Drive a tank and see Mao's punchbag at new exhibit

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Visitors to a new Chinese military exhibition will be able to experience driving a tank, peer at Mao Zedong's punchbag and see how China's armed forces contribute to "world peace", state media said on Friday.

The "Our Troops Toward The Sun" exhibit, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, will also feature models of China's first atomic and hydrogen bombs, the official China Daily and Xinhua news agency said.

"The exhibition...showcases the development of the PLA and its contribution to national security and world peace," Xinhua quoted Guo Dehe, curator of the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, as saying.

"Other attractions on display include a punchbag pummeled by late chairman Mao Zedong when he watched a military competition (and) a calculator used in research for the first atomic bomb," Xinhua added.

Visitors will be able to go in simulators to see how to drive a tank or fire a warship's guns, the China Daily said.

China, which said in March it would boost defense spending by 17.8 percent to about $45 billion in 2007, is highly sensitive to criticism of its military build-up, especially from the United States.

Beijing maintains it threatens nobody and spends far less than Washington does on defense.

But the Pentagon has cited U.S. intelligence estimates that China's total real military-related spending for 2007 could be between $85 billion and $125 billion.

Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that China claims as its own, says Beijing is aiming more and more missiles at it in and effort to force Taipei to accept reunification.