Hi, I'm Lydia from the VICE office in Brooklyn, New York.
Despite being very illegal in China the appeal of guns drives many youth
to travel outside of the country just to shoot.
Our colleagues over at VICE China did the same
by traveling to the Philippines to take a shooting class
and study the growing gun culture of China.
This is Shooting Camp from VICE China's What We Buy series.
We're in Nasugbu, Philippines.
Today, we've followed a Chinese tourist group here
for a special tourist experience.
We've arrived at our destination,
it's a local military base in the Philippines.
We're heading to the shooting range.
We came here today for the shooting class.
To learn how to use a gun.
Don't put it like this after firing.
Empty the weapon and put it like this.
I think that many Chinese people such as myself
rarely encountered guns during our childhood.
We never received training on how to correctly use a gun
or how to react when facing a gun.
Try to press it.
Not you.
Before we begin I need to tell you the rules.
First, as he just said,
consider that every weapon is loaded.
The first of four principles of the shooting range is:
assume every weapon is loaded.
Second, don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot.
Third, don't point at anything you don't mean to shoot.
Fourth, identify the target carefully before shooting.
The four rules are standard in shooting ranges around the world.
Grab the gun, get ready, fire.
The three positions. What are the three positions?
The gun holster and then fire.
Wait. Stop.
Everybody, look carefully.
As we rehearsed,
we can't put our finger on the trigger until we're ready to shoot.
Take note while using it, don't put your finger in there.
Please pay attention to this.
We need to keep practicing this today.
Okay, once again.
I'm from Beijing, born and raised.
I went abroad and by chance met
another Chinese person who was active in the military.
Then I had an idea.
I decided to prepare for one year.
I studied another language and improved my stamina.
I took gun training courses in China
and then joined a corps in France.
Weak hand strength. Ladies, please pay attention.
You've loaded it, right?
Take this. Watch this.
Hold the gun and push it. Pull it with this hand.
When I first started handling guns, I was about 13 or 14 years old.
My father took me to a friend's home.
I remember there were several pneumatic guns at his home,
but I couldn't tell the names. I was very excited back then.
I thought it was a lot of fun.
I played with the unloaded guns for a while.
After I went to the corps to receive training,
I got bored with firing guns.
Because I needed to wipe the gun after using it every time.
And I needed to wipe it carefully.
I needed to treat the weapon seriously.
I got a strong sense of awe from it.
Now I'm retired from military service,
and I'm working on teaching shooting classes.
So I can make a living from it.
Just now, we held unloaded guns
and learned some fundamental procedures about pistols.
We learned how to prepare ourselves before shooting
and how to recover spent bullets.
I feel rather nervous.
I have never experienced this before and now I have to remember so many things.
It's going to be hard to remember.
After a lot of practice we're going to start using loaded guns.
And it's quite dangerous.
I'm particularly worried about my teammates.
I going to stay away from them.
Attention!
Load real bullets.
Pull the barrel.
Ready?
Fire!
It's a shooting experience designed for Chinese people.
It's about the experience.
And more importantly guns are lethal weapons not toys.
It's more about what you do when a gun is pointed at your head.
So for me, it's more like a responsibility.
I hope that everyone takes a well-rounded gun course.
When you're very excited, you may underestimate the risks
of using a gun.
Don't move. Don't move.
Let go.
In the first period of the class,
I'll teach them how to correctly operate a gun.
I'll show them how dangerous it would be
if they fire the gun inappropriately.
I'll show them some mistakes.
If you put your hand like this,
you can easily fire at your hand.
These intuitive practices will help them learn
and show them how serious this is.
Definitely. Look.
Adjust the hand to hold the gun well.
Don't take it the other way around.
I've always been a military fan,
so I'm crazy about war films and guns.
But after handling guns for a while, I actually feel that
the most important thing is safety.
Not only do you need to guarantee your own safety,
but also the safety of those around you.
When you have the gun in your hand,
it's a responsibility not a right.
Zheng, you actually trust me.
I don't even trust myself.
Wait.
The balloon's moving.
Dangerous situations are always occurring.
And I've witnessed some of them.
For example, I learned trigger control
which teaches you how to resist from shooting people around you.
And under such pressure,
we still needed to complete the required operations and tasks.
This impressed me a lot.
Go down, go all the way down.
Touch my hand. Quickly!
Lift the tire, come on!
Turn to the side.
Watch out. Don't fall down. Use the ice bucket.
Get up.
Grab the gun.
I've got the clips.
Follow me. Look for the clip.
Go. Go. Go.
Hurry up.
Find the clip.
Go! Hurry up!
Load the clip.
Hurry up!
The yellow one on the left.
Forward! Forward!
Shoot your fucking target
Blue.
Out.
Gun!
Great! You can focus through an intense drill.
It's really great.
Alright.
Give your teammates a high five.
Yeah!
It's true, when I used to watch war films,
I simply couldn't imagine
the kinds of situations soldiers faced on the battlefield.
Once an officer made us go through a drill.
Later I found out that not all the targets
on the opposite side were clear. Think about it.
My sweat poured down my face.
It went into my eyes and distorted my vision.
You hid from it.
My human instinct took over in order to survive.
It's a matter of life or death.
So it was actually very ruthless.
What was it like when it impacted the body?
It may be a small wound when it hits the body,
but the wound behind it could be large.
Comrade.
The environment varies from place to place.
I once wanted to film about border defense in China,
but it was a sensitive topic
and they said it's not allowed.
For them, it might be
a symbol of the supreme power.
A gun like
sunrays as sharp as knives.
Actually, it's related to our origin.
It's also an accomplishment of the human species.
This is beyond doubt.
So what's our expression like and what kind of mood are we in
when we have a gun?
This is rather interesting.
So we've been collecting these photos.
I liked using this type of gun when I played Counter Strike.
Everybody, come here.
Listen to my commands.
Okay, confront your enemy.
Take off the safety.
Are you okay?
It just sprung up.
Jixiao.
Handle this.
Go find Jixiao.
War is very terrible.
And gunshot wounds are very dangerous.
Those who have heard the sounds of a gun
or who have been shot by a gun know how powerful and dangerous it is.
For example, some Hollywood films conform to the American culture,
but don't conform to the Chinese culture.
American culture has an impact on the entire world's culture,
so they influence gun use around the world.
They have definitely influenced gun policies worldwide.
There was a small accident.
This wasn't an accident.
It was a bloody lesson.
There is...
a shell fragment here.
But in a war, it could have been a bullet
that could have killed somebody.
We have to be careful. Safety comes first.
I'm in favor of strict prohibition of gun use in our country.
Because in a large country like China misusing guns can be fatal.
China is very different from other countries after all.
China's customs and culture are very unique.
Move on.
Stop.
You guys are so bad.
As for the definition of guns,
there should be a strict one.
It's not that we can regard an object as a gun
as long as it can be used for firing.
Nowadays, there's a rather controversial topic related to the fact that
simulation gun are measured with the standards of a real gun.
We've contacted someone who collects simulation guns online.
He promised to bring us some of his guns and show them to us.
The standard for identifying a gun fabricated in China,
is a test where they take a pine wood board which is 3.25 mm thick
and shoot it from a distance of one meter.
If the bullet goes through the board,
the instrument is identified as a gun.
At first, the standard
in Hong Kong was 1.75 J.
Then the standard kept changing.
Nowadays, the standard seems to have reached 2 J in Hong Kong.
But the standard can be 4 J or 6 J in other countries.
This standard depends on the laws of each country.
As far as I'm concerned,
I hope that one day gun use is free in our country because l like guns.
If that happens, I'll certainly be the first person to buy many guns.
But currently, there are strict gun laws in China,
and this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It makes us feel safe.
In fact, learning how to use a gun doesn't mean using it to kill.
They teach you the sound a gun makes and how to identify its source.
And how to take evasive actions
immediately after you hear a gun go off.
If people learn what type of actions to take
when they're confronted by a gun
it might help save people's lives.