September 15, 2001 (July 28, 2001), China's first National Defense Education Day. September 15, 2001, is China's first National Defense Education Day. In August 2001, the Twenty-third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress Standing Committee decided to establish the National Defense Education Day, determining the third Saturday of September each year to be the National Defense Education Day. This is China's first lawfully defined National Defense Education theme festival. According to this decision, in April 2001, the Twenty-third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress Standing Committee passed the National Defense Education Law, which stipulates: "The state establishes the National Defense Education Day."