BEIJING: Over 200 international kite fliers visited the former site of the Weihsien internment camp in Weifang, Shandong province, on April 18, for a peace-themed event during the 42nd Weifang International Kite Festival.
Participants visited the museum’s exhibits and signed a 24-meter kite adorned with Weifang’s “International Peace City” logo and flags of 25 nations linked to the site’s wartime history.
Participants wrote messages including “Flying Dreams, Embracing Peace” on the kite, which was later flown and donated to the museum.
In the 1940s, a missionary compound was converted into the internment camp. During the final two years of World War II, over 2,000 Western civilians from 25 countries in Europe and North America endured difficult times in the camp.
Throughout that time, villagers who lived near the camp risked their lives to secretly deliver food, medicine and crucial intelligence to the civilians and aided some of them to escape. In 1945, with the help of the local Chinese, these expatriates were successfully liberated by the United States military.
Today, the camp has been developed into a large hospital, a school and a museum. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
