China designates WWII Doolittle Raid memorial hall patriotic education base

BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- China has designated the Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid as a new national patriotic education base, giving fresh prominence to the museum's preservation of the friendship between the Chinese people and American airmen during World War II.

The designation was announced by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee as part of a new batch of 77 national patriotic education bases named on the occasion of the Party's 105th founding anniversary.

Located in Quzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, the museum commemorates one of the best-known episodes of China-U.S. cooperation during World War II. In April 1942, 16 U.S. bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle carried out a surprise raid on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

After the mission, some of the aircrews ran low on fuel and crash-landed in many areas occupied or threatened by Japanese forces in China, including Quzhou. Of the 75 airmen aboard the planes, 64 were rescued by the Chinese people.

Their rescue, however, came at a tremendous cost. Many locals were suspected of sheltering the Americans, and some were tortured or even killed by the Japanese.

In China, the Doolittle story has long been regarded as a symbol of the friendship forged between the Chinese and American peoples during their joint fight against fascism.

Survivors of the Doolittle Raid and their descendants made frequent visits to Quzhou over the past decades.

In 2015, President of the Children of the Doolittle Raiders Jeff Thatcher proposed that a memorial be built to commemorate the historic rescue. The government in Quzhou received more than 100 items from the United States, as well as evidence that had been collected and sorted by local researchers. The museum was opened to the public in 2018.

Observers said the memorial hall's inclusion among the country's highest-level patriotic education sites underscores China's commitment to preserving that shared historical memory while passing it on to future generations.

China launched its national patriotic education base program in the 1990s. The newly designated sites are drawn from across the country and include institutions such as the National Archives of Publications and Culture, the Chinese Archaeological Museum, and the Beijing Olympic Museum.

Announcing the new list of patriotic education bases, the authorities called for strengthening the educational role of these sites by developing tailored educational programs and visitor routes, particularly for young people, to enhance public participation and make the sites more effective classrooms for patriotic education.