Aircraft in Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution
The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution[1] is the national military museum of China, located in Haidian, Beijing. The collection mainly focuses on military equipments and cultural relics reflecting the military history of the People's Liberation Army, ancient and modern Chinese military history, and world military history.[2]
History
The museum's main hall before 2010s reconstruction, with a Dongfeng 1 (SS-2) missile in the center
The museum was one of the Ten Great Buildings erected in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, construction of the museum began in October 1958 and ended in August 1960, when it was inaugurated.[3] On March 12, 1959, approved by the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, it was officially named the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution (hereinafter referred to as the Military Museum). Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the name of the museum, and on August 1, 1960, officially opened to the public on the Armed Forces Day.[4]
The museum was comprehensively reconstructed in 2012-2017 and reopened with a larger central hall that hosts a display of aircraft and missiles. The reconstruction allowed for a considerable expansion of the exhibition surface, from 60,000[5] to 159,000 square meters.[6]
Collections
The museum's four floors include ten halls, the largest of which is the Hall of Weapons. The Hall's extensive holdings of antiquated weaponry showcase domestic and foreign weapons, including blades, small arms, artillery, tanks, armored personnel carriers, anti-air weaponry, jet fighters, rockets and rocket launchers, and cruise missiles. Foreign weapons include Soviet tanks purchased or donated during the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese weaponry captured during the Second Sino-Japanese War, American weaponry captured from the Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War and from UN forces during the Korean War. In addition, the Hall of Weapons displays equipment from China's space program, such as satellites and a two-seat orbital capsule.
With two exceptions, the other halls are largely historical exhibits, combining plaster sculptures, maps, paintings, artifacts, movies, and plaques (in Chinese, with select ones translated into English). The other nine halls include:
The Hall of Presents: Gifts to the Chinese military or state by foreign militaries or states
The Hall of Cheng Yunxian's Sculptural Arts: Plaster reproductions of sculptures of world leaders, historical figures, Chinese Communist Party leaders and scientists by Cheng Yunxian
Equipment, Planes, Tanks, Artillery and various small arms on display
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