That war can be a turning point in an individual's life or subject a generation to tragedy can be seen by the fate of the Taiwanese who lived through the Sino-Japanese war, or the mainland Chinese who achieved victory against the Japanese but then lived a life of exile in Taiwan.
對照歷經戰火，走過中日兩個交戰政權時代的台灣人，或雖然抗戰勝利卻隨即又展開流亡的外省籍同胞，更可顯出戰爭對於個人生命的扭轉，及那一時代人的無奈悲劇。