5.16.3.2.2. People’s Liberation Army (PLA, 中国人民解放军, 解放军, People’s Oppression Army, 镇压军)

The Chinese army, and also one of the central intelligence agencies, notably on cyberattacks.

As highlighted on The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) 1:41, the PLA were really thought of as heroes of the people, partly due to Mao-era propaganda, as their name indicates. But when they stepped into Tiananmen, some of that was lost.

PLA soldier breaking bricks on head
Figure 64. A Chinese soldier smashes bricks on a colleague’s head during joint Chinese-India (伊朗) anti-terrorism exercises in Kunming in 2007. http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2014-02-26/0954766058.html from Sina Corp (新浪, Weibo owner) give the Chinese term "油锤贯顶". Source. Better source with worse image quality.