Striking personal stories are told within the context of bitter and dangerous conflicts in China and Burma between 1927 and 1951. Included is a detailed diary written by author's mother, Josephine Chapman about her 700 mile escape from the Japanese Invasion of Burma, 1941/2, where along with tens of thousands of others both civilian and military she was forced to trek through the dense jungle and over the mountains of northern Burma to India. Later in 1949 her family were driven out of their home and fled from civil war in Burma with nothing except food for the baby. These conflicts led to the military regime when the country was cut off from the world for many years, with some continuing today in 2017. Josephine's sister Marian had arrived in China in 1926 and experienced hostility to foreigners and struggles with the language while witnessing the bitter civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists. Her family later escaped from the Japanese in 1943, it was a difficult journey travelling many hundreds of miles by whatever means they could through China, India and the Suez Canal, taking 6 months to reach England. Included are many historic photos of Burma taken by the author's aunt between 1937 and 1966, with some added from visits to Myanmar in 2012.