CHINA:The Chinese are proud of their 2.3 million-strong military machine, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and China is celebrating its birthday with a stirring exhibition.
Day one of "Our Troops toward the Sun" was packed with visitors, including children whirring around in anti-aircraft machineguns, and dozens of people queuing up to fire a warship's gun.
Visitors to the China People's Revolution Military Museum could drive a tank, see Chairman Mao Zedong's punchbag or check out a model of a hydrogen bomb. They can even examine in detail the new uniforms of the People's Liberation Army, the world's biggest.
The exhibition focuses on the PLA's development since the end of the Civil War in 1949, which swept the Communists to power and marks the PLA's finest moment.
"The exhibition . . . showcases the development of the PLA and its contribution to national security and world peace," curator Guo Dehe said.
With 2.3 million soldiers, 800,000 reservists, and a People's Armed Police of 1.5 million, the PLA has no equal for manpower.
Since its foundation, the PLA has been transformed from a raggle-taggle group of guerrilla fighters into a powerful military machine, and the anniversary of the military is something that has been greeted with much pride and nationalistic fervour.
The military is held in very high regard in China as one of the crucial elements behind the formation of the modern state.
"We have no food and uniforms, but enemies will deliver them to us, we have no guns and cannons, but enemies will make them for us," runs the stirring Song of the Guerilla, which was first written in 1938 and is still a popular marching song today.
A surprise inclusion in the exhibition is Lin Biao, a defence minister who helped defeat Japanese invaders and routed Nationalist troops in China's civil war. He is honoured as one of the "Ten Marshals" who founded the PLA, even though he died a traitor in a mysterious plane crash for apparently plotting to assassinate Mao.
"With objective thinking, we decided to put the picture of Lin Biao together with the other nine marshals," said researcher Jiang Tingyu.
"We have to show history as it was."
In the area outside the huge exhibition space, visitors photographed each other with mobile phone cameras in front of 20 armoured vehicles and various artillery, including a tank, an anti-aircraft gun, missiles and attack bombers.
A number of diaramas illustrating military housing and uniforms were on display, most prominent of which was a beach invasion, which definitely has the renegade province of Taiwan in mind.
The focus of all of China's military development is on Taiwan, which mainland China has said it would attack if the self-ruled island ever tries to declare independence.
To coincide with the anniversary, local media have been running stories offering an insight into the life of soldiers in the famously secretive army. They are still not allowed to use mobile phones or iPods in many cases, and they still often grow their own food on the grounds of the barracks.
Soldiers have found that the introduction of limited internet access on the bases has allowed them to make their voices better heard.
The exhibition highlights how China's armed forces "make a valuable contribution to world peace". China has sent about 5,600 personnel on 15 UN peacekeeping missions since 1990, contributing the most troops among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
However, the Pentagon sees something more sinister in the streamlining and modernisation of the Chinese army.
A report earlier this year said the PLA was growing in sophistication and technological expertise, and that the growth of the Chinese military could contribute to tension in Asia, despite Beijing's oft-repeated mantra about its "peaceful rise".
The expansion of China's navy includes a growing submarine fleet and new ships suitable for the open seas, which has prompted US fears that its military could alter the balance of power in Asia.
A US defence department report said that while Beijing remained focused on the Taiwan Strait as a potential flashpoint, it also appeared to be looking to project its growing military strength elsewhere.
Beijing has co-operated with Washington on military issues, notably on North Korea, but there remains a lot of distrust between the two armies.
China insists that it needs to modernise its military to avoid falling further behind the US. At the National People's Congress in March, China said it would boost defence spending by 17.8 per cent, to €33 billion this year.
The Pentagon report cited US intelligence estimates that China's total military-related spending for 2007 could really be as high as €90 billion.
As Beijing is quick to point out, this compares with Washington's defence spend of about €360 billion, not including Iraq and Afghanistan.
There was keen interest in the PLA's new uniforms, which are called "07 Style".
The military has also been given new fatigues, which are designed with "digital camouflage", computer-generated camouflage patterns designed to simulate natural environments.
The previous camouflage patterns worn by the PLA training outfits were hand-painted, accentuating the sharp contrast between different colours.
The red band, which has featured on the big-brimmed green army hats for decades, has disappeared, a change that some have opposed saying the colour red was the main symbol of the Communist Party and should stay.
However, red didn't match the uniforms and had to go.
Unchanged will be the PLA cap emblem, which is round with a design of five stars and the characters for "8" and "1", symbolising August 1st, the anniversary of the 1927 Nanchang Uprising, surrounded by ears of grain and a cog wheel.