Mr. Dai was a reporter assigned by the Central Daily News to gather information on the expidation of the New 38th Division led by General Sun. After having experienced the brutal agressive invading Japanese, all Chinese felt hopeful again after having read the victorial story of the New 38th Division.
K.G. Sun was a staff member in the New First Army. He briefly recorded the experience, the training, and the acievements of the New First Army during it campaign in the China, Burma, and India Theater. T.H. Ho was the official photographer of the New First Army. No army could stop the Japanese invasion in China, but the much smaller force of New First Army was no match for the massive Japanese invading force. Their photographs and stories made Chinese proud at a time despair.
This book was printed, perhaps with the savings of Mr. Lee, in Taiwan during the period in which mentioning General Sun's name was forbiden. Mr. Lee used the name General X in stead of General Sun in this book. Mr. Lee was one of the staff members responsible for the training of troops in Taiwan, and he wrote some of the instructions given by General Sun and his influence to everyone involved.
The Author, under an assumed name, was one of the officer in the expidation army. Again, this book was printed in Taiwan, perhaps with Mr. Lo's saving, during the Chiang's regem. Mentioning the New 38th Division or the New 1st army of the expidation troop was forbidden. He wrote his own story in the expidation Force, only occasionally used the name Division Commander Sun to pay tribute to his leader.
The editor and publishers are very brave in their publication of this book. Perhaps they sensed that the Chiang Dynasty was about to end. They have collected nearly all the documents that were circulated in 1955 when the so called Case of Sun Li Jen. Chung Chieh visited Taiwan in 1985, became aware of the book, but did not find any copy in the market. The book was banned. His young-soldier-day buddy Fan Chi Chiao gave him this copy, and Chieh treasured it very much. He has read all the documents as a 13-year boy, but he was has been trying to get a copy of all these document all his life.
Chieh's luggage was searched at the airport when he left Taiwan, returning to Canada. A very young girl saw the book, and tried to confiscate it. Chieh demanded to see her supervisor and argued that he was a history professor and need the book for research. Chieh got to keep the book. He fought hard to keep the book, but was saddened of seeing a nation of people so used to injustice.
Much of the material in the banned (by Taiwan) book On the Case of Sun Li Jen re-appeared in this publication in Hong Kong two years later. Additional articles appeared in newspapers, magzines and books between 1985 and 1987 are included. Being published in Hong Kong, the editors and publishers need not to worry about pressure from Taiwan. They included Chian Nans view of The Case of Sun Li Jen from Chian's Biography of Chiang Ching Kuo. It's widely known that Chian was assasinated by gangs ordered by the Chiangs in the United States.
Furthermore, some articles published before Sun's house arrest were reprinted in this book. These articles indicated Sun's contribution to stablize Taiwan between 1947 and 1955.
N. Fung was also a member of the New First Army, and he collected his thought in what he called a "little book". However, this book covers a very long period, including some of the events happened in Taiwan. In 1987, the General was still under house arrest. Following the tradition of Chiang Kai Shek, the Government under Chiang Ching Kuo forbid the mentioning Sun's name or the New First Army. No publication about them was allowed.
Some people in Taiwan saw the house arrests of General Chang Hsue Leung and General Sun being similar. However, most of the book is about General Sun. Mz. Tzien spent some time investgating the cases, and she inverviewed some subordinates of the General for her articles.
This book considered General Sun the most distinguished respected Chinese leader. The Chinese Army under General Sun's leadership was transformed into a strong and disciplined army of internal standard. This army was very different from armies of the Nationalist Party. Thus, General Sun represents the spirit of the New Army, a name of the army of all Taiwan when Sun was the commander of the army. The book is about the victorial war against Japan lead by General Sun.
Chung Chieh is one of the 5 adopted sons of the General. All 5 were in a special Youth Group of the Army when Sun was the Commander in Chief of the Army. When the Chiang governement disbanded The Youth Group, Sun felt it was a loss for the country. He thought these young people, having experienced great difficulties, will be an asset for the country if properly educated.
Mostly due to the overwhelming support of the people on Taiwan for the late General, and partly due to the initiation of the process by Chieh and others, Sun was freed from a 33-year of house arrest after Chiang Ching Ku died in 1988. Chieh was a visiting chemistry professor in Tsing Hua University, Taiwan at the time. He named the book as a tribute to Sun for his love of his men, no matter how low their ranks were.
This book collected most of the well known facts about General Sun, including the event in 1988 leading to his freedom. This is probably the first book about Sun Li Jen published in China. Sun was a General of the Chiang's regime, enemy of Communists, but he was a national hero and all Chinese are interested in knowing more about him.
The book has 5 chapters:
Family background and fighting Japanese aggression in Shanhai.
The New 38th Division going to Burma
Counter attack and recover of Burma from Japan
Retreat to Taiwan
The Case of Sun Li Jen and exoneration
Mr. Xie was the Chief of the Medical Service of the New First Army. He is a retired professor in a medical school in Mongolia, and he collected not only his thought and experience for this book, he had collected detail information about the campaign. He tried in vain to get this book published in China, and he managed to get it published in Taiwan. He is still trying to get his book published in China at an age close to 90, spending all his savings.
Many passage in this book reflects his personal experiences.
This book is comissioned by the hometown folks of General Sun, some of them have also been members of the New First Army. The authors researched and wrote the family background of the General. His hometown was and still is a poor area of China in the 1990s, but the people have a strong will. No doubt, Sun is a great hero in the recent Chinese history, and his hometown folks are doubly proud of having had him close to home.
Many articles have been collected in this book in memory of the late General, including some by Sun Li Jen. Most authors have worked with Sun during his colorful life. These articles are sorted according to content, and there are a total of eight categories.
Mr. Shen was a personal secretary of the late General for some time. He came from the same province as the late General. He was the chief reporter of the Newspaper of the Army Ching Chung Pao. He later had many different career paths. This biography consists of two volumes.
The Appendix 4 of Vol. 2 has a short biographical sketch of Sun by two of his staff members written during the time when he was the Commander in Chief of the Army in Taiwan.
The author, Mr. Xie, was the Chief of the Medical Service of the New First Army. In 20 Chapters, this book gives details account of General Sun's military activities including the war in Shanghai, military training, Burma Campaign and a quick summary of his career in Taiwan. It includes a Preface by Dr. Tie Sheng Zhang, also a staff member of the medical service of the New First Army in Burma. The author pointed out that during the Burma Campaign, Chinese forces played a major role in the international effort to prevent Japan from conquering the entire world. In this war, the leadership of Gen. Sun and the ability of his Army are the two most important factors leading to victory.
Mr. Xie published this suplementary for the book above. In this review, he collected all his appraisals (or criticisms) of recent publications related to Sun Li Jen and the Burma India Expedition.