CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Herbert Yardley dubbed as the American "father of codes" once built the "American Black Chamber" that specifically designed to engage in decoding. During the Anti-Japanese War period, he was invited to Chongqing - the then Anti-Fascist Far-East Command Centre, and he built the Chinese Black Chamber and helped China decode a large number of Japanese Army's codes.

On June 23rd, Zhang Rongxiang, the vice curator of Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, the Chinese Black Chamber built by Yardley became China's secret trump for the war. His decoding of Japanese Army's code telegrams had kept a host of Chinese people from the bombing of Japanese planes.Moreover, one year after he left China, the chamber in which he had devoted a lot of efforts decoded the intelligence of Japanese Army's intention to attack Pearl Harbour.

What did Yardley do after he returned to the US? Zhang said that data showed that Yardley once opened a restaurant but without success after he didn't deal with codes any more. In 1945, he wrote his legendary experiences of decoding codes in Chongqing into a book - The Chinese Black Chamber – An Adventure in Espionage. (Translated by Tang Zhiqiang, Fathom Language Limited)