China Diaries: A Novel of Pre-War China
Few remember there was a war raging in China years before Pearl Harbor was bombed. Though most are aware of Europe’s holocaust, China was experiencing its own suffering under the Japanese siege of Shanghai, the infamous rape of Nanking, the capture of Hankow and finally Hong Kong the day World War 2 began. Almost missing from this history is the story of sex slavery and atrocity: of the so-called comfort women, of wholesale massacres, medical experiments, germ and biological warfare. Then there is the story of stateless refugees fleeing the holocaust of Germany and Russia seeking refuge under China’s extraterritoriality laws—laws that stoked even higher the flames of Chinese resentment already burning for most anything foreign.
Fewer still remember the major part played Pan American World Airways and their subsidiary, CNAC, the Chinese National Aviation Corporation. As the Japanese closed remaining seaports and all but the famous Burma Road, these airlines provided the only communication left with the West. Indeed, during the days after Pearl Harbor one of Pan Am’s Clippers, trapped in Australia, flew the first commercial round-the-world flight even as CNAC pioneered flying the most dangerous route in the world—the famous Burma Hump, and the only interior route to the west not controlled by the Japanese. This backdrop sets the stage for my fictional characters to intermingle with the heroes who actually lived during those times and tells their fascinating story. Here’s a synopsis: It’s 1994. All Captain Stephen Cannon knows of Anna, his Russian émigré mother, and Alex, his aviation-pioneering father, is from their China Diaries, their personal journals that chronicle their courtship in China through Pearl Harbor. Then, after an epic escape from the siege of Hong Kong by Clipper, carrying important documents to the States, Anna disappears into the maelstrom in 1943.
From the diaries, Stephen has always been embittered by his conviction that Anna abandoned him as a baby and returned to China with no explanation. Now, fifty years later, he receives a call from a Chinese exchange student whose great uncle has just emigrated to Hong Kong from the PRC bringing with him Anna’s Russian map case, journals, a strange medal, and the incredible story of how they escaped the infamous Japanese rape of Nanking, in 1938. Beset with revisionists intent on suppressing his mother’s story, Stephen jets to China to recover the diaries and discover the real she left. In doing so, he enters the nineteen-thirties world of his mother: a China beleaguered with warring political factions, ten years of Japanese aggression, espionage, love, betrayal and an environment where émigré women survived using their wits and beauty.
China Diaries (A SCREENPLAY)
finalist: LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL SCREENPLAY AWARDS
China Diaries (A SIX-PART TV MINISERIES)
Based on true events.
EPISODE ONE: THE CHINA DIARIES. A phone call changes Stephen Cannon's life. He jets to Hong Kong, retrieves his mother’s diaries, and learns of her escape from Russia, coming of age, Shanghai nightclubs, her disappointing first love, employment with Pan Am/CNAC and is promoted to management in Nanking.
Cast: [STEPHEN] Protag, pilot, 50s, strong willed, poor relationships. [ANNA] Protag, 18, beautiful, smart. [SAUL] Anna’s BF, 18. [MATSUMOTO] 50s, Japanese Ultra Nationalist. [HOVANS] Antag, 40s, cabaret owner, [BILLY] 30s, marine, Anna’s first love. [BORIS] Antag, 40s, Hovans’ thug. [BOND] Mentor, CNAC ops manager, 60s. [PETER] Anna’s father.
EPISODE TWO: NANKING. Anna is caught up in the terror of Nanking. She meets and helps MINNIE VAUTRIN, mistress of Ginling College and saves teen girls from rape and, sex slavery and death. Running for their lives, Anna and CHUNG SI escape Nanking by Sampan.
Added cast: [CHUNG SI] 20s, Anna’s assistant. [MINI VAUTRIN] 40s, mistress of Ginling college. [BO FAT] 20s, Yangtze waterman. [CHUNG SI] 20s, Anna’s assistant and escape partner. [MOON CHIN] 20s, pilot.
EPISODE THREE: HONG KONG. Still with Pan Am/CNAC, Anna flees to Hong Kong for a new life, and meets ALEX Cannon, a Clipper pilot. The siege of Hong Kong begins. Anna and Alex marry and flee for their lives with a secret report for Washington Intel as Pearl Harbor is attacked, Hong Kong falls, and WW2 begins.
Added cast: ALEX CANNON, 20s, a Clipper pilot and Anna’s true love. CNAC Captain SHARP, 30s, organizes teams to save CNAC’s remaining aircraft.
EPISODE FOUR: FLIGHT. Leaving the night of their wedding in a CNAC DC-3, the newlyweds escape the siege of Hong Kong to Chungking, then over the Burma Hump to Rangoon and then Trincomalee. Here, they join Pan Am’s PACIFIC CLIPPER fleeing Westbound from Pearl Harbor. The Clipper makes history, becoming the first commercial flight around the world.
Added cast: [CAPT FORD] 40, pilot, Pacific Clipper. Nine Clipper crew.
EPISODE FIVE: AMERICA. After their epic flight, Anna and Alex arrive in the states and report on the infamous Japanese Unit 731. Stalked by ARNAUD BOUCHER Anna is coerced to return to China as a Japanese spy. Instead, she joins the OSS and returns as an undercover agent.
Added cast: [CAPT BERGANTZ] 40s, ONI Washington chief. Stephen’s parents. [ARNAUD BOUCHER] 40s, spy for the Japanese.
EPISODE SIX: CHINA. Anna returns to China, sets up spy ring, confronts Sergei, and is captured. Now, in present time, Stephen shows Akira that it was his father, Matsui Matsumoto that tortured Anna. Both arc, and Stephen finds love in his beautiful translator suggesting a better future.
Added Cast: [MATSUI MASUMOTO] Anna’s tormentor. [SUSIE LIU] Prostitute and ally. [ASHER SWARTZ] 60s, tailor and spy go-between.