The rapid modernization of the country over the past few years is apparent, not so much in the figures of industrial production or in the fighter planes hanging from the ceiling, but rather in the sophistication of the media accompanying each display. The exhibit on dam projects, for example, includes not only the standard model dam but also an illuminated map of China inset with little television screens playing short educational programs about the construction of each project. The political game goes on. As with other events such as Deng Xiaoping's funeral procession, work units and schools make a showing to prove their devotion to the party. One student from a Chemical University in Jiangsu Province diligently takes notes on the corn output in Jilin, explaining that he will have to write a report about the exhibition when he goes back.
Visitors appear dazed by the deluge of achievement.
I'm still not quite sure what it all means, though. An inevitable side-effect of the overwhelming modernity of the exhibits, however, is an outbreak of nostalgia for the era preceding the frenzy of economic reform. The talk on the streets has changed. As rapidly as billboards pop up along the highways of the city, Beijing's modern, consumer-driven society is developing a wealth of vocabulary for its new cultural needs. Where there are Da Kuan, there are those who will, with unfortunate romanization, bang Da Kuan for money.