Famous lingerie model becomes Chinese female soldier

Men was born in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, northeastern China, studied at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, majored in modeling, and won third prize in the 2008 Dalian China Lingerie Model Competition.

In 2014, she suddenly left the catwalk to join the army after learning that the Chinese military began accepting female applicants to local units.

"I dreamed of becoming a soldier since I was a child, then I studied art and put my dream aside," Men said. "After joining the army, I realized that life in the army was quite harsh, but these challenges were nothing compared to the tasks I was assigned to complete."

In 2015, Men attracted attention after joining female soldiers in the military parade at Tiananmen Square to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The 1.77 meter tall girl stood out among thousands of soldiers at the ceremony and has since been dubbed "China's most beautiful soldier".

This week, Men was again the focus of attention on social media after China announced it would hold its largest military parade ever on October 1 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding. A 12-second clip of her performing in front of other soldiers attracted more than 3.5 million views and 66,000 comments on the video site Douyin.

The video, also shared by the People's Daily, shows a female soldier introducing Men to everyone, then she shows off her catwalk skills in front of her teammates. The male soldiers are extremely excited and continuously applaud Men. Netizens also expressed their impression of Men's beauty and praised "all Chinese female soldiers are beautiful".

Men said the work of a guard of honor and modelling had similarities. "Both jobs involve expressing yourself in front of people," she said, noting that being a soldier taught her about the power of the collective. "My life has changed a lot since then, but I have no regrets."