This was, today a remembrance of 9/18 Japanese attack. It would have been a calmer morning if GoKunming (or somebody) had mentioned it in advance.

everyone got sent texts yesterday, I didn't read mine though

I was just thinking that I had not heard the sirens this year, and the person that has to push the button must have picked up on my thoughts because they started immediately.

Which attack?

Nanjing

Oh, a remembrance siren.

I can go back upstairs now. I'm in the underground parking with a big sack of canned food.

Nothing to do with Nanjing, that was in December. Nothing to do with the Japanese invasion of China, that was July.

It was a test. Here is the text from the leaflet on a board in MOE (Their words and grammar - not mine)

In order to implement the law of the People's Republic in air defence and to promote quick response times in response to an air raid alarm, heightening awareness of national defence and prevention of consciousness in major national disasters, the municipal government has made the decision to have a sounding of air defence sirens in the whole city from 10:00am - 10:15am September 18th 2016. All social organisations and the broad citizens are advised to keep normal behaviour in work and life. The siren will be sounded in the following sequence:

Pre-Raid Alarm 10:00-10:03 (36 second siren and 24 second pause; 3 repetitions form one cycle; 3 minutes in all)

Air Raid Alarm: 10:06-10:09 (6 second siren with 6 second pause; 15 repetitions form a cycle; 3 minutes in all)

All Clear 10:12-10:15 (3 minutes of uninterrupted siren)

The notice was in Chinese and English, titled Circular of Kunming Municipal Government on Sounding of Air Defence for the Whole city.

Presumably similar notices will have been placed in other places of work. There were warnings.

Apparently all major cities in China must test their alarms this week, most are doing it today and tomorrow.

Heh

September 18 (9/18) is the annual remembrance of the Japanese invasion of China, beginning with the "mukden" incident. Not sure on the history as some say the Chinese detonated an explosive device to derail a Japanese train, others say the Japanese did a false flag attack to blame the Chinese, to justify their invasion.

The train, incidentally, was NOT derailed.

EVERY year in China, in most every city, the sirens sound from 1000-1015.

Mukden Incident was in the early 30s, used as an excuse by the Japanese army to take over Dongbei (Manchuria); the full-on invasion of the rest of China did not occur until some years later ('Marco Polo Bridge' Incident, outside Beijing, 1937).