Chinese museums left red-faced after caption errors mar Communist Party-themed displays

Chinese museums have faced backlash over caption errors in displays celebrating the Communist Party, particularly concerning a museum in Zhejiang province that misidentified the Red Army as a "red car". Such mistakes are highly embarrassing given the significance authorities place on Communist Party history, especially as they promote "red tourism" or revolutionary-themed attractions.

The Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou's blunder was one of several similar blunders reported by visitors in recent weeks, leading to public criticism and warnings about potential misinformation. Multiple errors were found in an exhibition of woodcuts depicting the Long March, including mistranslations of "without rest" as "without body", "Red Army" as "red car", and misspelling of names of Chinese revolutionaries like Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng.

The errors stemmed from Chinese characters that are visually similar to the correct ones. The museum later apologized, promising to implement stricter proofreading to avoid future mistakes. Other museums have also made similar errors, such as Yiyang Museum in Hunan province mislabeling a dagger as "seven handles" and Szuzhou Museum in Jiangsu province misspelling the name of a famous calligrapher as "Zhu Suiliang".

International visitors, like British YouTuber Mike Okay, have helped promote these attractions, with Okay's video garnering nearly 900,000 views. Commentators on social media have condemned the museums, emphasizing the importance of accuracy and respect in presenting historical information.