A Cultural Hump Flight
                                                ---The Second Special Reunion

  In Kunming, a spring-like city of China, a cenotaph scripted with “Hump Flight Cenotaph” by General Zhang Aiping to commemorate the heroic supply air transportation operation at Himalayas and the heroes in the operation during the World War II , stands loftily among the green trees in the West Mount.

  In 1942, to cope with the dangerous situations in the Asia-Pacific region, China and the United States decided to open a Sino-India airway for warfare supplies. The airway was designed to go across the branch ranges of the Himalayas, spanning across the entire Tibet Plateau, known as “the Roof of the Earth”. Along the airway are complicated landforms, most of which are as high as over 3,000 meters above the sea level. Some of the peaks are even over 5,600 meters above the sea level. There are layers of mountains, dangerous gorges and thundering river flows. The unpredictable weather with fierce storms, snows and hailstones cause wild airflows. The ghostly enemy planes made relentless and frequent attacks at the same time. On top of all these, the functions and facilities of the planes were quite limited. As a result, the flight operation was incomparably tough and challenging. The flights by Chinese and American veterans were so heroic and lamentable that it is also called “the Trip to Death”. This flight for warfare supply had lasted for as long as three years. During this period, both China and the United States had lost more than 600 planes and over 1,600 pilots. According to some post-war non-official statistics China and the United States had lost a total of 3,000 aero-transports and battle-planes for this transportation. Airplane wrecks are all over along the way, forming a so-called “Silver Belt” at a bird’s eye view.

  The adventurous flight over the Himalayas is then historically known as the “Hump Flight”. It is not only a heroic feat in the history of the Second World War for both China and the United States, but also a legendary trip in the history of mankind aero aviation.

  China and the United States will not forget the hard times when they fought together for the world peace. The Chinese and American soldiers who had sacrificed their life for the dignity, freedom and justice of the people will forever live in peoples’ memories. They were the heroes in the Flying Tigers 14th Air Force, the Sino-India United Air Flight Team, the China Air, and the USA Fourteenth Air Brigade. Both American and Chinese people are proud of them.

  Although time flies, the flames and smokes have left far behind in the last century, and the world has changed greatly, the recall and meditation of the feat never stops. Above from the Heaven, the souls of the KIA are watching their aged survivors and the Americans and Chinese who were born after the war.

  Decades ago, the most ancient China and the Modern America had got across the cultural obstacle and made hand-in-hand flights over the “Hump” of the war. Today, the biggest developed country and the biggest developing country are facing the common cross-cultural issue of communication and co-operation, a new cultural “Hump” for them to fly over hand-in-hand.

  Separated by the ocean, China and America are doubtlessly different not only in both material and spiritual cultures, but also in their systems. China has the long lasting and continuous ancient culture while the United States a young one inherited with that of Renaissance. The traditional Chinese culture, based on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, processes her incomparably lasting integrativeness and cohesiveness while the American culture, dominated by Christianity, has the strongest influential strength. Due to their inherited differences in philosophical concepts, value perception, aesthetic tropism, behavior criterion and thinking mode, the Chinese and American naturally can not escape fierce clashes and misunderstanding when they intend to work and live together for mutual benefits in today’s globalization trend. The crucial cultural obstacle is just like the Himalayas, which used to challenge the two nations decades ago. It hampers the development of today’s multi-cultural globalization and sometimes causes fatally unintentional and unpleasant conflicts. Professor Samuel P. Huntngton has defined such conflicts as the clash of Civilization (Civilization Conflicts), and has accordingly  described a dreadful scene for the world of the 21st century.

  However, in a certain sense, culture is actually a spiritual and material system, which is continuously converging and developing. It is a dynamic process in which human beings continuously develop their knowledge about themselves and the nature. The Chinese culture and American culture both have their superior but unique characteristics. The culture difference between the Chinese and the American can be seen as a “Cultural Hump”. The Hump is undoubtedly big but it goes without saying that just as it was decades ago the people of the two great nations will not let it hamper their communication, mutual understanding and cooperation in a new era.

  In 2000, for the first time after the war, the veterans of the two countries met at Kunming. Everyone was excited about going back to the battlefield, sentimental and respectful for their dead companions, and joyful for the gathering after a long separation. The mixed emotion, together with the glorious dreams at the turn of the century, is telling the world that the aged veterans have never stopped flying. They flied across the Hump of the warfare decades ago and they are now flying across the “Cultural Hump” today. Yesterday they dedicated their youth and life for the world peace, and today they are committing themselves to the cause of multi-cultural globalization. At the SSR-2002 they will again demonstrate to the world with their emotion and commitment to the world the soul of eminence, sacredness, humanity and eternity.