Commie Watch #56,488

On SBS tonight, another heartwarming tale of stubborn resistance in the face of overwhelming force deployed by the evil empire of democracy:

Storyline Australia Vietnam Symphony Time: 8.30 Channel: 28 Duration: 60 Minutes In 1965, when Hanoi was under threat of massive US bombing, students and teachers from the conservatorium fled Hanoi for the safety of the countryside. Villagers helped them build an entire campus underground ­ including a 500-seat auditorium and individual caverns for 40 pianos. The students and teachers lived, studied and played music there for five years. Real Life PG

All kinds of questions spring to mind.

How big was this village? To build an underground complex like that you'd need a lot of people with time on their hands. The local economy would have to be exceptionally prosperous to allow this. Were these villagers perhaps growing opium or something equally lucrative that would allow them to purchase diggers & such? As well as supporting the students & teachers, who presumably weren't diverted from music to planting rice & raising pigs.

Why go underground? Why not put pianos in village huts, much easier to build? Were they afraid the enemy would hear the tinkly sounds of, say, The Trout, & go holy crap, let's bomb those pianos before they go nuclear?

How did they ventilate a 500 seat underground auditorium? Aircon circa 1965, for which the Vietnamese countryside at the time was of course well known? Or a few villagers pedalling away on modified bicyles driving fans?

You get my drift.