About 1,200 delegates from Hong Kong and Macao, including students, officials and teachers, visited the base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Guards of Honor in Beijing on Saturday as part of a five-day "Salute the National Flag" activity aimed at deepening patriotic education.

During the visit, the group toured the troops' living quarters, walked through the military history corridor, watched a video about the unit's overall development, and took part in hands-on drill training.

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Pu Zhaoran, a student from Hong Kong's Sheung Shui Government Secondary School, said, "What I learned from this is that I need to work harder to catch up with them."

He is on his school's flag-raising team.

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"After I return to Hong Kong, I will continue to improve my drill skills and apply the fine traditions of the PLA Guards of Honor to my daily life. Pulling the flag to the top of the pole looked simple, but it required following the beats of the national anthem to raise the flag safely within 19 pulls, without speeding up or slowing down.

"I struggled with this move for almost two and a half months," Pu said, recalling his training at school. Daily training and help from teachers and instructors helped Pu overcome the difficulty.

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He added that the discipline of the soldiers had left a deep impression.

"As long as one has good discipline, no matter how poor one's foundation is, one can become an excellent pacesetter."

The visit, which ran from Sept 18 to 22, also included attending the national flag-raising ceremony at Tian'anmen Square and visiting the Great Hall of the People, the Palace Museum, and the National Museum of China.

The delegation was divided into six groups to visit primary and secondary schools and universities in Beijing, with dedicated study visits to cultural, science and technology venues, enterprises, and rural communities, among other sites.