How Wartime Friendship Became Citizen Diplomacy
Long before Denver and Kunming became sister cities, they were connected by a very different story. It was not a story about cultural exchange programs, student visits, or international friendship.
It was a story about survival.
In 1939, the City of Kunming found itself on the front lines of World War II in Asia. Following the Japanese invasion of China, because of Kunming’s far Western geographic location attracted the relocation of major universities, government agencies, and refugees as Japanese troops advanced across Eastern China. Kunming became one of the most important Cities in free China. Its strategic location at the northern end of the Burma Road also made it a target. For almost three years Japanese bombers repeatedly attacked the city, forcing residents to live with air raid warnings, evacuation drills, and the constant uncertainty of war.
One of those residents was a young student named John H. Yee.
In the Jing Bao journal, Yee recalled the “Jing Bao” air raid warning system that alerted residents to incoming Japanese aircraft. When alarms sounded, people fled the city seeking safety in open fields. Bombings became a regular part of life. In one attack, a neighboring family was killed when a bomb struck their home directly. Yee narrowly escaped death himself.
Then came December 1941.
As the United States entered World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a group of American volunteer pilots arrived in China under the command of General Claire Chennault.
Officially known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), they would soon become famous throughout the world as the Flying Tigers.
Their mission was simple: protect Chinese cities and supply routes from Japanese air attacks.
Kunming became one of their most important bases.
Yee was recruited and trained as an interpreter for the AVG. His work placed him at the center of one of the most remarkable wartime partnerships of the twentieth century.
On December 20, 1941, the people of Kunming witnessed the Flying Tigers in action for the first time.
As Japanese bombers approached the city, American pilots intercepted them overhead. Residents watched as enemy aircraft were shot from the sky. After years of helplessness, people suddenly saw hope.
According to Yee’s account, a local reporter described the American pilots as fighting “like “Flying Tigers in pursuit of a Japanese flock of sheep”. The nickname stuck and became one of the most famous aviation legends of World War II.In 1942 John and members of the AVG received a Flying Tiger Pin designed by Walt Disney.
For the people of Kunming, the Flying Tigers were more than military heroes.They represented friendship at a moment when friendship mattered most.
The pilots helped defend the city. Chinese civilians supported the airmen. Interpreters like John Yee bridged language and cultural barriers. Together they created relationships built not through diplomacy, but through shared sacrifice and mutual trust.
When the war ended, many assumed those connections would fade into history. Instead, they evolved.
Over the following decades, former Flying Tigers, Chinese veterans, educators, civic leaders, and cultural organizations worked to preserve the memory of that partnership. Veterans returned to China. Chinese communities honored the Flying Tigers. Friendships continued across generations.
John Yee became one of the people carrying that story forward.
After moving to Colorado, he built a career as an educator while continuing to promote understanding between the United States and China. In the 1980s, as China reopened to international engagement, Yee helped transform those wartime memories into something new.
In 1986, Denver and Kunming formally established their sister city relationship. What had begun in wartime became a model of citizen diplomacy. Former military alliances gave way to educational exchanges, cultural programs, business relationships, and friendships between ordinary people.
Today, nearly forty years later, the Denver–Kunming relationship continues as one of Denver Sister Cities International’s longest-standing partnerships.
Students have traveled between the two cities.
Artists have exchanged ideas.
Business leaders have built relationships.
Teachers, volunteers, and community members have spent decades strengthening connections that began long before most of them were born.
The story offers an important reminder.
Sister cities are not created by documents alone.
They are built on trust.
Sometimes that trust grows through cultural exchange.
Sometimes through education.
And occasionally, as happened between Kunming and America during World War II, it begins during moments of extraordinary courage.
The Flying Tigers helped defend a city.
People like John H. Yee helped transform that memory into friendship. And that friendship eventually became a sister city relationship that continues to connect Denver and Kunming today. What began with aircraft in the skies over Kunming ultimately became something much more enduring: a relationship between people.
