Deadly Clash at Marco Polo Bridge

Seventy-seven years ago, on July 7, 1937, Chinese and Japanese soldiers clashed at Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing. Although no one could know it at the time, it was the … Continue Reading →

Chinese War Graves in India

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and western positions in East Asia in December 1941, China became a full-blown member of the Allied war effort against the axis. This … Continue Reading →

Shanghai Battle in Scale 1/35

History in perhaps its broadest sense means finding what can be known about the past and presenting the facts in the form of a coherent narrative. That narrative doesn’t have … Continue Reading →

Kowtowing to the Invaders

The photo above shows Chinese civilians kowtowing to Japanese infantry marching by. Whether they have been forced to do it, or if it is a voluntary attempt to avoid being … Continue Reading →

Battle of Shanghai: A German Cameraman’s View

The German newsreel below shows highlights of the 1937 battle of Shanghai. It’s interesting for a number of reasons. First, it features several of the weapons that were used most … Continue Reading →

‘Ningbo Special’

In the early afternoon of August 16, 1937, six Curtis Hawk III aircraft from the 25th Squadron of the Chinese Air Force took off from their base in East China, heading for Shanghai. China’s largest … Continue Reading →

Separated By War Since 1942

Yang Youfu was 24 years old when he was drafted from his village in southwest China’s Sichuan province to fight in the war against Japan, leaving his one-year old son … Continue Reading →

Japan’s Charmed Warship

The most visible Japanese presence in Shanghai during the three-month battle for the city in the fall of 1937 was the cruiser Izumo, anchored in the Huangpu River. It was … Continue Reading →

For Whom the Gongs Toll

Hemingway and China. It’s not two words that are placed alongside each other very often, and for good reason. The iconic American writer had very little interest in the Middle … Continue Reading →

War Poems

To express the essence of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in 104 poems—that is the mission which Honolulu businessman and writer Wing Tek Lum embarks upon in a recent collection of poetry. He succeeds marvellously. The … Continue Reading →