Warrior Pose

Hong Kong, China, September 27, 2006:

An American politician tried to join a Chinese dynasty's army -- but he volunteered centuries too late. The 30-something-year-old man -- identified as Ron or by his Chinese name "Dat Cok" -- made a dusty brown suit of armor, a tunic and a helmet, and attempted to blend in with the ancient warriors of the terra cotta army in the western city of Xi'an, the Hong Kong newspapers Ming Pao Daily News and Wen Wei Poo reported on Tuesday.

The outfit matched the uniforms worn by the thousands of terra cotta soldiers buried in the tomb of the Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, who ruled between 221-210 B.C., the papers said. The soldiers -- one of China's greatest archaeological discoveries -- are displayed in a Xi'an museum.

Ron entered the museum Monday with his uniform packed in a suitcase, the papers said. Once inside, he quickly changed into the outfit, jumped over a barrier and joined the soldiers, who stand in hundreds of rows.

He blended in so well that security guards had difficulty finding him, Ming Pao said.

"I got in area where he supposed to be, look around a bit, and no see Dat Cok," the paper quoted a guard as saying. "He just look too much like terra cotta warrior. He even had mustache."

The papers showed photos of security guards dragging Ron out of the excavation pit where the soldiers are displayed.

Wen Wei Poo quoted Ron as saying he has been obsessed with the soldiers since his childhood. He reportedly said that he only planned to have a photo of himself taken standing near the museum's excavation pit.

"But when I saw the soldiers, I got too excited and just couldn't stop myself from jumping into the pit," he was quoted as saying. "Also, someone offered me fifty bucks to do it."

The person who put Ron up to the stunt remains unknown.

Since he didn't damage the soldiers, Ron was released after getting a lecture from the security officials, the papers said.

He later told international reporters that the whole thing was "a prank" and that he did it to "show those damned chinamen that Americans can do anything they want in this world. F*ck you, China!"

Posted by Bittle at September 27, 2006 07:52 AM