''Heroes of the Eastern Skies'' (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''jianqiao yinglie zhuan''), is a Chinese war drama filmed in Taiwan, R.O.C. and based on the true story of a small group of Chinese

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

s in 1937 at the beginning of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, specifically depicting events in the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

Battle of Nanking The Battle of Nanking (or Nanjing) was fought in early December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of Nanking (Nanjing), the capital of the Repub ...

and the

Battle of Taierzhuang The Battle of Taierzhuang () was a battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, which was fought between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The battle was that war's first major Chinese victory. It humiliated the Jap ...

; the movie was released on 7 July 1977 in commemoration of the ''7/7 Incident'' which sparked the start

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in Asia. The movie recounts the combat actions between the Chinese Air Force and the invading air power of Imperial Japan with the flashpoint of the airwar set at Jianqiao Airbase, It won 6 awards at the 14th

Golden Horse Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

, including Best Film and Best Director (Chang Tseng-tse).

Cast

* Liang Hsiu-shen as Colonel

Gao Zhihang Gao Zhihang (; 14 May 1907 – 21 November 1937) was a flying ace of the Republic of China (1912-49), Republic of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. On August 14, 1937, the 4th Air Force Group commanded by Gao shot down six Japanese planes o ...

(died 21 November 1937 in history). He was the commander of the 4th Air Force Group based in

Jianqiao Airfield Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport (), formerly romanized as Chien Chiao, also known as Hangzhou Air Base, is a People's Liberation Army Air Force Base and a former civil airport serving Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, China. It is locat ...

. He led his group of pilots and maintenance crew to receive new

Polikarpov I-16 The Polikarpov I-16 (russian: Поликарпов И-16) is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear to attain ope ...

fighter aircraft at the

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

Donggang Airbase, and while at a refueling stop en route back to frontline action in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, Colonel Gao and his group were suddenly attacked by a Japanese raid, and he was killed along with his crew chief ''Feng Qianqing'' by falling Japanese bombs while on the ground in Zhoujiakou airfield. * Feng Hai as Lieutenant Shen Chonghui (''Zh-Wiki'' - died 19 August 1937 in history). A man with few words, he was killed when he crashed his plane into a Japanese warship, causing significant damage to the ship; in actual history, he did not hit the enemy ship, and was ''MIA'' along with his backseat gunner 2Lt. ''Chen Xichun'', and both later declared ''KIA'') * Yu Tien-lung as Lieutenant Yan Haiwen (''Zh-Wiki'' - died 17 August 1937 in history). He parachuted from his plane and was surrounded by Japanese soldiers demanding his surrender, but while evading capture, he shot a few soldiers and saving the last bullet for himself, shouting "''No captives from China's Air Force!''", and shot himself in the head. He was buried with special honors by the Japanese army. * Chiang Bin as Second Lieutenant Li Yougan (''Zh-Wiki'' - died 18 September 1937 in history). He is shown in the movie being strafed by Japanese fighters in mid-air under his parachute after bailing-out from his burning ''Hawk III'', but in the real-life events, 2Lt. Li Yougan was ''

KIA Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

'' during an attack against Japanese warships on the Huangpu in Shanghai that day, and shot-down by heavy anti-aircraft fire; ''Lt. Liu Lanqing (劉蘭清)'' of the 17th PS, 3rd PG equipped with P-26/281 ''Peashooters'', led by Chinese-American volunteer fighter pilot Capt''. John Huang Panyang'' (not shown in the movie) was in fact a victim of such a heinous mid-air strafing-attack during an air battle over Nanjing on 19 September 1937. * Chin Han as Major Liu Cuigang (''Zh-Wiki'' - died 26 October 1937 in history), China's top-scoring fighter-ace at that point in time. The movie depicted his death as he crashed his plane into a Japanese tank. In actual history, his death was due to an accident while flying to

Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...

city to assume command of air operations at the ''

Battle of Taiyuan The Japanese offensive called 太原作戦 or the Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a vi ...

'' from the wounded 28th Pursuit Squadron commander Captain ''Chan Kee-Wong'' (another Chinese-American volunteer air force combatant) of fighter operations on the northern front. *

Lee Ching Li Ching, also spelled ''Lee Ching'' (; 8 November 1948 – 22 February 2018), was a Hong Kong actress. Early life Li Ching was born in Shanghai as Li Guoying (), and was raised in British Hong Kong after finishing secondary school and an acti ...

as Ye Rongran, Gao's wife. *

Sally Chen Sally Chen (born 1948) is a Taiwanese actress. She has been nicknamed the "Empress specialist", having portrayed over a dozen Chinese empresses Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality ...

as Xu Xilin, Liu's wife. *

Terry Hu Terry Hu (; born 21 April 1953) is a Taiwanese actor, writer and translator. Life Early life Hu was born Hu Yinyin in Taichung, Taiwan on April 21, 1953, with her ancestral home in Shenyang, Liaoning, the only child of Qu Shifang (), and Hu Gen ...

as Zheng Qiuxia, Li's wife. * Ming Hu (胡銘, actress Terry Hu's younger brother), as fighter pilot Liu Zhesheng *

Carter Wong Carter Wong (born Wong Chia-ta on March 22, 1947) is a Chinese actor and martial artist, who is mainly known for roles in Kung Fu action movies. The biggest movies he was featured in are ''Big Trouble in Little China'' (1986), and ''Yong zheng ...

as a Japanese pilot.

Historical accuracy

In the movie, Col. Gao is accurately depicted recuperating in

Lu Shan Mountain Lu or Lushan (, Gan: Lu-san), officially named Mountain Lu National Park, is a mountain in China. It was also known as Kuanglu () in ancient times. It is situated in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, and is one of the most renowned mountai ...

from serious injuries sustained from an aerial combat engagement, but is seen listening to a radio broadcast announcement of ''"heroic martyrs of our air force

Yue Yiqin Yue Yiqin (or Yue Yi-chin, ; November 11, 1914 – December 3, 1937) was a flying ace of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He achieved five confirmed aerial victories until his death in combat during the Battle of Nanking ...

Zheng Shaoyu Zheng Shaoyu (; 1911–1942), also spelled Cheng Hsiao-yu (Wades-Gile), was born in Qu County of Sichuan province. In 1933–1934, he passed initial qualifications for admission into the China Central Aviation School at Jianqiao Airbase. He gr ...

, Tan Wen, Shen Chonghui giving their lives for our nation"'', to which the convalescing Col. Gao furiously reacts to by throwing a cup and lamenting how he must ''wait'' while his ''brothers are fighting and dying''; while Tan Wen and Shen Chonghui were in fact ''

'' while Col. Gao was convalescing, Yue Yiqin died over a week after the death of Col. Gao himself, and Zheng Shaoyu died in April 1942. The depiction of ''Hawk III'' pilot Li Yougan getting shot down by Imperial Japanese '' A5Ms'' and then being strafed to death while descending in his parachute, was a lionizing of 17th PS, 3rd PG ''P-26/281'' fighter pilot Liu Lanqing (劉蘭清) who was in fact killed when strafed to death mid-air after bailing-out in his parachute in an air battle over

on 19 September 1937; Li Yougan himself was actually ''KIA'' while getting shot-down by anti-aircraft fire on 18 September 1937 during dive-bombing/strafing attacks on

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

warships in the

Awards and nominations

1977 - 14th

* Won - Best Feature Film * Won - Chang Tseng-tse, Best Director * Won - Ho Hsiao-chung, Best Screenplay * Won - Lin Hung-tsung, Best Cinematography * Won - Wang Chi-yang, Best Editing * Won - Hsin Chiang-sheng, Best sound recording * Nominated - Liang Hsiu-shen, Best Actor

References

''Bibliography'' * Cheung, Raymond. ''OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 126: Aces of the Republic of China Air Force''. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015. . * 徐 (Xú), 露梅 (Lùméi). ''隕落 (Fallen): 682位空军英烈的生死档案 - 抗战空军英烈档案大解密 (A Decryption of 682 Air Force Heroes of The War of Resistance-WWII and Their Martyrdom)''. 东城区, 北京，中国: 团结出版社, 2016. .

External links

* * {{GoldenHorseAwardBestFilm Republic of China Air Force personnel Chinese aviators Military personnel of the Republic of China killed in the Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese World War II flying aces 1970s historical films Second Sino-Japanese War films 1970s Mandarin-language films Films set in 1937 1977 films Films about air forces Taiwanese historical films

Cast

Historical accuracy

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links