“Nanyang”, or southern seas, refers to parts of Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam — where large overseas Chinese communities have lived for centuries.
During World War II, in Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many of the country’s key coastal ports fell to enemy forces, cutting off vital international military aid.
In 1939, some 3,200 overseas Chinese from Nanyang formed the Nanyang Volunteer Drivers and Mechanics.
Driving along the treacherous Burma Road, the "road of death," they braved bombardments and ambushes to deliver vital wartime supplies.
On this over 1,140-kilometer “lifeline of the War of Resistance,” more than 1,000 of them sacrificed their lives, averaging one martyr for every kilometer. With their courage and blood, they wrote a heroic chapter in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
On the 80th anniversary of the victory, Xinhuanet spoke with Lim Tang Xin, director of the Nanyang Volunteer Drivers and Mechanics Exhibition Hall in Penang, Malaysia, to share his insights on this remarkable chapter of shared history between China and the overseas Chinese communities of Southeast Asia.
