Allen-Stinson Burma Road Trip, 1938

Item

Title
Allen-Stinson Burma Road Trip, 1938
Description
In the spring of 1938, shortly after Japan invaded Shanghai, Dr. Stewart Allen and Rev. John Stinson were charged with escorting all the missionary baggage and supplies that had been stuck in Shanghai. They took the French Indochina route into Yunnan and then the Burma Road to Chongqing, with adventures along the way.
Commentary
Accompanying tons of wooden boxes and steamer trunks, Allen and Stinson took a steamer to Hong Kong, then traveled the French Indochina railway from Hanoi to Kunming. From Kunming, they hired eight trucks and drivers to take the baggage to Chongqing, where they reunited with their wives and children. From Hong Kong, the trip took 31 days by ship, rail and truck, with customs stops and river crossings along the way. Allen’s daughter, Phyllis Allen Donaghy, and Stinson’s son, David Stinson, wrote up a narrative of their journey based on letters that the pair wrote at the time.
Location
Hong Kong: April 7 – 24
Haiphong/Hanoi, Vietnam: April 30 – May 4
Indochina Railway: May 4 – 6
Kunming, Yunnan: May 6 – 14
Burma Road to Chongqing: May 14 – 28
Event Date
1938
Provenance
John Stinson
References
Phyllis Allen and David Stinson. 2022. "The Allen-Stinson 1938 Trip into China."
David Crockett Graham. 1941. Heavy Traffic and Many Wrecks on the Burma Road. Missions 32(7): 392-398.
Mallory, Walter H. 1939. The Burma Road. Foreign Affairs 17(3): 625-627.
Item sets
Stinson Family Archives
Media
Burma_Road_Relic_Park.png
The Allen-Stinson 1938 Trip into China

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