ReidaBlog

Ever since I arrived in Beijing I’ve been intrigued by an out-of-the-way subway stop that is titled “Military Museum” in both English and Chinese. The other day I had free time and the weather was nice so I decided to pay a visit.

Well it was pretty much what the sign says. A big museum with weapons. Cool.

As I walked through I realized we don’t have any place like this in the US that I’m aware of anyway. Maybe on an army base somewhere but definitely not in a big city. The closest we come is probably the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. But being able to buy guns at the supermarket probably more than makes up for it*.

Ok on to the pictures.

So just after you walk past Mao’s limousine in the entrance you enter the main hall. With tanks and rockets. Cool.

Off the main hall is an area stacked with artillery. It is at this point that I realize more than half the displays are “produced in America”.

On the other side of the main hall is another outdoor area filled with airplanes and boats. Really dusty airplanes and boats.

Including one really dusty P-51 mustang from the days of flying the “hump”**.

And just so you don’t forget this is a Chinese Museum (being as it is pretty much filled with American weapons) a U2 spy plane and according to the sign an “unmanned drone”. Both shot down of course. Although maybe it is ironic that these are also American. I wonder who made the weapons that shot them down?***

Upstairs is the “Hall of Weapons”. This is pretty much what you’d expect. A hall of weapons.

This is one of the more museumy sections as they have old and new, how they work, where they were used, etc. displays.

After about the 400th handgun you realize that they are all pretty similar.

The rest of the museum is about 3 floors of displays on conflict within China. From Stone Age stuff up to about 1949. Some are interesting some are just weird.

Like in the back of one room is a sculpture area. I get the generals, warriors, etc. But why is a bust of this guy in the museum?

Ideas?

However my favorite part came at the end when I saw this sign:

For those not clear: “ceasing war first” is communist for “surrender”.

*: Don’t get me wrong I’m not against this. I’ve had people in 3 different countries all with somewhat repressive governments ask me if it is true that you can walk into a Wal-mart and just buy a gun. So I’m thinking maybe this is a good thing.

**: This is subtle foreshadowing for my next post.

***:Can’t remember what I was going to write here.