Like wound-up toy soldiers, the troops sitting on open army trucks jerked their white-gloved hands back and forth in ritual greeting.
But there was no mistaking the real delight and surprise on the faces of the tough-looking young men as they entered Macau to find themselves almost engulfed in a wave of warmth and affection.
For once propaganda coincided with reality.
When the 500 People's Liberation Army troops began crossing the Gongbei Control Line at noon yesterday, 12 hours after the former Portuguese colony was handed back to China, they found a city prepared to welcome them as liberators.
Most Chinese people here believe the presence of the PLA will help free them from the thugs of the triads who have terrorised local people with their gang wars.
"It is good that they are here, we will be safer on our own streets," said a waiter with a child perched on his shoulders, as all around people cheered and waved miniature flags of China and Macau.
The triumphal entry of PLA troops into Macau contrasted with the rain-soaked arrival of Chinese soldiers into a suspicious Hong Kong.
They came at dark of night on July 1st, 1997, after the handover by the British at a stiff, formal ceremony, unlike the cordial parting of the ways between China and Portugal in Macau at midnight on Sunday.
It was also a defining moment for the PLA, which is still trying to put to rest its image throughout the world as the force which crushed student demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
On that occasion 100,000 Macau people took to the streets to protest, but yesterday it was a distant memory.
"This is very, very good, we are now part of the motherland," said an ethnic Chinese man whose family lived in Macau for many generations and who remembers stories of the cruelty of the Portuguese police in the old days.
He was waving a Chinese flag in a section of the crowd so dense only the radio aerials of the passing PLA jeeps could be seen over the heads of the people.
Not everyone of course was ecstatic. "They're cheering because they were paid," growled a part-Portuguese social worker. The Portuguese left with mixed emotions, but few regrets.
A Lisbon-born salesman said near the Bollo de Arroz pastry shop, "It is Chinese territory and both parties agree now is the best time to say goodbye. I hope everything goes well for them."
For many thousands of Macau people it was a normal working day, especially in the 10 casinos where it was business as usual. In the Cathedral a choir practised for Christmas celebrations. All across Macau, which has a 10 per cent Catholic population, giant nativity cribs have been built in parks to commemorate the birth of Christ.
Huge traffic jams built up as the column of 10 armoured personnel carriers, six open troop-carrying lorries and 45 supply trucks trundled through the narrow streets to an elevated open space beside the garrison's apartment block at Long Cheng Mansion.
Nine hundred Chinese troops will garrison Macau, armed with pistols, light submachine guns and armoured vehicles, but 700 will stay across the border in Zhuhai.
The town echoed to the sound of kettle drums as normally sleepy Macau celebrated the end of almost 450 years of colonial rule with street performances by local community groups and displays by stiltwalkers and unicyclists, climaxed last night with a fireworks display.
The official Chinese media yesterday highlighted President Jiang Zemin's call at the handover ceremony for Taiwan to complete the reunification of China, following the return of Hong Kong and Macau.
The China Daily described the return of Macau as "the second act of the trilogy of the country's reunification", and asked, "Now that a win-win solution is possible for problems between countries, why should our nation remain separated because of domestic strife?"
However, Taiwan rejected the mainland overtures. The Taiwan Vice-President, Mr Lien Chan, said yesterday the sovereign Republic of China on Taiwan was not a colony, like Macau and Hong Kong had been, and the "one country, two systems" formula used for their return to Chinese sovereignty was invalid.
"Wouldn't this make us all citizens of a colony?" Mr Lien said. "This is laughable. Making such statements in public - what kind of contribution does this make for bilateral relations?" he told an audience of military police reservists.
President Jiang told 2,500 invited guests at the handover "the Chinese government and its citizens have the confidence and ability to solve the Taiwan issue and realise China's complete reunification". Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must eventually return to the mainland, and was infuriated when Taiwan this year insisted negotiations should be on a state-to-state basis.
Taiwan has rejected the "one country, two systems" formula, under which Macau and the former British colony of Hong Kong have been granted a large degree of self-rule, saying reunification would only be possible if China embraced Western-style democracy.