China Erects Monument To American Pilots?

Oh, you mean those pilots.

China has erected a memorial to the Flying Tigers, a band of U.S. fighter pilots who defended China against Japan during World War II, the government said Tuesday.
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The Tigers were a volunteer band of U.S. military men sent in secret to Asia by President Franklin D. Roosevelt before the United States entered World War II. They joined an air force organized for China by Claire Lee Chennault, a retired U.S. Army colonel.
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The Tigers have become a potent symbol of Chinese-U.S. unity, and communist authorities readily overlook the fact that they fought for the leftists' bitter enemies — the Nationalists who ruled China in the 1930s and '40s.

This really is a simplistic comment. Really, the Communists see the branching point in Chinese history coming in 1949, so anything before then (especially during WWII) was part of the United Fronts.

It is worth mentioning, however, that the Flying Tigers, like most of the Nationalist forces, were basically useless for fighting against Japan. For an excellent retelling of the American experience in China, read Barbara Tuchman's Stilwell and the American Experience in China. If you've ever wondered how a staunch, upper-class Republican could wish for the Communists to win in China, this book will show you how. Essentially, Chiang and the Nationalists refused to fight Japan effectively, driving the American General Stilwell almost insane. After a number of bruising fights with Chiang, he was finally dismissed and replaced with someone more pliable. Still, in his time Stilwell managed to build a sizable American-trained force of Chinese, who were able (when Chiang wasn't interfering) to kick the Japanese back out of Burma in (I think) 1943. Tuchman's is an excellent book, and it contains a decent capsule history of China up to the 1949 Communist victory.