ChongQing, China Stilwell Museum (Friday, August 24th, 2018)

This afternoon, we visited the Stilwell Museum, dedicated to the General who was Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces during WWII.  Stilwell aided the Chinese people and helped them to win the War of Resistance against the Japanese invaders.  To this day, China feels indebted to Stilwell and the other American forces for their help.

This is one of the most interesting museums I have been in.  It was very small, and was located in the former residence of General Stilwell in ChongQing, China.  As we approached the museum, we saw this former bomb shelter built into the side of the mountain.

General Stillwell came to China in 1942 to help the Chinese during WWII. He tried to get the communist party and the nationalist party to work together in defense from the Japanese invaders, but at first they weren’t willing to. Eventually, they realized the importance of uniting and began working together, and with the US against the Japanese. They built the Burma road, a very steep and winding road to get supplies into China, but it was bombed and destroyed by the Japanese, so General Stilwell and the U.S. government organized the Flying Tigers (a group of volunteer pilots and crewmen) to fly supplies over the Himalaya mountains from Burma. 

In 1945 the Japanese surrendered, but the two Chinese parties went back to feuding amongst themselves and the Chinese civil war began.

There are two museums in Chongqing about this part of history. The first is the Stillwell museum, which is the former residence of General Stillwell, the other is the Flying Tiger museum (right across the street). Together these two museums contain a wealth of knowledge and pictures.

The views from the Stilwell museum.  Gorgeous!

General Stilwell's office.

And dining room.

During WWII most of the land channels into China were cut off, leaving China without an supplies.  Gerenal Stilwell and a group of pilots and support men opened an air route over the Himalayas (which were in the shape of a camel's hump), so the route was called the Hump flights. In May of 1942 the Hump Flight began operation.  These pilots and crew were called the Flyng Tigers.  By the end of the war about 1170 flights, 35,000 military crew members, 50,000 civilians and 30 airfields were involved in the Hump Flights.

By the end of the war, the Hump Flights had lifted over 750,000 tons of military and civilian materials , and more than 100,000 personnel into China.  This guaranteed enough supplies for the final victory of the war.

This museum is dedicated to the history of these flights.  

From May 1942 to March 1945 more than 1,500 Chinese and Americcan pilots lost their lives.  A total of 514 aircraft were lost (more than 50% of all the planes).

Jeeps used during the war.

Just down the road from the Stilwell museum is the ChongQing Flying Tigers Museum, providing even more information about the flying tigers.

Insignias worn by the Flying Tigers.  If a Chinese person found anyone wearing this patch, they knew they were part of the Hump Flight operations and would help them.

A section of the Burma that was cut off, forcing the start of the Hump Flights.

I highly recommend these two museums to anyone that is in ChongQing, China.  I only touched the tip of the information that is in this amazing museum!

Travel from Chengdu to ChongQing, China (Friday, August 24th, 2018)

This morning we traveled by bus from Chengdu to Changqing, a major cosmopolitan city and gateway to the southern mountains and the Yangtze River.  

We had a nice leisurely morning, with luggage outside our door at 8:00 am with a plan to leave the hotel at 9:00.

Of course, when a bus trip is involved, snacks are also involved.  So we went to the local convenience store before leaving Chengdu and bought some snacks to share on the bus.

These ended up being somewhere between a nilla wafer and a cheese it.

Bit-O-Honey all the way!

It's hard to read the label on this one, but it says "Strange taste horse beans".  We didn't know what to expect, but they were really good and interesting.  They were a large dried bean coated in a spicy "burnt peanut" coating.

It took no time at all until we were in Chongqing.  It is a beautiful city with with a river nestled in a mountain valley.  It is one of the hottest cities in China with temps reaching 110 -115 in the summer with high humidity.

Chongqing was used as a temporary capital of China during WWII because of it's hard to access location.  Although it was bombed several times during that war.  This city is three times larger than Beijing and very easy to get lost in because of it's mountains, rivers and one way streets.

More of the Chinese high density housing.

Chongqing is a huge bustling city.  It doesn't have a subway because of the mountains and the river, but it does have a nice monorail.

 

We will not be staying in Chongqing, but instead this is the city where we will be catching our river cruise boat later today for a four day cruise down the Yangtze River, but not yet.  First we will explore the Stillwell Museum.