Role of Kuomintang veterans recognized

Xia Xiaobo cannot wipe from her mind the memory of her first trip to Tengchong, Yunnan province, in much the same way she failed to wipe the accumulating rainwater from the gravestones in Tengchong Guoshang Cemetery nearly a decade ago.

"There they were, scattered across the mountain slope under a leaden sky," recalls Xia, who is now 21. "The rain was persistent and cast a misty gauze over the surroundings, while streaming down the grey stone slabs. Even to a little girl, they were a sad and lonely sight. When I looked closely, some didn't even have names."

More than 3,000 soldiers of China's Expeditionary Force are buried in the 13-acre plot of land. They were among the 9,168 who died in 1944, during the four-month battle to retake the county of Tengchong from the Japanese.