China's J-20 stealth fighter makes first flypast at Zhuhai airshow

There were gasps and applause as two of the jets roared over hundreds of spectators at Airshow China, held in the southern city of Zhuhai.

Arriving at low level, one jet sped off to the horizon and left the other to perform a series of turns.

Image Caption: The two jets flew over at high speed but the display only latest about a minute

China has been honing the plane's design for most of this decade as it attempts to catch up with the aviation capabilities of America.

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First spied by planespotters in 2010, experts have said the J-20 is a big step forward for the Chinese military.

However the brief display, lasting only around a minute, did not involve low-speed passes and the pilots did not open the weapon-bay doors.

Image Caption: The F-22 Raptor is the US Air Force's equivalent

"I think we learned very little. We learned it is very loud. But we can't tell what type of engine it has, or very much about the mobility," said Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor of FlightGlobal.

"Most importantly, we didn't learn much about its radar cross-section."

It remains to be seen how the J-20 matches up against the US Air Force's radar-evading Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, its closest lookalike.

Image Caption: The two jets flew over at high speed but the display only latest about a minute

Image Caption: The F-22 Raptor is the US Air Force's equivalent