It proved to be both.

What Ma experienced was a "dangerous" but harmless game, which allows you to get a taste of natural disasters via a high-tech movie.

"My hands are sweating because I tightened my grip while I was watching the movie," Ma said excitedly.

Ma was among the first group of visitors to flock to Haidian Public Safety Museum in Beijing, the first of its kind in China, which opened yesterday.

The museum is open from 9 am to 4:30 pm from Wednesday to Sunday, and is located on the ground floor of Haidian Exhibition Centre in northwest Beijing.

Visitors expecting a conventional museum are in for a shock.

"They come for the close contact with various simulated accidents, risks and disasters, which illustrate a vivid on-scene threat to raise people's safety awareness," said Yan Xinmin, director of the museum.

The safety exhibition is divided into eight subdivisions to show people how to properly respond to emergencies like traffic accidents, fires, floods, workplace hazards, natural disasters and public health threats.

The body of a car, bent out of shape after being crushed, is displayed at the eye-catching entrance of the centre.

Beside the car reads the somber reminder that one in five of the world's road deaths happens in China.

China ranked No 1 in traffic deaths in each of the past 10 years. About 107,000 people died in traffic accidents in the country last year.

"It's a bloody fact, and it is really near to our daily lives," Yan said.

Visitors will be taught basic first aid and survival skills at the museum, Yan added.

Training in shouting from beneath rubble as well as survival skills needed during a tsunami, earthquake and dangers sparked by thunder and lightning, inflammable chemicals and torrential rain is available at the museum.

Scientific education is also included, as well as a tour through a model of a human body and a demonstration of ways to wash your hands to prevent contagious diseases. Knot tying is also taught, in case you ever need to mount a daring escape and all you have at hand is a length of rope.

"It's so wonderful and comprehensive. It fills the need for the general public to be equipped with the necessary self-rescue knowledge," said Chen Yan, head of a 15-member group visiting the museum.

As part of an emergency rescue team for an electric utility, Chen and his colleagues know all about electricity-related accidents.

"For those working in high-risk industries, a visit to the museum is especially urgent," Chen said.

Currently, the museum prefers to receive group visitors rather than individuals.

Sponsored by the Haidian district government, the construction of the museum cost 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million), and took three months to build.

(China Daily June 17, 2005)