This article by Neil Kaplan about an unusual British passport was first published on his website Our Passports. It is reproduced here with his kind permission. Sometimes fate shines upon us collectors and allows us to put our hands on rare and extraordinary pieces. Once in a while we are lucky enough to find and place into our…
‘Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City’ by Peter Harmsen is now on sale. The sequel of his best-selling ‘Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze’, it tells the epic story of China’s desperate defense of its capital Nanjing against a highly mechanized and determined Japanese foe in the fall of 1937. It is the first time that the campaign is the subject…
Recently we carried a series of photos from Shanghai’s restored Sihang Warehouse, taken by Yi Lee. On this page find some more pictures, courtesy of Yi Lee, from this historic site, where about 400 Chinese soldiers put up a last brave fight before abandoning the city and moving west to the capital Nanjing.
The Second Sino-Japanese War will soon appear as a video game, Morning Sun. Depending on the realism, e.g. attention to real-life issues such as logistics, PC games can be great learning tools and bring a whole new appreciation of the challenges that historical actors were facing. Here is what the developer of the upcoming game, The…
In late October 1937, when the battle of Shanghai was pretty much decided, and the Chinese were preparing to withdraw west, Chiang Kai-shek and his commanders decided for a dramatic last stand at the Sihang Warehouse on Suzhou Creek (see below). The job of defending the building was handed to a battalion of soldiers from…
For decades, hobby modelers have been able to bring decisive battle of World War Two back to life, and with the emergence of the Internet, they are able to reach whole new audiences and exchange information globally in a way that was impossible before. The favorite subject areas remain the European theatre of war (both…
This article is part of a large online project — End of Empire — launched by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS). The idea is simple: To describe day by day the 100 days immediately after Hiroshima. This article, written by Li Lin, is reproduced with the kind permission of NIAS. Check out End…
US Major General Claire Lee Chennault, the founder of the famed Flying Tigers, played a major role in the planning and execution of the firebombing of the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 1944. This was in his capacity of commander of the Fourteenth Air Force, based in southwest China. Faced with a sweeping Japanese offensive down the provinces of eastern and central China,…
George Kulstad, born in Shanghai in 1935, had a tumultuous childhood. His father, a Norwegian sea captain, was held captive by the Japanese, and George and his mother had to make do as best they could during the bleak war years. Unlike many foreigners, the two escaped internment after the Japanese takeover of the international parts of Shanghai in December 1941, but even so, the ensuing…
George Kulstad, born in Shanghai in 1935, had a tumultuous childhood. His father, a Norwegian sea captain, was held captive by the Japanese, and George and his mother had to make do as best they could during the hard and bleak war years. Unlike many foreigners, the two escaped internment after the Japanese takeover of the international parts of Shanghai in December 1941, but even so, the…
