PLA Small arms

mglcz

New Member
Registered Member
Why should "style" even matter? Seems pretty stupid and narrow minded to limit knowledge and options like that.

Evans Carlson successfully applied what he learned from the 8th Route Army to his Marine Raiders. Likewise, the PLA has benefited from recent reforms influenced by US doctrine.
He is referring to the video style, which I completely agree. This rambo-like, over the top editing is very obnoxious.
 

EdgeOfEcho

Junior Member
Registered Member
Ngl, the blatant US imitating in this videos is fucking obnoxious. It should be confident in finding its own style by now.
I believe this is an ad for exported weapons, if that is the case, I think it is pretty reasonable to imitate a Western style or feeling. Probably helps to advertise whatever stuff they are trying to sell since the arms market is still relatively dominated by Western arms companies.

Plus, what is a Chinese style anyways? Something like the following? It is pretty OG for sure but I doubt that is a good style for the export market hahaha
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
what do you expect from a weapons promo video? I watch Chinese car commercials on YouTube from time to time and wonder what the hell it’s supposed to be selling. I think those are to much style very shallow.
The point is to show.
1) Potential role. Mounted on a LUMV operating on patrol is one reasonable role for a military,
2) What it offers. performance.
The demo is pretty much right to the point. Man under fire needs backup enemy behind cover... Gun spools up no more cover.
 

Breadbox

Junior Member
Registered Member
Why should "style" even matter? Seems pretty stupid and narrow minded to limit knowledge and options like that.

Evans Carlson successfully applied what he learned from the 8th Route Army to his Marine Raiders. Likewise, the PLA has benefited from recent reforms influenced by US doctrine.
It's just painful to watch, especially how it starts with generic stock sounds and music. It has NOTHING to do with imitating what is useful, but everything to do with dressing up as some other country for perceived marketing benefits.

Most of the equipment they used(I'm not talking about the rotary gun here) is a direct imitation of the US army despite clearly having an alternative that PLA actually use, the first-gen Mengshi armoured car that they used is a direct external imitation of the Humvee, but the second and third-gen armoured cars have completely moved beyond looking like Humvees and PLA actually uses them. There is also plenty of recent PLA uniform is perfectly marketable yet distinct at the same time.

They don't have to(it would be easier if they don't), yet they still deliberately went out of their to cosplay the US army, as if it would make it more marketable. Make no mistake, there is still a prevalent notion within China itself that foreign looks(like the US military) are considered cool and marketable despite China having come a long way since then.

They are not selling to the US army or its allies so they are literally imitating the opponents' looks for the sake of it and it's pure cringe. Seriously, those who worship foreign looks/equipment for no good reasons need to straighten their backbones.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Hardly US Cosplay as that’s basically what the worlds militaries look right right now.
You complain about the gen 1 Mengshi.
do you think they have access to an up armored gen 2 or gen 3? This is a Corporate video yeah they likely are a state owned but do you think they could budget for such a vehicle for publicity alone? Armored vehicles are expensive to maintain and fuel let alone buy.
The uniforms yeah they wore Multicam clones but then again so are the Russians, Hell it’s easier these days to find an army not wearing Multicam. The new camo again do you think they can get access? The PLA is likely controlling those as they want to get them right to the clothing bags. The weapons used and armor are not American those are Chinese export models probably made by an affiliated maker.
It’s like complaining because You watched a Marvel Comics movie loaded with Disney and Fox easter eggs.
OMG They didn’t look PLA!! The Horror. This isn’t meant for the PLA it’s for sales primarily to Africa and the Middle East. the firm who made the video wasn’t trying to show off its access to the PLA it was trying to sho what they could sell Angola, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the Saudis, ecta. What you call cosplay I call Synergy. The rifles were their weapons. The Armor and uniforms probably their product. The Mangshi? A vehicle they would happily sell.
 

EdgeOfEcho

Junior Member
Registered Member
It's just painful to watch, especially how it starts with generic stock sounds and music. It has NOTHING to do with imitating what is useful, but everything to do with dressing up as some other country for perceived marketing benefits.

Most of the equipment they used(I'm not talking about the rotary gun here) is a direct imitation of the US army despite clearly having an alternative that PLA actually use, the first-gen Mengshi armoured car that they used is a direct external imitation of the Humvee, but the second and third-gen armoured cars have completely moved beyond looking like Humvees and PLA actually uses them. There is also plenty of recent PLA uniform is perfectly marketable yet distinct at the same time.

They don't have to(it would be easier if they don't), yet they still deliberately went out of their to cosplay the US army, as if it would make it more marketable. Make no mistake, there is still a prevalent notion within China itself that foreign looks(like the US military) are considered cool and marketable despite China having come a long way since then.

They are not selling to the US army or its allies so they are literally imitating the opponents' looks for the sake of it and it's pure cringe. Seriously, those who worship foreign looks/equipment for no good reasons need to straighten their backbones.

I don't understand why this short video has stirred up so much raw emotion.

First, the video is made by a relatively small team, I follow one of them on Weibo, dude is just a retired PLA solider who works as a tactical instructor now. He makes videos occasionally on Bilibili, but its all relatively low budget video and I feel like his video style is very similar to that of Lucas from T-rex arms (which is not a bad thing, Lucas makes pretty awesome stuff on Youtube). The location they used to showcase the guns is at the testing facility at one of the arms manufacture, so the video is not sponsored by the PLA, I feel like it is more of a self production by the arms company itself (think of it as a Norinco ad, not a PLA ad).

For a small budget production from non-professionals, I think it is not a bad look. In fact, most of the advertisement for small arms looks like this now, it is somewhat of a industry standard. There is nothing Western about this video, unless you are arguing that the video editing itself is Westernized, but film is a Western invention itself. Do you want to see they advertise a rotary 50 cal machine in traditional Chinese opera?

Second, there is nothing inherently bad about imitating other nation's behaviors or looks, especially in the military realm. Whatever works, works, and that is that. The suit and tie is without a doubt a Western invention, does that mean all Chinese need to wear the traditional Han Fu to be proud of their culture? Wheat as a food is brought to China during the Han dynasty when the Silk Road opened to the West, and does that mean eating wheat means you are Kowtowing to the West? Gunpowder is invented by the Chinese, but Westerner was not ashamed to use it to commit genocide and lay waste to the various peoples of the world. Picatinny rail is an American invention, but it works, so adopting it is a wise choice, not a submissive act to obey Western norm. If American style Fast helmets and plate carriers work, then why not adopt it? Do you want to see PLA soldiers dressed like this when they go to war? Is this traditional Chinese enough for you?
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Third, the PLA doctrine is for the PLA. Exported arms is exported arms. Just because you export arms that are compliant to the Western style, does not mean you are abandoning the PLA doctrine. This one short video on Weibo means nothing at all, it is just a ad, and that is that. It is not a statement by the PLA, nor does it mean anything significant. Stop overreacting to this.

You know, the Chinese was extremely proud of everything Chinese prior to the first Opium war. A direct result for this arrogance and unwillingness to acknowledge the power of industrialization is the Century of humiliation that has shaped the modern Chinese psyche (which includes this unconscious worship of the West that you hate so much). Many Chinese's mindless worship of the West is indeed a significant problem, but it takes time to rebuild confidence in the Chinese tradition and find the Chinese way.An extremely unwise way is to reject everything Western during this path towards rejuvenation.
 

by78

General
Firing QJY-88 down range...

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The Observer

Junior Member
Registered Member
Firing QJY-88 down range...

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On a side note, any idea on how PLA feel about QJY-88? Many western reviews on this MG keeps driving the point that it is not very well-liked because it is so darn heavy for an LMG; something closer to FN MAG than Minimi in terms of weight when it has a similar caliber to Minimi.

I'm unsure if that is true or just Western bias combined with a lack of concrete info on Chinese small arms. Can anyone help?
 

LawLeadsToPeace

Senior Member
Staff member
Moderator - World Affairs
Registered Member
On a side note, any idea on how PLA feel about QJY-88? Many western reviews on this MG keeps driving the point that it is not very well-liked because it is so darn heavy for an LMG; something closer to FN MAG than Minimi in terms of weight when it has a similar caliber to Minimi.

I'm unsure if that is true or just Western bias combined with a lack of concrete info on Chinese small arms. Can anyone help?
Thr QJY 88 is a gpmg. Im not sure why people would call it a lmg when it is literally called 88式通用机枪 which means 88 general use machine gun. Plus the qbb 95 is the standard lmg in a Chinese infantry squad. The 88 should be compared to the m240 or the fn mag rather than the minimi.
 

The Observer

Junior Member
Registered Member
Thr QJY 88 is a gpmg. Im not sure why people would call it a lmg when it is literally called 88式通用机枪 which means 88 general use machine gun. Plus the qbb 95 is the standard lmg in a Chinese infantry squad. The 88 should be compared to the m240 or the fn mag rather than the minimi.

I think it's mainly due to the caliber rather than the function. IIRC QJY-88 is chambered in Chinese 5.8mm cartridge, which is pretty close to NATO 5.56. So I guess they just decide to compare it to LMG/ belt-fed SAW.

At the same time, the weight quoted by those websites like
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does seem like QJY-88 is on the heavier side for a GPMG. PKM is lighter and have a larger cartridge, while FN MAG is slightly heavier but also has a larger cartridge. So I guess the criticism about its weight is pretty justified?
 
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