Kunming

We checked out of our hotel in Xi'an, and headed to the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. Yunnan is home to the majority of China's ethnic minority groups. Kunming is also important in American History, because of the Flying Tigers. Flying Tigers was the popular name of the 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941-1942. Arguably, the group was a private military contractor, and for that reason the volunteers have sometimes been called mercenaries. They were mostly former United States Army (USAAF), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC) pilots and ground crew, recruited under Presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The group consisted of three fighter squadrons with about 20 aircraft each. It trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II with the mission of defending China against Japanese forces.
The Tigers' shark-faced fighters remain among the most recognizable of any individual combat aircraft of World War II, and they demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces.
The group first saw combat on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor (local time). It achieved notable success during the lowest period of the war for U.S. and Allied Forces, giving hope to Americans that they would eventually succeed against the Japanese. The Tigers were paid combat bonuses for destroying nearly 300 enemy aircraft while losing only 14 pilots on combat missions.

The area they flew over is nicknamed "The Hump" and there is a nice place named in its honor in the middle of Kunming. Inside this restaurant today, you can see jackets worn by some of the pilots, as well as many photos and memorabilia. We had fun looking at all the historical sites on the walls. We also bonded as a group by playing a fun "world capitals" trivia game.

We also visited the Dragon Gate and the Western Hills, which were both beautiful.