When my parents visited earlier this month we made first time visits to two unique QD locations one of which was The QD Navy Museum (or what I dubbed the Cold War Graveyard).
The QD Navy Museum is an especially attractive site this year, as in October China will celebrate 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China and the country is spending the year showcasing it's mighty military strength, especially @ sea. They began this effort in April (see pics at this site.)
The overpriced museum (entry fees were about $10 per adult, or about 10x the price of getting into the much more pleasant Olympic Marina where sailors from all over the world convened last summer for the Olympic Sailing Regatta.) featured aging marine water vessels... slowly rusting away in the briney waters of the Yellow Sea. The highlight, although not for me... I panicked and bailed out early... is the submerged submarine (entry to which is an additional fee!) When I decided to bail out of the submarine, it required that I exit through the entry porthole, which proved amusing to some non-local tourists who also requested a photo shoot with the only blond left in that portion of the vessel. I complied, much to their amusement, and I must admit, mine!!
For me, by far the most interesting portion of the navy museum are the exhibits on land. Old military tanks, missiles and missile launchers, ancient planes and not-so-ancient ones parked forlornly in an overgrown field. It's less of a draw for the Chinese tourists... they prefer the floating metal vessels an/or the submerged one. Perhaps it was, that to us, as Americans it serves as a grim reminder of the fear that gripped our nation over the threat of the Cold War, and because of which, we became imbroiled in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. (For more detailed info, this link is a good start.)
No comments:
Post a Comment