Drills have been held across China to mark the 12th National Defense Education Day. In Shanghai, air defense warnings were sounded throughout the city, excluding the two airports, together with other safety drills.

In Tianjin, air-raid sirens started at 10 o’clock. Local authorities informed people about the drills through TV, radio broadcasts and mobile phone text messages. The drills have been divided into three phases. The first section included sirens sounding for three-minute periods in one-minute intervals. The second phase was for air alerts. The sirens sounded for 6 seconds, 15 times, with 6-second pauses in between. And the third phase was a single 3-minute siren, which announced that the alerts had been lifted.

Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province also conducted civil air defense drills on Saturday. More than 2,000 people participated in the drills.