The 60th anniversary celebration is almost here!

By James Fallows
From this Chinese site, with English translation, some appropriately amazing pictures of the preparations and practice runs for the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, on October 1. (Previous mention here.) A few samples:

Nightime practice drill last month.
PracticeMarch.jpg


Tank practice parade two days ago
Tanks.jpg


An unintentionally evocative picture of a lone man and a tank.
ModernTankMan.jpg


And a photo of a women's militia unit that is more in the spirit of the way I usually saw soldiers (and people in general) carrying themselves in China.
ChineseWomenSoldiers.jpg


This should be interesting. Very sorry I won't be there to see it in person. (Thanks to various readers in China.)

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/09/the-60th-anniversary-celebration-is-almost-here/26879/