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A GIF of Chinese Soldiers Assembling a Massive Pontoon Bridge in Less Than 30 Minutes

It almost looks fun, until the tanks start rolling across it

By Rain Noe - October 19, 2020

in Object Culture

Are GIFs a good way to spread propaganda? Perhaps. For instance, if you worked for the Chinese government and wanted the world to recognize the industrial/military might of the People's Liberation Army, you'd certainly release this GIF into the wild:

That's footage of PLA soldiers erecting a pontoon bridge, an exercise they've been conducting since at least 2013, and for which their length-and-time record was a 1.15-kilometer bridge assembled into 26 minutes as of 2016, at least according to the China Daily. Here's video of the latter feat in action, where you can see a bit more detail on how everything comes together. You'll also notice the final act, which is to visibly obscure the entire bridge in what must be a choking cloud of smoke:

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Hyram Williams

4 years ago

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What is the water spray for ?

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- Rain Noe
  
  Hyram Williams
  
  4 years ago
  
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  I think it doubles as a wedding venue
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Haixu Chen

4 years ago

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It's probably interesting from a design standpoint. However knowing them really well, I wouldn't read too deep into it. Propaganda has always been one of the main weapons anyway.

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