Beijing resembled a city at war yesterday as armed soldiers and Swat police patrolled the capital before the Communist Party's biggest party for a decade to celebrate 60 years of rule.

By sunset the streets had emptied of people and around Tiananmen Square pairs of soldiers holding sub-machine guns with fixed bayonets stood to attention back-to-back.

Special Swat police in black uniforms patrolled with attack dogs and armoured cars were parked along the main Wangfujing — Beijing’s Oxford Street.

Armed police scoured the homes of residents living beside the Avenue of Eternal Peace that bisects Beijing from east to west, searching for explosives. Along the route of tomorrow's parade entire blocks of flats have been emptied and hotels closed.

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Residents of high-rises have been told not to step on to their balconies, open windows or receive guests for more than 24 hours. Many living on the path that the military parade will take have been ordered to stock up on food in case they are not allowed to leave their homes. This is how China celebrates.

To ensure that the party passes without a hitch, security has become paramount in China over the past few weeks. No angry Tibetan monk or disaffected Muslim Uighur can be allowed to disrupt the 14th military parade that will be the highlight of National Day.

China held such a parade on each of the 11 National Days from 1949 to 1959, then again in 1984 when Deng Xiaoping presided. The last was in 1999.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, was confident on the eve of the gala that there would be many more to come. He said: “In another 40 years, the 100th anniversary of our nation's founding will come. At that time, a prosperous, powerful, democratic, civilised, harmonious and advanced socialist nation will tower over the East."

Security this time is unprecedented. One man who last week tried to buy one of the razor-sharp knives designed for slicing Peking Duck was told that sales had been banned until after the holiday.

All knives have been removed from shelves of Carrefour and Wal-Mart. Kites have been banned for weeks — part of a crackdown to keep the skies clear of any threats to the parade. Pigeons have been restricted to the cages of their owners in the capital.

Beggars, the homeless and petitioners bringing their grievances to the gates of the Government have been cleared out of the city. The news in the state-run media is almost all good. Newspapers have been ordered not to exceed a limit keeping any bad news below 30 per cent of all content.

It is a made-for-television event. This will not be a celebration with crowds lining the streets waving national flags and screaming support for the cream of the People’s Liberation Army.

The Party has invited 30,000 carefully selected guests to Tiananmen Square to watch the parade live. Everyone else, as at previous parades, is encouraged to stay at home and watch television.

Ji Lin, a vice-mayor of Beijing, made clear that this year there would be no shift from the tradition of keeping the public away. “People who can go to watch the parade are invited guests with tickets. For other citizens, the parade will be screened live and the citizens can watch it via television.”

On television, they will see 5,000 of the best-trained troops in China goose-stepping past the Tiananmen podium — the Gate of Heavenly Peace — where Chairman Mao declared the People’s Republic in 1949 and where a newly painted portrait of the late Great Helmsman was hung at the weekend.

The army, the navy and the air force will be represented. On show will be the latest weapons in the arsenal of an army that is racing to keep pace with China’s economic achievements.

As part of that modernisation, China plans to cut back its army and boost the navy and air force. The reductions will be made over the next two to three years as part of a drive to hone the world's biggest military into a leaner high-tech force.

The PLA will increase navy and air force personnel over the same period.

Xu Guangyu, a former PLA officer now at the government-backed China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said that he had not heard of the 700,000 figure, but was sure cuts were coming. "After several years there will have to be more reductions so we can continue improving weapons and creating crack troops. The land forces will remain dominant, but the navy and air force will rise as a proportion of the PLA."

Today's parade will give an idea of just how far the PLA has come since its first such march-past in 1949 when soldiers on horseback were among the pride of an army still at war to conquer China for the Communist Party.

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