Border patrol between China and Russia staffed by… scarecrows?

22:10 cherishe 0 Comments

chinese border scarecrow 03

We all know that scarecrows can be terrifying. but are they really scary enough to keep humans at bay? Well apparently in Russia, scarecrows scare you!

On the border between China and Russia, stuffed scarecrows man the border patrol guard towers. Is this a case of budget failure, laziness, or just a joke gone hay-wire? Read on to find out!

To begin to find out the answer we first have to talk about the Amur Bridge Project. It’s a bridge-construction project funded and carried out by both China and Russia, and has been going on since 2007.

The plan was to have a bridge connecting China’s northeastern Tongjiang City in Heilongjiang Province with the village of Nizhneleninskoye in Russia, but due to delays its completion date has been pushed back until 2016 or later.

Most of the delays have come from the Russian side. As of last year most of the bridge’s construction on the Chinese side was complete, but hardly anything has been done in Russia, leaving the completion date even further in doubt.

Just to make matters worse, it doesn’t seem like Russia is taking the border between itself and China seriously at all at this point. On August 24, the Chinese newspaper Global Times reported that there were sightings of a “scarecrow” on the Russian side of border security by the bridge construction site.

Take a look at the pictures for yourself:

▼ Wow, look at that dutiful guard up day and night protecting his country.

chinese border scarecrow 01

▼ He hasn’t moved in an awfully long time. And he looks super pale; I wonder if he’s okay.

chinese border scarecrow 02

▼ Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!

chinese border scarecrow 03

Is having a scarecrow guard proof of bridge budget money being siphoned to the wrong people? Or is it just a way for the guards to sneak off for a bit of fun and hopefully not get caught?

The answer is still unclear, but when the news about the scarecrow got out to Chinese netizens, they had a lot to say about it:

“It’s probably because China poses no threat to them at all.”
“I guess in a way it’s a beautiful symbol of the peaceful times we live in.”
“They are way too trusting of China. What if something actually happened?”
“Nah, even a scarecrow guard would still stop our army in its tracks.”
“Are they making fun of us?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions guys. Maybe it’s some sort of ‘high tech’ scarecrow?”

So what do you think? Are scarecrows the border patrol security of the future? Or the money-laundering border patrol security of the now?

Source: Phoenix New Media Limited via Toychan, Wikipedia
Images: Phoenix New Media Limited