i didn't know what to think when i came over a hill and saw a cross in the sky and behind it illuminating it was the rising sun. When i made my eli character i used the small burned book in the abandoned shack as his bible since it was near the memorial i didn't just wanna pick up the nearest book and call it my bible (i knew there wasn't gonna be a bible in the game anywhere ever) and eli wasnt looking for the book he was told where it was i took seeing the yangtze memorial as a sign and since there was no book at the memorial i searched out in a rotating circle quickly coming across the abandoned shack and the only book inside it the "small burned book".
once i had my "small burned book" (my bible) i could comftorably go around the wastland telling people "can't do that".
Personally i like my Fallout like i like my Harry Potter no mention of god(s) anywhere.

if this is like a tibetan or chinese symbol for something why is it in america ? and what does it mean ?

It's a memorial to the t-45d Powered Infantry Unit who died fighting on the Yangtze River against the Chinese following the Anchorage Invasion.

Hard to tell why it was placed -there- exactly... perhaps that location was some place of importance at one point in time... it's not ever really expressly written anywhere why the monument is like it is.

I didn't understand most of that, but a cross is a pretty common memorial.

it is just a standard cross that you are meant to see the light coming up through, probably what the designer had in mind at the time.

All it means to my character is that he is almost home, I live in the shack.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Yangtze_Memorial

True sir..

Truuuue...

One post and two "What's" removed.

Let's keep real life religion out of the forum discussions please.

I thought it was a fast travel spot for the Abandoned Shack for players who wanted to use it for a safehouse.

There was a bit of a controversy over a large cross functioning as a war memorial in the Mojave desert last year and earlier this year.

I suspect the inspiration came from there (and from the Anchorage Memorial in FO3), though clearly the design came from the one in San Diego. Essentially it is there to add a sense of history and cohesion to the world and setting.

Maybe the unit was originally stationed at Las Vegas, or near the city? The memorial seems out of place though.

That Mojave Memorial Cross I mentioned is actually located a ways southwest of Nipton in real life. It would be just off the game map for New Vegas.

I would guess that the area near Goodsprings was seen as just being a good empty spot to put it in the game.

I don't fast travel, but it's sure a great landmark for my char to use to find her way back home!

I found it beautiful. A stark white peak over the hills, guiding travellers with its function as a landmak, and the names of those defending what they believed in.

It was also a great lure to bring me out of Goodsprings early on, and into the clutches of an over armored, waiting radscorpion. Chased me around the damn thing a few times before I managed to drop it.

Haven't been to it yet, but it's very very tempting in the early stages of the game.

Sadly, by the time I get strong enough to laugh at a radscorps face goodsprings and it's surroundings are pretty much forgotten... I need to remember on my next playthrough.

It's for the CL to hang people on....