ABSTRACT
Greater attention came to be paid to raising the technical level of the army by studying the developed military science of the USSR. Formalism set in and the officers' status and prestige were openly upheld under Russian guidance and influence and made much more apparent. Many distinctive features of the egalitarian model were discarded or modified and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) began to resemble the Soviet Army. Professional and technical competence of the PLA made much headway under the guidance of Soviet officers and advisers. A military Academy of Science was opened in 1958 to train senior commanders. W. W. Whitson points out: During the Korean War, the advent of ultra-professionalism in the PLA seriously undermined the credibility of the commissars, especially at the unit level. The experience of the Korean War made Communist China openly admit the "many shortcomings," in the army, in comparison to that of the USA, "in the matter of modern weapons".
