Monday, October 23, 2006

Coastal Defence of Hong Kong

Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence
I'm in Hong Kong today for business. Since I'm early, I visited the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. A museum looking at the defense of the coastline and the naval military presence in Hong Kong. It looks at the defence of the China coastline in the Qing and Ming dynasty, the coming og the foreign naval powers in claiming the islands (including Hong Kong), the Japanese invasion during WWII, and even the handover of Hong Kong to China. Overall, it's pretty cool to be in a place that use to be a fort with gun batteries.
Torpedo Station
Perhaps the most impressive exhibit I saw is this replica of a Torpedo Station. This was the Brennan Torpedo, and it is placed in a carvern-sort of place. In the place, you can hear the sound of the waves and you can just imagine what it will be like for the soldiers to be operating this powerful weapon when they are preparing to launch the torpedo. Apparently, the torpedo was never tested in battle.
Archer CU
The other interesting exhibit is the special exhibit on archery in China. Who knows that there is only very few folks who can properly make an authentic Chinese bow right now?

For more pictures, head to the set of picts on Flickr.

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