Whilst this isn't a Cold War experience per se, a mate and I went on a trip to mainland China from Hong Kong a few years ago. There were eight of us on the tour and by the time we'd got halfway through we had six "guides" - we started with three and the others joined as we went along (and were introduced as "trainees". Two were legit (one had come with us all the way from HK) but I'm pretty sure the other four were minders (although I never did work out whether they were to stop the locals bothering us or stop us talking to them - I suspect it was probably a bit of both).
I can only recall seeing one person in uniform (other than the border officials). He looked like some sort of policeman and was standing guard outside some sort of public building. He was wearing a green uniform that looked to be at least one size too big for him and he was armed with some sort of pistol in a large brown leather holster.
We did see plenty of propaganda posters, especially in and around Shenzen. Quite a lot of them were in English - I wish I could remember the slogans.
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Author of the unofficial and strictly non canon Alternative Survivor's Guide to the United Kingdom
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