Wings of a Flying Tiger

On the verge of the Japanese invasion of Nanking in December 1937, JASMINE BAI, an eighteen-year-old art student, returns to the city and finds it a hell on earth. The Japanese soldiers shoot a woman in front of her and kill her parents. Jasmine flees to the International Safety Zone, passing many corpses along the way. Even inside the Safety Zone, she’s in constant danger: the Japanese come inside to search for the disarmed Chinese soldiers to kill and girls to rape. Jasmine is saved by Father John and Professor Valentine, both Americans. She develops a deep hatred for the Japanese and profound love for Americans.

American pilot DANNY HARDY and his best friend, JACK LONGMAN, join the American Volunteer Group to fight the Japanese in China. They’re the Flying Tigers. In the summer of 1942, Danny watches Jack being killed during aerial combat. Ignoring multiple injuries and malaria, Danny shoots down two more Japanese planes before his airplane is crippled and bails out.

Jasmine and her cousin DAISY BAI hide from the war in a remote village in Yunnan Province. Her wish to repay Americans’ kindness comes true when she, now twenty-three, finds the unconscious Danny Hardy. With the help of an HERBALIST, she saves Danny’s life, and they fall in love with each other. At his 28th birthday celebration, Danny tells the villagers the victorious Battle of the Salween Gorge fought by the Flying Tigers, including himself and Jack.

The news of a downed American pilot leaks out, and the Japanese troops search for him. The herbalist hides Danny, Jasmine, and Daisy in a secret cave. Jasmine returns to the village to retrieve the medicines and is captured by the Japanese. They torture her, cutting her chest and cheek with a sword, and gang-rape her in front of the villagers. Yet, Jasmine refuses to give up Danny.

The seventeen-year-old Daisy also falls in love with Danny. When Jasmine fails to come back, she goes to the village and runs into her brother BIRCH BAI, who is sent to pick up Danny. On their way to escape, they encounter the Japanese soldiers several times. While Birch carries Danny across a gorge, the Japanese destroy the bridge, separating Daisy from the two men. Birch has no choice but to kill her before the Japanese soldiers rape her in front of them. Danny is angry with Birch but more so with himself. He’s a tiger with injured wings and trapped.

Later, Birch tells Danny the truth: The Japanese stabbed the herbalist and his grandson, smashed a toddler’s head, ordered a German shepherd to bite a retarded young man, and machine-gunned everyone else, except Jasmine and three girls who were taken to their camp. On the way, Jasmine jumped off a cliff, ultimately protecting Danny’s whereabouts. One girl escaped and told Birch the story. Danny is devastated and loses hope. Birch helps him to restore his spirits. The two men become sworn brothers. Months later, a legend of an unbeatable Flying Tiger is born.

Jasmine didn’t die! A hunter couple saved her. She’s been weak for months, and the legend of the Flying Tiger boosts her spirits. Soon, however, she realizes she’s pregnant because of the rape. She tries to get help but runs into a snowstorm. Cold and exhausted, she curls up on the snowy ground, closes her eyes, and dreams of the courageous Flying Tiger she loves.