Celebrate 60 Years of Chinese Communism With Degenerate Capitalist Cameras

 
Has it been 60 years already? Seems like just the other day the workers of the world’s oldest and longest-surviving nation threw off the shackles of their monarchist oppressors and gave birth to that paradise of human rights and individual equality we like to call “Red China”. Sarcasm aside, it’s quite a feat for what remains a systemically communist superpower to live and, in some respects, flourish in these times of global trade. In celebration, German-based camera company Leica has released three limited-edition cameras emblazoned with Chinese characters hailing the rise of Mao’s communist state. The analog MP model with brilliant gold-and-red coloring is particularly natty and should appeal to China’s rising consumer class and Oxford students with a yen for collectivism. Naturally, some folks are pointing out the humanitarian issues that the limited series seems to gloss over (indeed, what worth is a commemorative camera in a country where freedom of the press only barely exists). Still, there’s no point-and-shoot that will get bigger smiles from the Ministry of State Security minders in Tienanmen Square than these babies.
 

“Leica to Release Limited Edition Camera for People’s Republic of China 60th Anniversary” [BoingBoing]