Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Now that all the communists have been to marketing school, it's almost refreshing to be con-
fronted with the old-fashioned Soviet-style brutalism of the
Military Museum
, which is as
subtle as a cattle prod. The entrance hall is full of big, bad art, including photo-collages of
Mao inspecting his army and soldiers performing an amphibious landing (a hint at Taiwan's
fate?). The last Chinese public image of Marx hung here until 1999. The hall beyond has a
wealth of Russian and Chinese weaponry on show, including tanks and rockets, with - in case
martial feelings have been stirred - an air-rifle shooting gallery at the back. In the rear court-
yard a group of miscellaneous old aircraft includes the shells of two American spy planes
(with Nationalist Chinese markings) shot down in the 1950s.
The upper halls
From the lobby, turn west and climb the dim, unsigned staircase to the much more engaging
upper halls
. The exhibition on the third floor commemorates the
Korean War
; its chief in-
terest for foreign visitors lies in the fact that it's one of those places that isn't meant for them
- captions are only in Chinese and there is much crowing over what is presented as the de-
feat of American power. There are also more paintings of lantern-jawed soldiers charging
machine-gun posts and the like.
The fourth floor holds a large exhibition on
historical warfare
, this time with English cap-
tions. Arranged in chronological order, it presents Chinese history as a series of bloody con-
flicts between rival warlords - which is, actually, not far from the truth. The suits of ar-
mour worn by Qing soldiers and Japanese pirates are intimidating even when empty. Also on
display are mock-ups of ingenious Chinese siege weapons, Ming-dynasty gunpowder-driv-
en devices for firing eighty arrows at a time, and the world's earliest handgun, dating from
the fifteenth century. Opposite this hall lies another treat for connoisseurs of kitsch - the
“
Friendship Hall
”, containing gifts given to representatives of the Chinese military abroad.
Competition for the most tasteless item is fierce, but the gold sub-machine gun from Lebanon
and the silver model tractor from Romania certainly deserve a mention.
Millennium Monument and World Art Museum
Off Fuxing Lu, directly north of Beijing West railway station • Both Tues-Sun 9am-5pm • Free (bring ID); oc-
casional charges for special exhibitions • 010 59802222,
worldartmuseum.cn
• Military Museum subway
(lines 1 & 9)
A fenced-off avenue off Fuxing Lu leads up to the grandiose
ChinaMillenniumMonument
(
中华世纪坛
, zhōnghuá shìjì tán), a sterile public work and “Centre for Patriotic Education”.
This is also the home of the
WorldArtMuseum
(
世界艺术馆
, shìjiè yìshùguǎn), a space in-
tended to foster cultural understanding by displaying visiting exhibitions from abroad; there's
no permanent collection, and though many exhibitions are actually local (and nationalistic)
rather than global, most are very impressive.
