen Square as the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its seventy-year stranglehold over the people of China on 1 October. More than 160 aircraft, 15,000 troops and 580 weapons systems showcased the cutting-edge gun barrels which President Xi Jinping hopes will ensure that he is president for the rest of a very long life.