A sound I would rather not hear..

On Saturday while we were entertaining Ben and Daniel at lunch, we heard this noise that sounded like the old air raid siren used to hear when we were children. Mark and I both had this puzzled look on our faces while the kids stopped eating and covered their ears.

Now, we knew we weren't going to war or so we believed, but for the life of us couldn't figure out why the Chinese were trying to make us deaf. Is it practice? Was someone invading? Where we suppose to go to the shelters? Are the Chinese practicing for future engagement? If this was a warning, the Chinese didn't seem to care so we figure we didn't need to worry either. Everyone would occasionally look out to see if they could determine why this was happening, but most pedestrians kept walking without a care.


I remember as a child we would periodically hear this and we were told to hide under our desks when we heard this sound. Now that I look back, it doesn't appear to be the best advice I have ever received.


It was loud enough that I could barely hear Ben asking questions sitting next to me.


We heard later it was to commemorate 70 years since the Japanese invasion of Xiamen. The Japanese actually occupied Xiamen from 1938 until the end of WWII in 1945.