The construction of the unique Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum in Nanjing

Mourning for aviation martyrs, the ceremony of laying foundation for the museum is held in Qingming Festival.
"Today is the Chinese nation's traditional festival——Qingming Festival. Here we are holding the ceremony of laying foundation for the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum. On the basis of repairing the Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Cemetery and the establishment of the Monument to Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs, we build the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum to display anti-Japanese aviation martyrs' heroic deeds vividly, so as to forever educate our future generations to cherish peace and not to forget history!" At 9:00 on April 4, the administration bureau of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and Nanjing Aviation Association jointly held the ceremony of paying tribute to anti-Japanese aviation martyrs and mourning for the heroes and martyrs sacrificing in the wars at home and abroad. At 10:00, the ceremony of laying foundation for the museum was held at the construction site of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum. One of the spokesmen of the ceremony-President of Nanjing Aviation Association Han Decai, Lieutenant General of Air Force delivered an impassioned speech. He asked the future generations to remember that "Only struggle can lead to the final victory ", which inspired people to work energetically for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation! 
Some leaders of the provincial and municipal level, such as Bai Suning, Deputy Director of People's Congress in Jiangsu Provincial, Chen Lingfu, Vice Chairman of the provincial CPPCC, Ye Hao, Minister of Ministry of Publicity of the Standing Committee of Nanjing Municipal Party Committee, Lu Bing, Vice Mayor of the city government, Yu Ming, Vice Chairman of the city CPPCC, members of Construction Committee of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum, Deputy Consul General of Embassy of the United States and Russian in Shanghai, President of Nanjing Aviation Association Han Decai, Lieutenant General of Air Force, family members of the anti-Japanese aviation martyrs, leaders from Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and Nanjing Aviation Association, a total of more than 1,200 teachers and students from Nanjing Lantian Specialized Institute and some other large and medium-sized institutes participated in the ceremony of laying foundation for the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum.
In addition, Construction Committee of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum was set up on April 3 to be totally responsible for the construction work.

The unique Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum in China
“The 'Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum', when completed, will become the sister hall of the Memorial Hall for Compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression. The two halls, one oriental one western, making people to feel solemn and sad, fully reflect the historical appearance." According to Ni Hong, the Deputy Secretary-general of Nanjing Aviation Association, in order to forever commemorate the Chinese and foreign aviation martyrs sacrificing in Anti-Japanese War, the Monument to Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs was built in the Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Cemetery in 1995, which aroused good repercussions at home and abroad, particularly from the aviation industry. In order to present the heroic deeds of the Chinese Air Force, the former Soviet Union volunteers assisting in the work of the aviation brigade and the United States Air Force more comprehensively by fighting against the Japanese invaders side by side, the aviation community at home and abroad, family members of martyrs and people of insight have proposed that on the basis of this building, the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum should be built. According to briefings, the cornerstone of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum locates to the Northwest of the Cemetery and the Monument. It occupies an area of 30 acres and the planned construction area is 2,000 square meters. Upon completion, the cemetery, monument and museum will be a trinity, which will be the only site to commemorate the anti-Japanese aviation martyrs. It is not only an important block buildings commemorating the victory of China's War of Resistance, but also an important component of the group of buildings built in observance of World Anti-Fascist War.
In order to enrich the exhibition of the Museum, Nanjing Aviation Association and the Heritage Section of the Administrative Bureau of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum have been initiating at home and abroad the assembly of historical records and relevant materials of the Air Force's fighting against the Japanese invaders and remains of the martyrs since 2002, and until now the total number of cultural relics collected is more than 400. At present, cultural relics are still in wide assembly, some of which will be displayed to the outside after the Museum is completed.

All sectors of the community donating construction funds
According to Wang Jian, Vice President of Nanjing Aviation Association, the expense of building the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum is expected to be of 20 million yuan. Except for the provincial and municipal government's funding and help of generous people at home and abroad, donations have reached more than 250 million yuan, 3/5 of which is donated by an honorary citizen of Nanjing Fang Shouyi, who is Chairman of the Board of Singapore-letter Group, and he is the first person to pledge 1.5 million yuan. Mr. Fang was originally an overseas Chinese in Indonesia. After the July 7th Incident in 1937, he returned to China and joined the air force, participating in Anti-Japanese War. On November 9, 1949, he participated in the "two routes" revolution in Hong Kong. As early as the foundation of the Monument to Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs in May 1993, he donated 1.5 million yuan. At the same time, many family members of martyrs also donated money enthusiastically; although Martyr Zhao Huan's daughter, Zhao Cangqing had no retirement wages and her son and daughter-in-law were laid off, she still donated 500 yuan. Gu Weidong, an under-privileged citizen in Nanjing, moved by the deeds of the martyrs, donated 100 yuan without letting his family know it.

990 "forgotten" martyrs found
On the day before the laying foundation of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Memorial, a meeting was held to announce the set up of the Construction Committee of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Museum, in which an important agenda was to engrave the names of the martyrs who had been "forgotten". According to the executive director of Nanjing Aviation Association Chen Weicheng, there were 3,304 Chinese and foreign aviation martyrs' names carved on the Monument to Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs when it was completed in the Cemetery on September 3, 1995. Generally, the family members of anti-Japanese aviation martyrs felt satisfied. However, it was regrettable that only officers were in the list but not the soldiers; only flight personnel, but not the mechanical services, ordnance, radio and other maintenance personnel; only combat personnel, but not the logistics support personnel. The various types of the air force personnel sacrificing in the war of resistance are also the heroes of the Chinese nation.
It is heard that the number of the additional engraved names of the martyrs of the anti-Japanese aviation amounts to 990. Among those newly-found martyrs, 404 are Americans and 586 are Chinese. And the list of the Chinese martyrs is collected by Vice President of Beijing Aviation Association, Xia Hua and some other comrades. From the beginning of 1995, carrying dry rations and traveling expenses, 70-year-old Hua Xia has begun the long-term search from the northeast to the north of China and then to the east. In addition to asking the veterans dealing with the machinery, armament, communications, logistics, and other fields during the World War II, he also 他tried access to the archives and found a list of 181 staff for all types of sacrifices in the second historical archives in Nanjing, including the names of 70 newly-found martyrs. Coupled with a list provided by the Taiwan authorities, the additional engraved list was finally determined after careful comparison, verification and improvement. With list ensured by the United States, the final number of the engraved names on the Monument reaches 4,294.