Zhuhai musings

Hey Canrun that is worrisome, given the events that occurred in my neighbourhood recently. I wont go into details but the sh+t could have really hit the fan. For a split-second i heard the words "he was the first against the wall when the revolution came".

Good 'ol Spencer. Thanks for the reply, man. I guess most of the other 'Netizens that haunt this here blog continue have their heads in the sand about the reality of life in the Middle Kingdom. Anyhow...没办法. Let's get rich!

Let me pull my head out of the sand for a second to just say don't make too much of it. They probably have no where else to practice. They might not even be actual soldiers, as every middle school, high school and college student has to go through a short training period each year.

"They might not even be actual soldiers, as every middle school, high school and college student has to go through a short training period each year."

Mate, these are not...let me repeat NOT...college students. They are literally practicing decapitation and neck-breaking maneuvers. I'm not saying that most of the Westerners living here are unaware of the realities of life in China, but quite a few I've known over the years seem to willingly turn a blind eye in the name of profits. Heck, that could often be said of life "back home," but I never, ever woke up on a crisp, fall Georgia morning to the sound of screaming men with machine guns. (Except for my redneck Uncle Ricky getting ready to go deer hunting, but that's a different story...) ;)

In the end, I think it's just...as with so many other things...to "jing hou"-儆猴.

Good book:
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-China-Wars-Where-Fought/dp/0132281287

I really think you're making too much of this. Soldiers everywhere train to do the exact same thing. The only difference is that there training facilities probably haven't been sold to put up a new block of flats. Take comfort in the fact that stealth fighters trump bayonets.

"The only difference is that there training facilities probably haven't been sold to put up a new block of flats."

--Good point.

"Take comfort in the fact that stealth fighters trump bayonets."

--Touche, mate...touche.

wow, you took that rather well. I was expecting another salvo. Just because we're friends doesn't mean you have to throw the fight. engarde!

Inigo Montoya: I donna suppose you could speed things up?

Westley: If you're in such a hurry, you could lower a rope or a tree branch or find something useful to do.

Inigo Montoya: I could do that. I have some rope up here, but I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you.

Westley: That does put a damper on our relationship. ;)

Ha ha ha! LMAO!

The scariest thing I ever saw was a news report on CCTV of the police doing riot training. It involved shields and batons. The cops were using the shield as an offensive strike weapon with various edges as well as a roll over the ground device. When you watch 200+ men aggressively do this with effect, it's frightening.

Now, extrapolate that to public practice of person-to-person combat maneuvers, well, yeah I can see the scary side of that. But, not to put too fine a point on it, so what? My country learnt long ago to do the same thing behind high walls and away from the public limelight.

Welcome to the 'defense side' of town.

As for those who turn a blind eye, how does this differ to, a breakout of a glass shower in a bar; or 15 odd gang members taking broomstick handles to a defenseless individual in a disco; or eight on one and the centre of attention is some foreigner from Jamaica?

What do you propose? Get involved? Take a stand? Back up the Underdog?

Civil defense and public security are handled differently all over the world. Same as mob and gang action. Groups of men doing what they are told, without question, and with maximum effect in the shortest possible time. It's frightening, it scary, its horrifying. But that just it, that's the nature of violent confrontation, and the practice required to deliver, or manage, it.

Blind eys tend to have more settled stomachs. My stomach is often in knots.

regards,

T. Tempest. DCA
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"I'd love a thousand words in a foreign language." Tang Yuchuan

"What do you propose?"

Honestly? Get out and leave the authoritarian dictatorship and all those that support it (financially, ideologically, naively, etc...)to its own devices. A spade, sometimes, is indeed a spade.

And I will always, without fail, back the underdog. That is why my conscience prevents me from staying much longer. Just a personal hill which I choose to fight upon- that's all.

Me? Keep an eye to my own safety and the safety of those I love. nothing more, nothing less.

regards,

T. Tempest. DCA
____________________
"I'd love a thousand words in a foreign language." Tang Yuchuan

I still have vivid memories of working at a Uni in Zhuhai and there was a target range next door (500metres). My favourite was the big guns on Sundays ...or was it the hours of rifle fire while I was having breakfast ? I often thought to duck, when hearing whistling sounds !

Before I returned to Zhuhai full-time, I worked as the Teaching Director at a school in Zhongshan for 10 months. Both the school and my apartment were located directly across the street from a very large sports complex which included a stadium, and several soccer fields, running tracks, tennis courts, etc., etc.

Every morning around 9am, rain or shine, cold or sweltering hot, a company or two of uniformed men would march down the street in formation, and then turn into the complex where they would practice close order drill, PT, and other activities, in some of which they were equipped with rifles, grenade launchers, and batons with shields. This training would usually go on until about 1pm, when they would march back up the road and out of sight.

One morning while I was watching this training activity from the front door of the school, I asked the school principal if these guys were PLA, local police trainees, or some sort of reserve unit. He told me that they were, in fact, active duty PLA, and that they were trainees at the PLA’s military police training facility which was located about 500 meters up the road.

The principal also told me that he knew many of the full-time staff at the center, including the commander. He then asked me if I would like to go across the road and meet some of them. I agreed, and across the road we went. There, during a break in the action, he introduced me to one of the officers, and one of the NCOs who were conducting the training. The officer was a young man who spoke surprisingly good English.

I told him that I was former US military, and that I really admired how well-drilled and disciplined his detachment appeared to be. At that point he gleamed like a kid who had just got all “As” on his report card and said “come with me”. We walked the few yards to where the trainees were relaxing in the shade of a small grove of trees, sweating like buffalos and gulping down water. The officer then barked a few words and the company literally jumped to their feet, formed up in ranks, and stood at rigid attention. He then asked me if I would like to lead his company in some close order drill!

I was stunned! But being that I had not done anything like this in a very, very long time, and also because the troops looked like they really needed some more rest (it was about 37 degrees that day), I thanked him profusely, but politely declined his offer. The officer looked a bit disappointed, but the troops looked quite relieved. The officer and I shook hands; I went back to the school, and the troops resumed their well-deserved break.

Later that afternoon while I was working in my office at the school, suddenly, in very rapid succession, there came a LOUD, and I mean window-rattling LOUD, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! This unexpected loud noise instantly elicited from me an instinctive reaction that I acquired 40 years ago during a 22 month, “all-expense-paid” tour of another Southeast Asian garden spot. In other words, I found myself under my desk with my hands cupped over my head. When I asked the principal what the loud noise was, all I got was a “I have no idea” shoulder-shrug.

A few days later, while I was having lunch in my apartment, again came the rapid, window-rattling BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!, and again, the same reaction from me. Chopsticks, Haizhu, and bean sprouts went flying as I dived under the coffee table looking for cover.

As it turned out, all of the noise of that day and the previous few days were the rehearsal for, and the actual celebration of the 80th anniversary of the PLA. The source of all the noise was 3 howitzers which the soldiers had dragged into the sports arena, which they used to fire a “salute” during the ceremony.

I guess that all of this goes to show that appearances can be very deceiving, and that you never really know what to expect here in China.

I'd probably expect it in a sports stadium (sort of--along with goose-stepping and public displays of soon to be executed 'criminals'). I don't expect it in a public park with CHILDREN FLYING KITES all around. By the way...they disappeared about two days after my post and have never returned.

The old Dragon Slayer in me rears its ugly head again...

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"This is not the conclusion of an incident, but a new beginning. Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood."
Lu Xun, 1926