Shanghai Public Security Museum officially exhibited more than 211 kinds of guns from 17 countries for the first time. These guns were originally scattered in other exhibition halls and gun depots, and this exhibition was formed after a year's collection and arrangement by the museum.
All kinds of guns on display are of complete specifications and high preciousness, which is the highest in the world. Among them, there are representative guns of all ages, as well as various famous brands, models and guns disguised as ordinary goods. In particular, a Browning pistol used by Dr. Sun Yat-sen is regarded as the treasure of the town hall. In addition, the fruit knife, pistol and three-inch golden gun used by green gang leader Du Yuesheng and hooligan leader Huang Jinrong are also on display.
There are only two public security museums in China: Beijing and Shanghai. Among the public security and police museums in the world, Shanghai Public Security Museum can be regarded as a large-scale one with more collections.
Gun is a kind of traditional precision mechanical equipment. With the development of science and technology, many new technologies have been incorporated at different stages, especially some guns have exquisite workmanship and become works of art.. Therefore, for a long time, many people around the world have a strong interest in guns as handicrafts.
In order to meet the needs of the audience, the Shanghai Public Security Museum has been preparing for the world famous gun exhibition since last year. On the one hand, the museum staff rearranged and combined the guns scattered in various exhibition halls, and at the same time searched for famous guns of various colors with a long history in various gun depots in the city. By the eve of the exhibition, the Shanghai Public Security Museum had found 238 guns with exact information. Director Wang introduced that, in fact, these guns exhibited this time are only a very small part of the collection of many gun depots in Shanghai. Due to the high degree of specialization in Shanghai armory, the armory is at constant temperature and humidity, and all unused firearms are sealed with gun oil with high viscosity, so there has been no rust in the armory for many years. This provides a solid guarantee for the quality of the exhibits.
On the other hand, since 1951s, Shanghai has established a strict anti-theft and management system for gun depots. All guns are registered, and the source of guns, who owned them before and who uses them now can be found out through computers. So there has never been a theft.
some of the guns on display this time have a lot to say, no matter their own historical background, the special status of users and the superb gun manufacturing technology they represent.
The development of firearms bears witness to the history
Among the exhibits, there are ignition pistols made in Italy in 1641, ignition revolvers made in Scotland in 17, fire-hat lances made in England in 18, single-barrel flintlock pistols used by German cavalry in 18, front-loaded flintlock pistols made in Italy in 18, and double-barrel flintlock pistols made in the United States in 19.
In the eyes of modern people, these carefully crafted ancient guns undoubtedly have precious collection value and ornamental value. However, since the Opium War, it was with these guns that the imperialist powers opened the door to China.
Many people may not know that the ancestor of modern guns was actually in China.
among the exhibits, there is a very inconspicuous exhibit, which looks and is somewhat like our current pump. This is a musket made of giant bamboo, which was invented by military scientists in the Southern Song Dynasty in 1132 AD. In 1259 A.D., Shouchun Prefecture in the Southern Song Dynasty (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) made another kind of musket, which was also made of giant bamboo, and fired bullets filled with black powder, ceramic tiles, broken iron and stones. After discharge, flames were sprayed from the muzzle, and the bullets flew out and scattered to kill the opposing enemy. This is the earliest tubular shooting firearm in the world, which is hundreds of years earlier than the west.
it was not until the early 14th century that people in the west studied hot weapons. In the mid-14th century, the Firegate Gun was invented by the Italians. But it is just a simple iron pipe with no other parts. It uses solid spherical projectiles. Black powder and spherical projectiles are loaded into the barrel by the muzzle, and the gunpowder is ignited from the fire door to shoot.
Sun Yat-sen's self-defense pistol, the treasure of the town hall
Two pistols placed in the most eye-catching position in the showcase of the equipment hall were once used by the revolutionary pioneer Dr. Sun Yat-sen. One is a Spanish-made 7.63 mm Astrola mauser gun, commonly known as the speed machine. This is a very precious gift gun. The gun body is ornate, 24K gold plated, and the handle is inlaid with deep-sea shells.
And the 6.35mm Browning pistol made in Belgium next to it looks like an ugly duckling, with a dark body, and the small body is far less flamboyant than the Astra gun.
However, it is this Browning pistol with the gun body number of 464551, but it has been unanimously determined by experts in National Cultural Heritage Administration as a national first-class cultural relic and a treasure of the Shanghai Public Security Museum.
It turns out that after the failure of Guangzhou Uprising on October 26th, 1895, Dr. Sun Yat-sen escaped from danger and went to Hong Kong, passing through Honolulu, USA, and arrived in London, England. There, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was arrested by the Qing government embassy in Britain, and was rescued with the help of Mr. Sun's teacher Kang Deli when he was studying medicine. This is the famous disaster of Sun Yat-sen in London.
In order to prevent the accident of regeneration, Kangdeli gave Sun Yat-sen a Browning gun. This kind of small pistol was called Beibei at that time, and was mainly used as a self-defense gun by politicians.
On February 8th, 1956, the children of Xiao Xuan, a veteran of the former Kuomintang, handed over this pistol, which had been treasured by their father for many years, to Luwan Public Security Bureau. Xiao Xuan participated in the League and worked as the secretary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.. When Xiao Xuan's children turned in the gun, they also attached Xiao Xuan's handwritten instructions to prove that this Browning pistol was used by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Du Yuesheng's Fruit Knife and Gun Huang Jinrong's Three-inch Golden Gun
The pistols used by two old Shanghai men-Du Yuesheng, the head of green gang, and Huang Jinrong, the big gangster, were also displayed, but they were not displayed in the celebrity gun showcase.
Du Yuesheng's pistol is displayed in a special gun showcase. It is a small knife and gun. According to legend, Du Yuesheng was born as a fruit seller, and he cut pears well, so he never left his pear-cutting knife until he became famous at sea. But outsiders rarely know that his thick little fruit knife, similar to the Swiss army knife, is actually a very hidden small pistol!
This special 6.35mm caliber gun, made in Switzerland, can be loaded with one bullet and reloaded after firing. Within two meters, it is absolutely lethal. The insidious thing about this gun is that it can paralyze the opponent with the action of cutting fruit, and then strike people by surprise.
Huang Jinrong's gun is a Belgian-made foldable 6.35mm Li Ruofo revolver. Because its handle is made of 24K gold, it is only as big as an egg when folded, so it is also called a three-inch gold gun.
This is an extremely rare special gun. Six bullets can be filled in a small magazine. Even Mr. Qian Bochun, a gun expert, admitted that he had seen thousands of guns, but this exquisite gun was the only one for half a century.
This gun also has a small brown leather case, which looks like a dry tobacco pouch commonly used by northerners. At the beginning, Huang Jinrong took his disciples to various decent occasions, seemingly unarmed, but who actually knew that a deadly weapon was hanging on his belt?
The famous 381 Ma brand pistol in old Shanghai
Among the guns on display, one is an American 9mm pistol familiar to the old police or public security officers in Shanghai in the first half of the 21th century. At that time, the police used to call it 381 Ma brand pistol. This gun has a remarkable feature, that is, the gun body is engraved with a horse with its front hoof leaping; The United States is a country that adopts the British system, and the caliber of 9 mm is equivalent to 1.381 inch, hence the name 381 horse brand. And the official name of this gun is colt.
In the early 1931s, the police station of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce, a former British concession, specially ordered 3,111 9 mm colt pistols from American Colt Weapons Company, which were used as special guns for Chinese police in Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce. In order to facilitate internal management, in the production process of these pistols, the words "Shanghai Municipal Police" (referred to as S.M.P) were specially engraved. The sequence starts from NO.1, which is used as the local brand number except the gun number.
After the liberation of Shanghai, the police of the newly-established public security system continued to use these pistols. In order to facilitate the management of guns, the original S.M.P code was replaced by the word "Hu Gong", while the serial number remained unchanged.
Two guns with the largest and smallest barrel diameters in the world are also on display in this exhibition. According to Mr. Qian Baichun, the largest caliber pistol appeared in the Shanghai Concession in the 1921s. It is a revolver for Indian police patrol, with a barrel diameter of 11.55mm.. The smallest barrel diameter is only 4.25 mm, smaller than a mung bean.
In the exhibition
The March 8th Cover, the crooked stick and the tortoise box, the March 8th rifle, the eleven-year machine gun and the fourteen-year pistol, which were produced in the thirty-eighth year of Meiji in Japan (1915), the eleventh year of Taisho in Japan (1922) and the fourteenth year of Showa in Japan (1939), were also displayed.
these professional names may not be understood by ordinary people, but they will be understood by mentioning common names.
the March 8th rifle is the March 8th cover, which is the most used gun by Japanese invaders. Because the gun is equipped with a dust-proof cover above the bolt, it can retreat or advance with the bolt when opening the bolt, throwing the shell and pushing the bolt to close it, which plays a dust-proof role, so it is called the March 8 big cover.
the common name of the eleven-year machine gun is the crooked stick machine gun. Because it uses a funnel-shaped magazine installed on the left side of the gun body to supply ammunition, and because it is convenient for the gunman to aim at the chin, the butt of the machine gun is tilted to the right side of the gun body, so it is called a crooked handle.
The 14-year pistol is actually a tortoise box, which is a standard weapon distributed by the Japanese army. At that time, the Kwantung Army invaded China by Japan did not adapt to the cold climate in Northeast China. Therefore, the Japanese military production department made two improvements on the basis of the original fourteen-year model: one was to expand the trigger guard, so that the Kwantung Army could put his fingers into the trigger guard with cotton gloves; Second, a spring made of steel skin is added to the pistol seat to prevent the magazine from falling off. Because the shape of the 14-year pistol is very similar to that of the German 7.63mm Mao Se mauser pistol commonly used in China, and the latter is called a box gun because of its wooden box gun, so the 14-year pistol used by the Japanese devils, which looks like a box gun, is called a tortoise box by China soldiers and civilians.
Special guns
The exhibition also shows many special guns.
There is a special pistol made in Britain, which looks like a cigarette case. The caliber is 6.35mm, and it can load seven bullets at a time. When the gunman starts, he can take out his cigarette case and invite someone to smoke, but the other person may get the bullet before seeing the smoke.
the eight pen gun No.12 displayed in the exhibition are all world famous pens. Stick it in your coat pocket, and no one would have thought it was a murder weapon.
There is also a smaller poison gun, which looks like a short mechanical pencil, with a total length of only 6 cm. In the manufacturing process of this gun, the bullet is pressed in the barrel, and the warheads are all soaked in venom. Once hit by this poisonous bullet, you will die.
The exhibition also shows three bamboo stick guns, which are similar in appearance to ordinary bamboo sticks, but different in internal structure. When in use, just pull out the rubber or wood plug at the front end of the cane, and it can be fired immediately.
There is also a small pistol, which has the same shape as Beibei's pistol, but there is no muzzle at the front end, and the muzzle is located at the top of the gun body. If this gun shoots at people within 1 meters, don't worry, because the bullet won't shoot at people, but will shoot into the air. In the past, when interrogating prisoners, enemy secret service agencies often pulled out their guns by surprise and shot at the people under trial, which played a role of intimidation and shock. People whose bones are not hard enough may confess in extreme panic. The professional name of this gun is French MAB curved pistol.
Why are so many famous guns gathered in Shanghai?
Mr. Qian Baichun, an expert in firearms, used to be the deputy director of the logistics department of the former Shanghai Armed Police Corps, and he has been dealing with guns all his life. He said that the gathering of famous guns in Shanghai was mainly caused by historical reasons.
when the imperialist powers invaded China, there was a concession in Shanghai. In the concession at that time, guns could be bought, sold and carried at will, even when the Japanese invaders occupied Shanghai. Thus, in that special historical period, all kinds of guns from all over the world poured into the Shanghai beach, thus forming a unique gun culture in China.
There are roughly three sources of firearms on display. First, when Shanghai was liberated in 1949, the China People's Liberation Army took over all kinds of guns from the gun exhibition hall of the Kuomintang police station; Second, after entering the peacetime, the guns handed over by the cadres who went south; Third, some special Shanghai citizens handed over guns to relevant departments. In addition, some guns were collected from bandits and gangs.
according to nationality, firearms are exhibited in more than ten countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium and Russia. According to the types, there are all kinds of pistols, rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, as well as silent pistol, curved gun, small knife gun, pen gun, poison gun, walking stick gun, hook gun and gas gun used for special tasks. Such a rich exhibit is very rare.
The badges of various countries and the situation of public security departments in Shanghai in different periods are also on display.