James Kynge’s review of China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism by Rana Mitter (Life & Arts, October 24) refers to the Pacific war years “being a much neglected aspect of China’s own historical experience”, and that Beijing is now making a big effort to “bring back the war into its idea of nationhood”, highlighting its enormous sacrifices. Perhaps this is not entirely new. More than a decade ago I visited a large-scale, exceptionally well-presented exhibition of China’s role in the Pacific war in the Military Historical Museum in Beijing. The US was not mentioned.
Bill Boydell
Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
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