China's huge navy is expanding at breakneck speed - will it rule the waves?

"The US Navy, while it still has significant advantages, is seeing the gap in its capabilities with China narrow and is struggling to find a way of answering that," Mr Childs says, "because its shipbuilding capacity has dwindled significantly over the past decades." The country's vast naval buildup is being propelled by a party that is still reeling from the pains of the past - and is more than willing to channel them to buttress its message of loyalty, power and patriotism. Guides on loud microphones lead their groups into the park, pointing to the official notices warning visitors not to photograph the military vessels moored in the crescent-shaped harbour and to report any behaviour that might be construed as spying "to help defend the Motherland".