Race the Rising Sun

This book is about Zhejiang University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, which was forced to evacuate from the Hangzhou when the Japanese arrived in 1937 and began torturing civilians, raping women, bombing towns, burning farms, and destroying factories, homes, schools, and libraries. The faculty, staff, and students fled to a succession of towns where they sought refuge from the war and set up temporary classrooms to continue with their educational mission.

This exodus lasted eight years and spanned over a thousand miles. They faced constant fear and worry due to malnutrition, disease, abject poverty, and enemy air strikes. But with the resilience and spirit of its faculty and students, the University survived to help revitalize a devastated nation.