PLA Ground Force

People's Liberation Army Ground Force 中国人民解放军陆军
Ground Force Flag of the People's Republic of China
Active	1927 – present
Country	People's Republic of China
Allegiance	Communist Party of China
Branch	People's Liberation Army
Type	Army
Size	1.6 million active
Aircraft	Approx. 992+
Engagements	Chinese Civil War Korean War Sino-Indian War Sino-Soviet Border Conflict Sino-Vietnamese War Sino-Vietnamese conflicts 1979–90 Northern Mali conflict
Commanders
Commander	General Li Zuocheng
Political Commissar	Lt. General Liu Lei
Aircraft flown
Attack helicopter	CAIC Z-10, Changhe Z-11, Harbin Z-19,
Observation helicopter	Changhe Z-11, Harbin Z-19
Trainer helicopter	Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, Eurocopter EC120 Colibri
Utility helicopter	Aérospatiale Gazelle,
Transport	Shaanxi Y-8, Shaanxi Y-9, Xian Y-7

The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) (simplified Chinese: 中国人民解放军陆军; traditional Chinese: 中國人民解放軍陸軍; pinyin: Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn Lùjūn) is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army and it is the largest and oldest branch of the entire Chinese armed forces. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927, however it wasn't officially established until 1948. As of 2016, the PLAGF has a strength of 1,600,000 personnel making it the largest standing army in the world. In addition, the People's Liberation Army Ground Force has an estimated 510,000 strong reserve force.

The PLA ground forces consisted of conventionally armed main and regional units, which in 1987 made up over 70 percent of the PLA. It provided a good conventional defense, but had only limited offensive potential and was poorly equipped for nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare. Main forces included about 35 group armies, comprising 118 infantry divisions, 13 armored divisions, and 33 artillery and antiaircraft artillery divisions, plus 71 independent regiments and 21 independent battalions of mostly support troops. Regional forces consisted of 73 divisions of border defense and garrison troops plus 140 independent regiments.

Under the old system, a field army consisted of three partially motorized infantry divisions and two regiments of artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. Each field army division had over 12,000 personnel in three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one armored regiment, and one anti-aircraft artillery battalion. Organization was flexible, the higher echelons being free to tailor forces for combat around any number of infantry divisions. At least theoretically, each division had its own armor and artillery — actual equipment levels were not revealed and probably varied — and the assets at army level and within the independent units could be apportioned as needed.