The Things They Left Behind

The museum is filled with things that the American military presence in China left behind. Here are some examples of how the museum is preserving this evidence. I had to joke with some of the Chinese that our gas cans and garbage cans look much the same today...

Faces of the Flying Tigers

Flying Tigers Museum

At the Jianchuan cluster, we found the Flying Tigers Museum. Having traveled so far from the United States to see this, I was duly impressed. Of course, it would be nice if they actually had a vintage P-40 used by the Flying Tigers. But the fact that someone in China, apparently with the acceptance of the government, is happy to acknowledge the contribution of this band of Americans to the war against the Japanese is, I think, important. For many years, the Chinese Communist government downplayed the role the Nationalists played in the war. Recently, they have accepted the more realistic position that the Nationalists bore the brunt of the war against the Japanese. That opened the door for this recognition of the Flying Tigers since they were an air arm of the Chinese Nationalists. While they were organized and funded by the United States, this could not be said openly because America was not yet in the war. They flew as part of the Chinese Air Force and wore pins identifying them as members of the CAF.

At top is me at a memorial to Claire Chennault. At bottom is the museum from the outside, a photograph of the famous nose art on the Flying Tigers P-40s, the Flying Tigers emblem carried on the fuselage and designed by Walt Disney, and a view of the walls of photos and display cases in the museum. At bottom are examples of the insignia of the three squadrons of Tigers - the Adam and Eves, the Panda Bears, and the Hells Angels.

World War II in China

One of the great things about teaching this World War II in Asia class in China is that this is a place where things connected to the war actually happened. At the Jianchuan Museum Cluster, just outside of Chengdu, there is a museum that commemorates the Sino-Japanese War and the American assistance that was provided to the Chinese. There is a museum dedicated solely to the Flying Tigers. For those of you who do not know, the Flying Tigers were a group of American pilots who flew for the Chinese nationalists against the Japanese before the United States was involved in the war. The Flying Tigers, or American Volunteer Group (AVG), had it beginnings in 1937 and one of the key driving forces behind its formation was Claire Chennault. Chennault, a retired US Army general, had some to China to be Chiang Kai-shek's air advisor. With assistance from the US, he crated the Flying Tigers. After the American entry into the war, the Flying Tigers were absorbed as the 14th Air Force, though many members of the group refused to fly as part of the US Army because they thought they had been shown little respect. Also, as a group, they were a little too free wheeling for the regular army. They posted an admirable record against the Japanese, shooting down well over 100 Japanese bombers.

Also at the museum were moving memorials to the Sino-Japanese War. The Chinese lost 10 million people in World War II, a death toll during the war only exceeded by the Soviet Union. 

Above is me standing with part of a large display of glass plates that are covered with the hand-prints of people who fought in the war against the Japanese. To be able to put your hand into their hands is an eerie experience. Below are more of the plates, then a close up of the hand prints, and kind of humorous take of a statue of a boy soldier.

 

Panda sanctuary III

The red panda is also endangered species but not nearly so much as the giant panda. They are actually more closely related to weasels than to pandas but face many of the same problems that pandas do with the added problem that they have been hunted for their fur. The third photo down is of some created panda habitat and then a plaque noting that each of the pandas at the sanctuary has a name. At bottom is me. I've put this here because if you click on it you can see that I am just drenched in sweat to give you an idea of just how hot and humid it was the day we visited the sanctuary.

Panda sanctuary II

A massive crowd assembled where the pandas were. A keeper was feeding the pandas with a fishing pole which is why they (pandas and people) gathered and waited. It was hard to get close enough to get some good photos but I think I got a couple. As soon as the feeding stopped, the pandas slipped back into the forest.. The sound they made was kind of like a squeal but a baritone one. There are only about 1,000 pandas in the wild and about 100 in captivity so this is a pretty rare sight. They have several challenges. Their habitat is being lost to development and global warming; they only have one cub at a time and the cub is helpless for months; they are very difficult when it comes to mating; they are mostly solitary creatures in the wild which doesn't encourage reproduction.

Panda sanctuary

China's national panda sanctuary and breeding center is outside of Chengdu and it took us almost an hour to get there, mostly because of the heavy traffic through the city. At top, you can see me with a panda in the background doing what they seem to do best, sleep. Given the heat and humidity that we dealt with that day, I don't blame him for trying to sleep through it. Next, is the entrance to the sanctuary. Interestingly, the movie, Kung Fu Panda, was playing on a huge video screen with Chinese subtitles. Never having seen it, I did not know that Chengdu featured in the movie. The next photo is of walking through a bamboo forest to one of the Panda locations. Bamboo is one of the Panda's main foods. A photo of me and a panda sculpture. At bottom is a building that says it is the panda research center.

The Little Bar

Escaping the heat and having a cold one in "The Little Bar," a small place about two blocks from my apartment. Yes, that is a Bud, much to my dismay. Most places don't have craft beer and when you ask for a beer as an American, they just assume you want Bud, probably motivated by the extra cost. I think it was 20 kwai (the slang term, like bucks, for the yuan), which is about $3.25. If you ask for Tsing Tao, the Chinese beer, it is about 10 kwai, or about $1.60. It is no worse than Bud and it comes in a bigger bottle but they don't seem to understand me when I try to pronounce it :)

With the expensive European cars on the street and the nice shops, you would think this was somewhere in America. Even a lot of the signs are in English, like the Little Bar, but few people speak English.

Historic Chengdu street

Because of the dramatic development going on in China, many cities work to preserve a small portion of some historic streets or neighborhoods. In Chengdu, there are at least three of these streets but we have to use the word "historic" generously. Some of the aspects in the streets are very old but other parts have been renovated or reconstructed. In any case, the goal is to create some of the atmosphere and appearance of a street in the Ming Dynasty or earlier. These are photographs from one such street in central Chengdu.Kuanzhaixiangzi All
ey. If you click on the photos, you can read a description of the street. At the bottom, when I got into the sidecar to have my photo taken a crowd gathered for the Chinese to take photos of the Westerner...

The Great Helmsman surveying his domain

A massive statue of Mao Zedong overlooks Tianfu Square in central Chengdu. The statue is in front of the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum.

Home in China

Here are some photos of my humble abode in Chengdu. At top are alternate views of my living room, spartan but comfortable. I have wifi. In the second photo you can see the water jug. You can't drink the water here so that is my source of drinking water. In the third photo, you can see the little washing machine on the right and, since there is no dryer, my clothes hanging to dry on the left. Then a tiny kitchen but it works. And a view from the deck. I forgot the bathroom, which is actually quite nice.