Flying Tigers and Doolittle Raiders forged a lasting Sino-US friendship
2025-06-23 to 2025-10-12
2025-06-23 to 2025-10-12
Jeffrey Greene, chair of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, shakes hands with Zhu Qinglin, a descendant of a villager who helped rescue the Doolittle Raiders.
In April 1942, under the cover of night, American bombers roared off the deck of the USS Hornet toward Tokyo. Weeks later, the surviving pilots, isolated, injured, and pursued, found help from Chinese villagers who risked their lives to save them.
Years earlier, American pilots known as the Flying Tigers flew over China, defending besieged cities and forming a kinship in war with people they scarcely knew.
This week, more than 100 people met at Shanghai Library East in Pudong to hear stories of bravery and alliance.
The event, headlined "History Illuminates the Present, Cooperation Lights the Future," marked the 80th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Descendants of pilots, scholars, and officials from both countries came together to explore the significance of these recollections for contemporary China-US relations.
Liao Mingfa, descendant of a villager who helped in the Doolittle Raid rescue, shows old photos to Clifford Ray Long Jr, a descendant of a Flying Tigers member.
The Flying Tigers
American Claire Lee Chennault visited China in 1937 as a military adviser. China's air force was poorly equipped when the country was under heavy attack by Japan.
"He heard the cries of a people in desperate need," his granddaughter, Nell Calloway, said in a video speech. "He didn't let language or politics stop him from doing what was right."
Chennault established the Flying Tigers, also known as the American Volunteer Group.
They flew Curtiss P-40 fighters and shot down enemy planes, and helped defend Chinese cities.
"Our soldiers fought as brothers and won a costly war against a powerful enemy. Today, we face a different kind of enemy – prejudice, misunderstanding and stereotypes," Calloway said.
One of the most dramatic missions occurred in 1945, when the Flying Tigers carried out a surprise bombing raid on the Japanese air base at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport.
Lu Weijun, son of Zhang Fengqi, a woman in the Flying Tigers unit, recalled what his mother had told him about the tension in Kunming's command center. She worked as an English typist for the Flying Tigers at Kunming's Wujiaba air base.
'"Begin the operation!" Chennault ordered, and the room erupted,'" Lu said. "Sixteen fighters flew from east Jiangxi Province and bombed the base. It was like thunder in the sky."
A visitor takes photos of the "Friendship Forged in Blood and Fire" exhibition at the Shanghai Library East.
Doolittle Raid and Chinese Rescue
In April 1942, only months after the Pearl Harbor attack, another story of heroism and friendship unfolded.
Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led 16 B-25 bombers off the deck of the USS Hornet on a daring mission to strike Japan. However, the planes ran out of fuel and crashed in eastern China. This is where the Chinese folks came in.
Melinda Liu, former Newsweek Beijing bureau chief, spoke about her father at the ceremony.
Liu Tung-Sheng, a young aeronautics graduate, was on his way back to Kunming when villagers approached him. "Do you speak English?" He soon came face-to-face with five American airmen.
"My father became their translator and guide," Liu said. "They were lost and hungry. He led them to safety."
The cost of that rescue was enormous. Japanese forces retaliated violently, killing up to 250,000 Chinese civilians near the area where the Doolittle Raiders had landed.
Years later, Liu's father was recognized as the first honorary Doolittle Raider. He attended reunions in the United States and maintained contact with the American veterans he helped save.
For the past 15 years, Melinda Liu has assisted dozens of descendants of the Doolittle Raiders in visiting China to retrace their ancestors' footsteps. She also proposed establishing a Doolittle Raid museum in Quzhou, nearby Zhejiang Province, where the majority of raiders landed and were rescued.
Zhang Fengqi's wartime typewriter and dictionary are on display. She served as an English typist for the Flying Tigers at Kunming's Wujiaba airbase.
The Shanghai event honored Anna Chennault, wife of General Chennault and a prominent figure in post-war US-China cooperation.
An exhibition titled "Friendship: Forged in Blood and Fire" opened with images, letters and wartime mementos.
Chennault's wartime maps and a Flying Tigers jacket replica were among them. The show ends on October 12.
Jeffrey Greene, president of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, said that his organization continues to bring American students to China to study about this history.
"It's important that young people know the truth, the reality that 80 years ago, the American airmen and the Chinese people had a tremendous experience and shared relationship," he said.
In 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote to Flying Tiger veterans that "the hope of the China-US relationship lies in the people."
This theme ran throughout the event. Eric Zheng, head of Shanghai's American Chamber of Commerce, said the Flying Tigers' heritage carries on in corporate teamwork.
"We face new challenges, but also share new opportunities," he said.
The Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation presents a commemorative Flying Tigers jacket to Hu Hua, founding director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies.
"Friendship: Forged in Blood and Fire"
Date: Through October 12
Venue: Shanghai Local Chronicles Library, 4/F, Shanghai Library East 上海图书馆东馆通志馆
Address: 300 Hehuan Road, Pudong New Area 浦东新区合欢路300号
Admission: Free