Flying Tigers, Hidden Treasures

One of my class’s topics for this week were the so-called Flying Tigers, the first American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force. The group, led by stubborn and charismatic Claire Lee Chennault, was recruited with the tacit support of President Roosevelt at a time when the USA had still not entered the Second World War. Its objective was to prevent a Japanese takeover of China. With much of China’s north already invaded, the east coast blockaded, and Indochina controlled by the Japanese, defending the heartlands was an uphill battle. American and Chinese pilots faced the vastly more numerous and better armed Japanese air force. When British Burma fell to the Japanese, the only tenable connection to the Allied world was an air route above the mountains of North Burma leading to India’s far east. And yet, the Flying Tigers and Chinese pilots trained at Chennault’s flight school were able to inflict massive casualties on the Japanese air force, staving off invasion.

At that time, provincial Kunming became the centre of a highly accomplished diaspora. Professors and students at some of China’s most prestigious universities sought refuge and continued their studies in the Chinese hinterlands, constantly under the threat of bombardment.

On Wednesday, my class made an excursion to the Kunming City Museum, which has a permanent exhibition on the Flying Tigers. My favourite object at the museum was a hidden treasure: a newspaper from 1944. On its front page, Roundup blasted “ALLIES SWEEPING THROUGH FRANCE” as well as the equally momentous title: “LIKES SPINACH” above a picture of a 40s celebrity. Some of our priorities have clearly not changed.

Our class at Kunming Museum
An ancient stele unearthed at Dali stands at the centre of the museum.
 The Flying Tigers exposition
 The emblem of the Flying Tigers designed by the Walt Disney Company
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