Shanghai’s Invisible Stain I

This is the first instalment in a two-part series about Shanghai’s dark legacy–  buildings that housed brothels used by the Japanese Army during World War Two. This article, written by … Continue Reading →

Stranded in Shanghai II

Thousands of foreigners were stranded in Shanghai during World War Two, among them a group of Swedish sailors unable to go home. This is the last of two instalments of … Continue Reading →

Stranded in Shanghai I

The Second World War uprooted lives across the globe, including in nations that were not directly involved in the conflict. One example was the sailor Sten Nilsson, who was born … Continue Reading →

Giving Up the Pen For the Sword II

Now in his 90s, Chinese veteran Yang Cenfeng experienced all eight years of the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945. Below is the second and last instalment of his remarkable … Continue Reading →

Giving Up the Pen For the Sword I

Yang Cenfeng was just a teenager when full-scale war broke out between China and Japan in 1937 and his life changed forever. Today he is one of the only remaining … Continue Reading →

Military Attache: Witness to Carnage

American Colonel William Mayer lived and worked in China from the 1920s to the mid-1940s, making him the archetypal old China hand. Luckily, one of the results of his quarter-century-long stay in … Continue Reading →

Photos from the Front

  This article by Marine Cabos was first carried on the great Photography of China website. It is reproduced here with their kind permission. Sha Fei (1912-1950) – literaly “sand flying” … Continue Reading →

Soaring Dragon

For Roy Grinnell, one of the world’s leading aviation artists, the air war over China in the 1930s and 1940s has been a favorite subject for years. We’re proud to … Continue Reading →

China’s National Anthem: A Product of War

Among the national anthems of this world, China’s is one of the most stirring, and it’s heard increasingly when the country’s athtletes win at international events or its leaders go … Continue Reading →

A Helmet for the Chinese (II)

(The German ‘Fritz’ helmet was a characteristic part of the Chinese uniform in World War Two, especially in the early years of the conflict with Japan. This is the second … Continue Reading →