The Symbolism of the Flying Tigers: Peking University's Wang Dong on the American Volunteer Group and its Historical and Diplomatic Usages

Welcome to the Seneca Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China. In this program, we'll look at books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural trends that can help us better understand what's happening in China's politics, foreign relations, economics, and society. Join me each week for in-depth conversations that shed more light and bring less heat. to how we think and talk about China. I'm Kaiser Gua coming to you this week from Beida, Peking University in Beijing, my favorite city in the world.

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So do check out the page and see all that's on offer and consider helping me out. We're going to turn today to a story from, well, the darkest days of the Second World War, one that has echoed through generations of both Chinese and Americans. The story of the Flying Tigers, the Fei Hudue, the American volunteer group of pilots who came to China even before the United States entered the war after Pearl Harbor, and who became legends for their exploits in the skies over Burma, over Yunnan, and beyond. Their shark toothed P forties and their daring tactics not only gave badly needed help to China's defenses, but also gave symbolic proof that China was not alone in its struggle. Now, for decades, of course, the Flying Tigers have been invoked as a touchstone in US China relations, a reminder of a time when our countries were allies bound by a common purpose.

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