The China, Zhi Jiang International Peace and Culture Festival
Zhi Jiang, China, November 15 – 16, 2003

Photographs by Mr. Deng Yi
Courtesy of Hunan News Net

Following a visit to Kunming for a briefing from the China Association for Expedition on the ongoing recovery of John Blackburn’s P-40 from Lake Dianchi, a delegation of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, consisting of AVG veterans “Dick” Rossi, Peter Wright and Bob Layher, Dick’s wife Lydia, Peter’s wife Sinione, Bob’s wife Mariam, and Bob’s daughter Lynda, SAAHF Executive Director Jeff Greene and his fiancé Donna Ostroff, were invited by the Hunan Province Government Information Office and the Zhi Jiang Foreign Cultural Exchange Association, to attend the China, Zhi Jiang Peace and Culture Festival, on November 15 –16, 2003.

The festival was held in Zhi Jiang township in Hunan, Province, the site of the Japanese Army’s official Second World War surrender to Chinese and American forces in China. Originally established in 1938 as a flight training school for the Chinese Air force, Zhi Jiang’s airfield played a key role in combating the Japanese Army’s massive 1944 Ichi Go offensive, when the China American Composite Wing’s 5th Fighter Wing was moved there to support Chinese forces in South China.

The Festival was opened by a beautifully produced musical pageant that featured more than 2.000 performers and attended by more than 100,000 spectators.

	1. Flying Tiger Association President and AVG fighter ace John "Dick" Rossi greets a veteran of the "WWII" Chinese Air Force at the Flying Tiger Museum at Zhi Jiang. The Chinese veteran was stationed at Zhi Jiang as radio operator -- This photo was featured in a large number of major Chinese newspapers.

2. AVG veterans John "Dick" Rossi, Peter Wright and Robert Layher are seen with three WWII Chinese Army and Air Force veterans at the entrance of the Flying Tigers Museum at Zhi Jiang, during the China, Zhi Jiang International Peace and Culture Festival, November 15 – 16, 2003.

	3. SAAHF Director Jeff Greene is seen cutting a ceremonial ribbon during the officially opening of the Flying Tiger Museum at Zhijiang on November 15, 2003.

4. Flying Tiger Association President and AVG fighter ace John "Dick" Rossi presents a flying jacket that bears the squadron, groups and "Bloodchit" markings he wore while flying as a member of the AVG, to Mr. Shi Xixin, President of the Zhi Jiang Foreign Exchange Association - Mr. Shi is also the President of Zhi Jiang County.

	5. Flying Tiger Association President and AVG fighter ace John "Dick" Rossi, is greeted by elementary school children who are participating in the opening-ceremony of the Flying Tiger Museum at Zhi Jiang.

6. Flying Tiger Association Executive Committee member and veteran AVG pilot, Robert Layher is surrounded by elementary school children who are participating in the opening-ceremony of the Flying Tiger Museum at Zhi Jiang.

	7. Veteran AVG fighter Ace John "Dick" Rossi and SAAHF Director Jeff Greene are presented with ceremonial silk jackets at the opening ceremonies of the Flying Tiger Museum at Zhi Jiang.

8. Opening Ceremony and concert of the China, Zhi Jiang International Peace and Culture Festival, November 15. Organizers of the event estimated that nearly 100,000 attended the opening ceremonies.
	9. AVG veterans Peter Wright, John "Dick" Rossi and Robert Layher and SAAHD Director, Jeff Greene participate in the opening Ceremonies of the China, Zhi Jiang International Peace and Culture Festival, November 15, 2003.

10. SAAHF delegation members are photographed with Mr. He Tong Xin, Vice Governor of Hunan Province. From left to right are; AVG veteran Robert Layher, AVG veteran John "Dick" Rossi, Vice-Governor He Tong Xin, AVG veteran Peter Wright and SAAHf Director Jeff Greene, during the China, Zhi Jiang International Peace and Culture Festival.

	11. AVG veterans John “Dick” Rossi, Peter Wright and Robert Layher are pictured around a bust of Lt. General Claire Lee Chennault in one of the exhibit halls of the newly opened Flying Tiger’s Museum in Zhi Jiang. The Zhi Jiang Foreign Exchange Association has just overseen the conversion of the three-story building that once served as the historic airfield’s operation’s center and control tower, into a museum that commemorates the service of Lt. General Claire Lee Chennault and the American and Chinese airmen he commanded in the defense of China.

13. SAAHF Executive Director Jeff Greene, is seen delivering one of the closing addresses of the symposium that officially closed the Zhi Jiang Peace and Culture Festival. Greene’s address focused on the remarkable relationship that developed during the Second World War between American airmen and the Chinese people, as they fought to save China from the military might of Imperial Japan.