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 →

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 →

Door Gods

“This American pilot is kicking the Japanese out of the skies over China. Help him.” That’s the simple message of the poster to the left. The image, showing an American … Continue Reading →

Battle On The Great Wall, In Scale 1/6

In 1933, Chinese and Japanese soldiers clashed in the area around the Great Wall. It was among the most vicious confrontations prior to the outbreak of full-scale war between the … Continue Reading →

‘It’s All One War’

The poster above is of British origin, and with the Chinese soldier placed at the center it is clearly meant to signal that the United Kingdom considers the Chinese contribution to … Continue Reading →

Wolf Boy: Japan’s Psy-Ops Against China

Japan’s psychological warfare program in World War II was remarkably diverse, and targeted not just the western Allies, but also the Chinese, as the examples below demonstrate. They are from … Continue Reading →

Radio Free China

This article on how a sleepy California beach town was at the center of a war across the Pacific is excerpted from Boom, a Journal of California. For the full … Continue Reading →

An Unlikely Encounter

Shanghai, 1945: Roy Matsumoto, a 32-year-old linguist in the US Army, is on a mission to interrogate Japanese prisoners of the war that has just ended. Defying the laws of … Continue Reading →