With the advent of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), many Chinese academic, industrial, and government scientists felt compelled to use their expertise to respond to national need and to contribute their talents to the national military and economic development efforts that were taking place in previously underdeveloped areas in western China. Their training often did not correspond well to actual need, and many Chinese scientists found it necessary to retool. To address this imbalance, scientists and bureaucrats alike sought assistance from foreign allies, and addressed proposals to foreign partners such as the United States for the creation of training programs and other scientific advising relationships with foreign partners. Still other Chinese who resided abroad but wanted to make their own contributions to the war effort facilitated these proposals and relationships by liaising with US government contacts and creating scientific/technical/cultural organizations aimed at supporting overseas Chinese and furthering the interests of the Chinese nation. After the United States joined the war in 1941, with the encouragement of overseas Chinese facilitators, the US government became increasingly invested in responding to such proposals and in providing scientific and technical training and advice, as did numerous American scientists who worked during the 1940s as advisors and trainers. Through exploration of a set of short case studies of both Chinese and American scientists and government and non-government institutions, this paper illuminates the complex web of relationships that developed amongst these scientists, bureaucrats, and facilitators.
