The People's Liberation Army has decided to make public the designation of its ground force's group armies, Chinese media reported onJan 15.

The move replaces the former practice of sidestepping the designation by Chinese media when reporting news about a particular group army of the PLA ground force, according to China Central Television.

A group army is a major Chinese military formation, which is usually composed of an armored division, mechanized infantry division, artillery brigade, air defense brigade and aviation regiment.

The new rule, which aims to boost the PLA's transparency efforts, was first adopted by CCTV in one of its news programs on Jan 15. The State broadcaster mentioned the 39th Group Army when reporting its training for snipers.