1. The QBZ-95 is a controversial rifle. It is criticized for having poor accuracy on long range, but it's not entirely due to any flaws in the design (although there are many). QBZ-95 uses aperture sight - the shooter aims by peeping from a small hole. It has three progressively smaller holes for aiming at 100m, 300, and 500m. Naturally, the smallest hole is used for the farthest distance. The PLA uses 100m range for training, but in order to make their unit's markmanship look shiny, unit commenders worked out a wonderful adjustment:
They reverse the sight.
**********
2. Darlie was a popular toothpaste brand in Taiwan. But according to a veteran's blog, Taiwan's army in 1970s-80s used it for something else - cleaning rifle's bore. Apparently it was so effective, that blogger has neither used nor heard of any dedicated bore cleaner in the army.
**********
3. In 1970s, China decided to replace its obolete fleet of MiG-19 for a new supersonic fighter, which was rumored to be very good. The West was astonished by this sudden great leap forward of Chinese aviation technology. Finally, the new jet was unveiled:
It's a MiG-19 that was stripped bone-bare to be just light enough for supersonic flight. Let's not talk about performance. (It's called J-12, btw)
**********
4. Years ago, I read some Chinese articles on the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. They blame the "advance weaponry" of the Vietnamese for causing heavy casualty to the PLA. Some mentioned one such advance weaponry:
It's called Stg-44.
**********
5. During WW2, Japanese troops forced countless Chinese women into sex slavery. Those "Comfort women" were made to work in Army-operated brothels to serve Japanese soldiers. It is a crime, said the Nationalist Chinese (aka Taiwan), but apparently it is not so when they did it themselves. Until 1990s, Taiwan's army had operated "special teahouses", aka "831", for its soldiers. Girls as young as 14 were forced to compete with each other for the most customers. Winner get 50 a day; losers are whipped.
28 Apr 2014, 1:08 pm
