En route to the Chinese 74th Army headquarters at Wukong, five Japanese prisoners are marched out of the guerrilla headquarters at Tien Toh. All five appear to be well fed and clothed. (National Archives)

Yangtze River

Saving Face After the Surrender of Japan

By Ulrich A. Straus

It will not come as a surprise to American readers that when the Japanese emperor delivered his surrender message on August 15, 1945, Allied forces led by the United States had thoroughly defeated Japan’s naval and air power in the Pacific. Read more

Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes attack a Tangut (Xi) fortress in western China in ad 1205 in this highly imaginative 16th-century Indian painting.

Yangtze River

The Mongol Hordes Invade China

By Steven M. Johnson

In ad 1205, Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, having completed the unification of his Gobi Desert empire, began looking south toward China for further conquest. Read more

Yangtze River

Attack on the USS Panay

 By Chuck Lyons

For some Americans, World War II started early. In December 1937, four years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into the war, Japanese planes attacked an American gunboat, the USS Panay, on China’s Yangtze River, strafing and bombing the boat, sinking it, killing three American crew members, and the wounding 45 others. Read more