China's Wartime Interpreter Program for the U.S. Army, 1941–1945

In order to build a functioning Sino-American alliance during World War II, the Chinese government trained more than 3,300 college students and recent graduates to serve as interpreters with U.S. forces in China. Interpreters made the alliance a reality by enabling American servicemen to communicate with other Chinese, but problems besetting the interpreter program and conflicts between GIs and interpreters intensified over the course of the war, overshadowing the program’s considerable achievements.