A museum commemorating the "Flying Tigers" opened this past Saturday in Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County of central China's Hunan Province, during the two-day Zhijiang International Peace and Culture Festival.

Over 20,000 people from the United States, Russia and 10 other countries and regions attended the ceremony, which was also an inauguration ceremony for the foundation of a world peace bell.

During World War II, General Claire Lee Chennault of "Flying Tigers" and his fellow pilots were based in the headquarters set up at Zhijiang, where the Allied Forces built their second largest airport in the Far East.

It was also at Zhijiang that a Japanese representative handed in the surrender letter which led to the end of the war. The museum has precious historical documents and photos from that period on display.

This little-known passage of history about Zhijiang was already disclosed at an exhibition entitled "The Memory of History," which was held at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, last month.

Zhao Qizheng, minister of the State Council Information Office, presided over the opening ceremony of the exhibition at Dayton, which was attended by hundreds of veteran US soldiers and their relatives.

(China Daily November 19, 2003)