Cliff, Maggie (Taiwanese), Micheal and I decided to make a pilgrimage to the Military Museum in Beijing. The building is appropriately large and ominous and we were very excited to see what the common people can see about the military.
The front is flanked by two huge statues, one is the common people (peasants, farmers and factory workers, all holding rifles and grenades), the other side is members of the army and air force, all looking into China's bright future (holding weapons, of course). I joined in.
Of course, Mao was the first people to welcome us. Seriously, I know that the military has alot to thank him for (allowing them to bloat into one of the largest money making entities in the country), but when are the people here going to recognize him for the egotistical, insecure, little man that he was. OK, I'm off my soap box.
The entrance hall was pretty impressive...filled with old missile, airplanes, tanks, anti-aircraft artillery.
Apparently, even the military comes here to get a look...in the background is an old SA-2...one of the first surface to air missiles Russia developed.
There was also an extensive collection of rifles, handguns, semi-automatic weapons, rocket/morter launchers from the US, Russia, Germany, France (dropped once, never fired) and China. I"m not sure how comfortable I feel about such a proud and blatent display of weapons, but I suppose China has a very strong military history, so it makes sense.
Some of the sculptures were pretty damn neat...this one celebrates the fight against the japanese.
This is a display on the rape of Nanjing, which no Chinese will ever forget. Even many of my classmates declare that they HATE Japanese, even though they admit that they have never met one. The feeling is pretty strong, even amongst the younger generation, so I don't think this will change anytime soon.
I didn't want to blow this up too big, but the pictures are really graphic.
Another great sculpture/relief with our friend Michael caught up in the passion of victory.
Michael and Maggie fighting for communist freedom.
This picture is a perfect commentary on China today: propaganda, uniformity and a f@#kload of people.
I suppose this is meant to evoke fear, but it makes me laugh. He's sooooo intense.
The PLA marching into the red sunset of victory.
All of us (plus ice cream bar) at the end of our sufficiently intimidating day.
The front is flanked by two huge statues, one is the common people (peasants, farmers and factory workers, all holding rifles and grenades), the other side is members of the army and air force, all looking into China's bright future (holding weapons, of course). I joined in.
Of course, Mao was the first people to welcome us. Seriously, I know that the military has alot to thank him for (allowing them to bloat into one of the largest money making entities in the country), but when are the people here going to recognize him for the egotistical, insecure, little man that he was. OK, I'm off my soap box.
The entrance hall was pretty impressive...filled with old missile, airplanes, tanks, anti-aircraft artillery.
Apparently, even the military comes here to get a look...in the background is an old SA-2...one of the first surface to air missiles Russia developed.
There was also an extensive collection of rifles, handguns, semi-automatic weapons, rocket/morter launchers from the US, Russia, Germany, France (dropped once, never fired) and China. I"m not sure how comfortable I feel about such a proud and blatent display of weapons, but I suppose China has a very strong military history, so it makes sense.
Some of the sculptures were pretty damn neat...this one celebrates the fight against the japanese.
This is a display on the rape of Nanjing, which no Chinese will ever forget. Even many of my classmates declare that they HATE Japanese, even though they admit that they have never met one. The feeling is pretty strong, even amongst the younger generation, so I don't think this will change anytime soon.
I didn't want to blow this up too big, but the pictures are really graphic.
Another great sculpture/relief with our friend Michael caught up in the passion of victory.
Michael and Maggie fighting for communist freedom.
This picture is a perfect commentary on China today: propaganda, uniformity and a f@#kload of people.
I suppose this is meant to evoke fear, but it makes me laugh. He's sooooo intense.
The PLA marching into the red sunset of victory.
All of us (plus ice cream bar) at the end of our sufficiently intimidating day.
