Location
China is located in central Asia. Borders the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and Gulf of Tonking (Tonkin Gulf, Tongking Gulf). To the southeast is Hong Kong and Taiwan Island (Formosa). To the north, the Chinese mainland borders Mongolia and Russia and North Korea. To the south, the Chinese mainland borders Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) in Southeast Asia plus India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in South Asia. To the west the Chinese mainland borders Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

Wartime History
China was at war with Japan during the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) simultaneous with World War II. During the wars, the Japanese occupied the strategic coastal areas and after the Manchurian Incident (Mukden Incident) in 1931 created the puppet state of Manchuria (Manchukuo) in northern China.

Post War
At the end of World War II, Chinese Nationalist forces briefly used captured or surrendered Japanese aircraft.  Chinese Communist forces were given captured Japanese equipment by the Soviet Union, against the terms of the Japanese surrender. Without their own pilots, the Communists used former Japanese and Manchukuoans in their Air Force. Former Japanese planes served with both air forces into the late 1940s and possibly early 1950s.

People's Republic of China Municipalities (PRC Municipalities)
Beijing 北京市 (Beiping, Pei-p'ing, Peking)  national capital of China, Beijing Municipality.
Tientsin 天津市 (Tsiangtsin, Tianjin)  located in northern China at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Shanghai 上海市  located on the eastern coast of China.
Chongqing 重庆市  located in central China intersected by the Jialing River and Yangtze River.


People's Republic of China Provinces
Yunnan Province 云南省  located in the south center of China provincial capital is Kunming.
Hainan Province 海南省  includes Hainan Island off the southern coast of China, smallest province in China.
Szechuan Province 四川省 (Sichuan, Szechwan, Szechuan)  located in southwest center of China.
Guizhou Province 贵州省 (Kweichow)  located at the south center of China.
Guangdong Province 广东省  located on the southeast coast of China, provincial capital is Guangzhou (Canton).
Jiangsu Province 江苏省  located in central China, provincial capital Nanking (Nanjing).
Jiangxi Province 江西省  located in south central China, provincial capital is Nanchang.
Hubei Province 湖北省  located in central China.
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region  located in southern China, provincial capital Nanning.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong  island located to the southeast of mainland China.

Manchuria (Manchukuo)
Manchuria (Empire of Manchukuo)  northern China area that was a Japanese puppet state 1931–1945.
Gansu Province 甘肃省  located in the northwest of China with Lanzhou is the provincial capital.

Lanchow Airfield
Prewar airfield

Hunan Province  located in central China. 

Ling Ling Airfield (Lingling, Yungchow)
Wartime airfield

Nanking Airfield (Ming Foo Kung, Tachiaochang, Daiko)
Wartime airfield

Hengyang Airfield (Heng Yang)
Wartime airfield

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Last Updated
December 11, 2018