Last week I had the opportunity to join Governor Perdue and the Vice-Governor of the Hunan Province in China, Mr.Yu Laishan, for a lunch and discussion. The purpose of the Vice-Governor’s visit was to share information about his fast-growing country and help gain a mutual understanding of our countries’ similarities and differences. Nearly 67 million people live in the Hunan province, making it China’s 7th-most populous area. The region lies in the southeastern part of China in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and epitomizes an area with a large agricultural presence that has begun emphasizing industrial development in the last decade.
The relationship between the Hunan Province and North Carolina began in 2006 when the remains of an American “unknown” soldier were identified in the Hunan region. The soldier’s DNA matched that of a North Carolina fighter pilot who had died nearly 60 years prior during World War II and had been missing in action ever since. The pilot was a member of the elite “Flying Tigers” – a US Air Force group that was recruited by the President to defend China against Japan and whose tactical victories have been credited with giving Americans the first signs of hope against the Japanese. The Hunan people built a memorial for the unknown soldier and tended to his grave for more than half a century until his body was returned to US soil. In 2006 the body of that soldier, Pilot Robert Holye Upchurch, was returned to his family in North Carolina. Our state was finally able to give a hero his welcome home.
