42°15′35″N 112°45′22″E / 42.25972°N 112.75611°E
The Zhurihe Training Base ( Chinese: 朱日和训练基地), also called the Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, [1] is a People's Liberation Army (PLA) base in Inner Mongolia, China, [2] founded in 1957. [3] The largest military base in China, Zhurihe covers 1,066 square kilometres (412 sq mi), has its own hospital, and for over 60 years [4] has hosted multiple mock training areas for conducting urban war games. [5] General Secretary and Chairman Xi Jinping commemorated the 90th anniversary of the PLA with a military parade at Zhurihe. [6] The PLA has called Zhurihe their "most modernized training base" and say it is the largest in Asia. [7] Comparisons have been made between Zhurihe and Fort Irwin in California, United States. [5]
Zhurihe is home to the 81st Army Group. [3] The base is overseen by the PLA's Beijing Military Area Command. [1]
The base features a variety of mock facilities including highways, an airstrip, [4] a town center with buildings—one of which closely resembles the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, Taiwan—and a near-replica of the Eiffel Tower. [7] Many of these structures were built between 2013 and 2015.
In July 1997, the Central Military Commission designated Zhurihe to be modernized and turned into a training base for China. [1] The PLA opened the base to foreign armed forces for the first time on August 25, 2003.