New Chinese Spy Museum: No Foreigners Allowed

China’s just opened a new spy museum, but it shouldn’t be on any foreign tourist’s agenda. Why? Because all foreigners are barred entry, lest the spying secrets on display – a mix of gimmicky, outdated gadgets and other age-old secret service paraphernalia – reveal something compromising.

It seems to be a rather unnecessary precaution in this day of mass cyber espionage networks and high-tech spy gadgets, but the spokeswoman for the Jiangsu National Security Education Museum could not have been more clear on the rationale behind the policy, as shared with the Associated Press: “We don’t want such sensitive spy information to be exposed to foreigners, so they are not allowed to enter.”

She added that the visitors they have turned away thus far “are pretty understanding since this is not your average museum.” Since the museum’s opening on April 13, approximately 500 citizens a day have walked the four halls that tell the story of Chinese security and intelligence methods since 1927, when the communists began their revolt. People who look Western are turned away without delay, but those who have recognizably Chinese features enter without having to show documented proof of nationality.

As per the Associated Press, the collection includes maps that pass for decks of cards; hollowed-out coins for carrying secret docs; guns that look like pens, lipsticks, and tobacco pipes; and a radio mic posing as a fake pocket calculator, as well as once confidential documents and other security service relics.

Seeing as the press has got wind of this much, it wouldn’t be too difficult to infiltrate the museum itself. From the sound of it, you won’t find anything that would be of any value to contemporary intelligence operations! But we have to admit that the exclusivity does add somewhat to the spy museum’s allure. In fact, we reckon it’s very possible the no-foreigners rule is a marketing ploy to entice the Chinese populace to “get in on the secrets” that only they have access to…