Not much to say (besides AWESOME), but each picture will have some commentary. First: Tanks!
Planes!
Artillery!
Anti-Air!
Machine Guns!
APCs!
Rockets!
Missiles!
Boats!
Spacecraft!
The Chinse managed to display a great deal of American equipment captured during the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War, probably with some mockery behind it:
Some cool cutaway RPGs on display:
Some SMGs:
In addition to this osbcene and decadent display of weaponry, there were floors of "historical" exhibits about Chinese wars and other questionably-related stuff. The bias on the whole thing was so gross it was irritating to look at, at times--the Chinese government's official stance on most of this stuff is still rather bizarre. That said, the exhibit on the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is being remodeled (so we missed it), although the name is staying--maybe they're making it less insulting to Americans as they arrive for the Olympics?
The Hall of Ancient Wars included ludicrous numbers of peasant uprisings. There was a hall that talked about how great socialism was for China as soon as the People's Republic was established--with no sense of failure in the Great Leap Forward. The movie about Western occupation in the 1800's literally described the period as one of "suffering on a scale rarely seen in the history of the world." Seriously, guys? More on this on Foggofwar, I'll be making commentary about government viewpoints. But for you, more pictures: There were lots of impressive paintings about war, especially the Red Army:
And my favorite painting: This painting is Chairman Mao suggesting a change of strategy to full assault--when the Communists have half the numbers and weapons of the KMT. I just imagine Mao happily declaring "We have finally reached half their numbers. It's time to press the attack and wipe them out!" And his commanders laughing, unable to contain themselves, saying "You're a suicidal maniac!" But he did win.
A few closing shots for you: Commie flags:
More Commie flags:
Almost Forgot: the obligatory "I was here" shot, in front of the entrance to the Civil War exhibit:
There was a lot of other stuff in the historical exhibits which I failed to photograph, or am saving for the Foggofwar propaganda post. I failed to get anything at the souvenir shop, either, mostly because it was all pretty lame. But I spent something like 5 hours here, at a clip the whole time. It was a lot of fun.
2 comments:
Hi, my name's Jerry,
I'm sure you enjoyed yourself in China, I'm glad that there's more and more English (im not being racist) tourists and I'm also glad that you had fun. I am literally addicted to the Chinese civil war and the world wars! Finally I have found someone else who does! My grandfather had fought in the Chinese civil war, he told me stories of his trips on tanks and trucks, this "comment" is basically an invitation for a friendship. P.S. contact me at: xian-jerry-gerry@hotmail.com THX
Amazing blog! Really, it´s very interesting!
I had lot of fun watching your photos -especially the notes that commented each one, really funny for a military-freak as me! haha
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