Korean War Museum

2009 09 17 – Day 83 – Dandong

One of the few 'sights' of Dandong, this Korean War museum has an impressive title that simultaneously demonstrates both the descriptive nature of Chinese and the 'editorial line' of the curators. It's official name translates as:
'The Museum to Commemorate the War to Resist American Aggression and Aid Korea.'

A 53-meter cenotaph commemorates the 1953 cessation of conflict and the 115,000-400,000 (depending on who's counting) Chinese conscripts and volunteers who died executing Mao's "human wave" strategy, designed to overwhelm superior firepower and weaponry with sheer numbers.
For a small entrance fee you can climb the inside of the cenotaph for grand views of the arrayed hardware of war;

and, were it not for the smog, I'm sure there'd be spectacular views across the city and into North Korea, but sadly I couldn't see much further than the main museum buildings less than 100m away.

More hardware welcomes visitors,

followed by Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung, the first among equals from the Chinese and North Korean sides, celebrating their hard won 'victory' with their comrades.

Flanking the statue are two short, two-storey, introductory texts: a "Joint Declaration of Democratic Parties in China" announcing the US/allied intention to "not only destroy [North Korea], but also annex Korea, invade China, rule Asia, even conquer the whole world." (4th November 1950); and an "Order of the Formation of the Chinese People Volunteers" declaring the righteous nature of their cause assisting their Korean neighbours in resisting the imperial aggressors (8th October 1950).

Somewhat surprisingly, the museum entrance was free which was a welcome change from my Chinese tourism experience so far and especially generous considering the scale and scope of he exhibition.
The range of artefacts on display was impressive and well presented including:
Chinese weaponry;

and standard kit;

US kit;

dynamic summaries of offensives and troop movements;

a mini reconstruction of a North Korean/Chinese tunnel base;

propaganda espousing the pointlessness of war and the joys home, dropped to break US/allied moral, and poignant letters home from GIs;

An informative section on the nascent Chinese airforce and an impressively arranged, painted and lit 360 degree diorama of a battlefield;

it was actually quite difficult to identify the join between three-dimensional models and painted backdrop.

Exiting the grounds of the museum gave you a closer encounter with the field of hardware.

Despite its impressive array of artefacts, information boards and well laid out displays, the museum was somehow a frustrating blend of the positive and negative possibilities of museums. As far as a museums responsibility to deliver a sense of how things were at a time in history, it was a huge success, with ample artefacts and plentiful pictures well edited, arranged and curated. However, as far as a museum might be expected to deliver an objective reflection on past events, the politics dictating the editorial of the information boards was perhaps more evident in what was not said rather than what was. For the most part, the boards offered an exhaustive catalogue of events, delivered without much more imagination than a list of names, dates, times and quantities (or whichever appropriate combination). It took me until I was about half way round to realise that of all the many information boards I'd read, not one had mentioned a US/Allied victory and while there were plentiful reference to (dubiously large) numbers of enemy killed or captured at each battlefield, there was not even one mention of a single Chinese or North Korean casualty or strategic loss. Campaigns were always presented as victorious, with no explanation as to why there were multiple 'successful' campaigns, at different times, for the same territory, no mention of the (presumably) enforced retreat between the different 'successful' offensives.
Throughout, the US/S.Korean/Allied forces are labelled as imperialist aggressors and oppressors while the Chinese/North Koreans are labelled as valiant volunteers and courageous defenders of freedom.
The walk back to my hotel gave me plenty of time to reflect on what effect that kind of one-sided account would have on Chinese visitors to the museum.... no wonder it was free entry!