160,000 views on two threads

The older 054A and the J-10 thread, now stickied, each has now over 160,000 views. Obviously when it comes to popularity, the 054A seems ahead of any weapons system, the J-10 coming in second. Why does the 054A has so many fans over any other PLAN ship and related topic? The J-10 remains a popular subject all these years, Zhuhai certainly gave it a boost. The Flanker don't seem to incite discussion as well. Interest on land and infantry based systems don't seem as much, such as on the ZTZ-99G tank or the Type 95 rifle.

Nothing in China's arsenal even comes close to 054A in terms of good looks; new, modern, slick and beautiful. And people are naturally attracted to what looks good...
J-10 is, and will continue to be, popular for obvious reasons. Out of curiosity, what came in 3rd after J-10?

Out of curiosity, what came in 3rd after J-10?

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I'd like to venture out and make a guess... one of the carrier-related threads possibly?

It could be that the 054 and 054A are the most produced large combatants in PLAN's inventory. Seeing a large ship being built and launched always revise people's interest.

crobato said:

The older 054A and the J-10 thread, now stickied, each has now over 160,000 views. Obviously when it comes to popularity, the 054A seems ahead of any weapons system, the J-10 coming in second. Why does the 054A has so many fans over any other PLAN ship and related topic? The J-10 remains a popular subject all these years, Zhuhai certainly gave it a boost. The Flanker don't seem to incite discussion as well. Interest on land and infantry based systems don't seem as much, such as on the ZTZ-99G tank or the Type 95 rifle.

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I think if you add up the various Varayg and PLAN carrier threads...all focused on basically the same platform, you would have a total view count that chalenges the 054As.

I'll go look and do the math.

Well, i tried to edit my prior post, but it kept asking me to log back in to get permission...and when I did, it would ask me the same thing again.

So here are the figures on the Varyag threads.

There are two pure Varyag threads:

"Latest Varyag Info & Photos" (current) at 91,090

and

"Latest Varyag Pics" (older thread) at 78,678

Those two alone have 168,769 views.

Then you have the two "All about the Chinese Carrier" threads. The first had 87,914 when it was closed and the current one has 45,392, for a total of 133,306.

If the 1st Varyag thread had been kept open it would have been another thread of well over 160,000 views. The other threads aren't that high yet, but they are about the same topic and arguably indicate that the interest regarding ther PLAN carrier is also very high, like the 054s.

I believe this is because they are so visible and represent the PLAN's modernization and "coming out" so directly. I bet the 071 threads are way up there too for the same reason.

It seems to me, and there are similar trends on the CDF, that the topics of interest is 1.) Naval, 2.) Aviation, 3.) Army in that order. Sorry you Army guys, but it seems ships take the interest cake tops, followed by aircraft. Falling last are strategic weapons, nukes, ICBMs, rockets, etc,.

The 054A is quite pretty, but I would say so are others, like the 071, 052B/C, and the 022. But even then the 054A surpasses them all, even though its not the best or the baddest in the PLAN. It seems this ship has a charisma on its own.

The carrier topic is interesting, but the lack of activity in the last one or two years dampened enthusiasm on it until recently.

On the land stuff, there is some good looking stuff too, like the ZTZ-99G and 96G, but apparently it does not seem to excite enough.

J-10 and JF-17 is one and two in the interest level in the aviation side. Flankers don't incite that much of an interest here as compared to other national defense forums despite China being the biggest operator of Flankers outside of Russia.

interesting numbers. i log on here daily and i now realized that i too am automatically attracted first to navy & then second to airforce threads! :nana: and yes the 054A got to be the best looking PLAN ship ever. i was hoping that the PLAN taskforce to somalia would be two 054A's and a replenishment ship like 887. well if china really decides to start construction of it's aircraft carrier i'll bet you the ''PLAN aircraft carrier" thread will light up like a christmas tree and mr.popeye will be overwhelmed by too much posts hahaha...:roll:

crobato said:

The older 054A and the J-10 thread, now stickied, each has now over 160,000 views. Obviously when it comes to popularity, the 054A seems ahead of any weapons system, the J-10 coming in second. Why does the 054A has so many fans over any other PLAN ship and related topic? The J-10 remains a popular subject all these years, Zhuhai certainly gave it a boost. The Flanker don't seem to incite discussion as well. Interest on land and infantry based systems don't seem as much, such as on the ZTZ-99G tank or the Type 95 rifle.

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I think it's also the fact that no land army in a pure ground war scenario would have the possibility of invading and taking over China, while the PLAAF and PLAN are lagging behind compared to Japan or even Korea military when they are 10 times smaller.

Also I haven't seen any interesting development around the army, the biggest thing was the ZTZ-99G, I mean they been making new MLRS and stuff like that but nothing new or "out of the box thinking" compared to something like a J-10B or 054A.

Army stuff is easier to keep from prying eyes. Hence, fewer juicy photos.