2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Recently, the introductory video for the aviation-themed documentary series “Skies of Valor” was released, signaling the project’s progress into the final phase of its production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABSDcNdqDj4
“Skies of Valor” is a visual documentation project centered around a documentary series. Over three months, the project team conducted systematic visiting and filming across multiple locations in China and the United States. They visited cities closely tied to aviation history during the War of Resistance, including New York and Rhode Island in the U.S., as well as Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing, and Quzhou in China. The team collected oral history footage from over 30 descendants of martyrs, international friends, and relevant researchers, accumulating a relatively systematic collection of primary visual materials for aviation history during the War of Resistance.
Structurally, the documentary series follows individual narratives and specific historical events to illuminate multiple facets of the war: the Chinese Air Force’s resistance, international aviation forces aiding China, and civilian collaborations between China and foreign nations. Rather than focusing solely on the technical or tactical aspects of warfare, the series explores how the war impacted ordinary lives through personal experiences and family memories, highlighting the cooperative bonds formed among people from different nations and cultures amid shared crisis.
During production, the crew adhered to a dual approach of “on-site interviews plus archival footage”. In the United States, the team immersed themselves in the families of Flying Tigers members, documenting the enduring emotional bonds forged between Chinese and American civilians during the war through letters, photographs, and oral histories. Within China, the crew visited multiple cities connected to the air war, systematically supplementing historical details through on-site filming and oral history materials. In Quzhou, Zhejiang, the project team revisited the rescue site of Doolittle Raid pilots, highlighting the historical context of local residents’ wartime rescue efforts. In Nanjing, relatives of martyrs donated decades-old historical materials to Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall. This process was fully documented, serving as vital content linking historical memory to public education.
Nanjing served as both a crucial battlefield for the Chinese Air Force during the War of Resistance and a central narrative focal point in this documentary series. With its narrative starting from Nanjing, the project bridges wartime aerial combat practices with the post-war development of China’s air force. Through the urban spatial transformation, it illustrates how war trauma gradually evolves into public memory oriented toward peace.
In presentation, “Skies of Valor” incorporates digital exhibition concepts, developing interactive exhibits in tandem with the documentary series. To date, the project has completed one introduction video, twelve thematic documentary shorts, and accompanying oral history footage. These form a structured documentary matrix exploring themes such as the psychological warfare operation “Paper Bombing,” Sino-American memories of the Flying Tigers and their descendants, rescue efforts related to the Doolittle Raid, heroic deeds of the Soviet Volunteer Group in China, and the historical connection between wartime aviation forces and the development of the Chinese Air Force after 1949. While emphasizing historical facts, the content also guides audiences to understand the international community’s shared pursuit of a peaceful order after the war.
The accompanying interactive website integrates content by combining historical footage, oral history audio, and digital technology, drawing on the archives and research achievements of Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall. This allows audiences to revisit wartime history while gaining a more intuitive understanding of what the hard-won peace truly is.
Through multilingual production and digital dissemination, “Skies of Valor” strives to present the history of aviation in the War of Resistance within an international context while conveying universal values of respecting life, opposing war, and cherishing peace. As a systematic endeavor to organize aviation memories from the War of Resistance through a documentary series, this project not only focuses on historical preservation but also seeks to provide contemporary audiences with a practical reference for understanding the relationship between war and peace.
