b'Lih Chien, concerned for the well-being of his country and fellow coun-trymen, decided to forgo his scholarship to study in the United States and joined the military effort against Japan instead. In October of 1937, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed as the commander of the guard battalion for the Xiaoyi Army Ordnance Factory located in Gong County, Henan (). In November of the same year, Lih was ordered to relocate the factorys workers and equipment safely and se-cretly to Yanxi, Hunan, to avoid bombing and destruction by Japanese forces. In the early days, effective resistance against the Japanese was stifled by a lack of supplies and weapons. Arms manufacturing, in particular, was crippled because China relied heavily on Japanese imports for their pro-ductionneeds.OncethefactorywassuccessfullyrelocatedfromHenan toHunan,LihChien,usinghisbackgroundinchemistry,discoveredal-ternative formulae that used local raw materials instead which enabled the factorytoonceagainmassproducetheweaponsthatChinadesperately needed. The factory, eventually renamed the 11th Army Ordnance Factory (), was instrumental in Chinas resistance against the Japa-nese aggressors.Because the secrecy of its location was critical, the soldiers and workers of the factory were not allowed to go out freely. Their activities were re-stricted, and it was difficult for them to get outside information. In an effort to boost morale, Lih, at the request of the factory director, published a news-paper, the Youth Daily, featuring news from the factory as well as current national and international events, he even composed motivating and uplifting lyrics for the factorys anthem. In spite of the difficult living conditions in the mountains of Hunan, the factory and military personnel managed to contribute greatly to the victory of the Chinese army and people. The 11th Army Ordnance Factory became the largest producer of arms in the country at the time, and the outstanding con-tributions it made during the Second Sino-Japanese War were known even by 13'