Military muscle
The Chinese Military recently celebrated it's 80th anniversary, one of the specials was to make the Museum free for the last few weeks. It was an impressive sight, with tanks, jets, and just about every weapon known to man on display.
Unlike other museums in China, which either have poorly maintained interiors, horrible English translations, or lackluster installments, this museum rivaled any that I have been too. Despite the hellish combination of free+weekend+war+China=more-than-normal-horribly-packed-public space, the museum was kept cool, the flow of traffic moving, and loads of employees (all dressed in the new style uniforms) there to help.
The English was almost perfect (which is saying something considering the difficulty translating such area-specific terminology). There were about 10 huge sculptures throughout the place, each signifying something horrible that happened to China. The centerpiece was a beautifully rendered installation of the 1998 Yangtze river flood. A huge photo the size of the wall gave a sense of scale, with multimedia making the river appear moving, the sounds of water splashing and troops talking, giving a real sense of being there during this tragic but unifying situation.
On a side note, I picked up my new electric scooter today. I was real close to getting a vespa-looking one that was actually cheaper, but being the good foreigner I am, I didn't want to contribute more to the pollution in this country. I'll post a pick later. I leave you with some of the museum and my new cat, gong bao mao (yes gong bao chicken de gong bao), who had to go to the vet for shots to get rid of his feline version of bird flu.
P.S. I got more on my flickr and if you have facebook friend me!
Unlike other museums in China, which either have poorly maintained interiors, horrible English translations, or lackluster installments, this museum rivaled any that I have been too. Despite the hellish combination of free+weekend+war+China=more-than-normal-horribly-packed-public space, the museum was kept cool, the flow of traffic moving, and loads of employees (all dressed in the new style uniforms) there to help.
The English was almost perfect (which is saying something considering the difficulty translating such area-specific terminology). There were about 10 huge sculptures throughout the place, each signifying something horrible that happened to China. The centerpiece was a beautifully rendered installation of the 1998 Yangtze river flood. A huge photo the size of the wall gave a sense of scale, with multimedia making the river appear moving, the sounds of water splashing and troops talking, giving a real sense of being there during this tragic but unifying situation.
On a side note, I picked up my new electric scooter today. I was real close to getting a vespa-looking one that was actually cheaper, but being the good foreigner I am, I didn't want to contribute more to the pollution in this country. I'll post a pick later. I leave you with some of the museum and my new cat, gong bao mao (yes gong bao chicken de gong bao), who had to go to the vet for shots to get rid of his feline version of bird flu.
P.S. I got more on my flickr and if you have facebook friend me!