China building memorial park for 'Flying Tigers'

China is building a memorial park to commemorate the "Flying Tigers," the American airmen who fought on the Chinese side against Japan's World War Two invasion, state media said Monday.

The park near the tourist town of Guilin in the south of the country will include the Yangtang airfield used by the Flying Tigers nearly 70 years ago, Xinhua news agency said.

The 23-million-dollar park will include a museum, a monument and replicas of the war-time command post and barracks, the report said.

The American Volunteer Group, nicknamed the Flying Tigers for their courage, was formed in 1941 under US General Claire Lee Chennault before the United States formally entered the war.

Their exploits have been documented in numerous Hollywood movies and television shows, and they remain legendary in China.

More than 2,200 American Flying Tigers airmen and more than 900 of their Chinese counterparts died in the war, Xinhua said.

The report did not say when the park would open.