Robert "Butch" C. Brown (1899-1978) was a dyestuff sales manager working in exports for the DuPont Company's Organic Chemicals Department.

Brown was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to Elizabeth Long Brown (1874-1908) and Felix Manning Brown (1871-1938). He had two siblings, Manning Brown Jr. (1898-1974) and Madeline Brown Jr. (1906-1990). His father and brother were both doctors.

After his marriage to Grace E. Dickinson (1904-1972) in October 1927, Brown was assigned to DuPont's China Branch in December 1927. He managed the Hankow Office. (Hankow, also romanized as Hankou, is part of modern-day Wuhan.)

Robert and Grace Brown had four daughters; the eldest two were born abroad and were living in China with their parents at the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Grace Brown and the children evacuated via Hong Kong around the end of February 1938. Brown left for Hong Kong on April 13, 1938. He and his family returned to Delaware in 1938.

DuPont (China), Inc. was a firm established to manage the exports of dyestuffs manufactured in China by the DuPont Company's Organic Chemicals Department.

DuPont’s first big entry into the Chinese market occurred in 1917, when the company sent R.S. Lunt (dates unknown) to investigate the prospects for exporting dyestuffs to replace European articles interdicted by World War I. Blue cloth being a popular item throughout China, Lunt selected indigo as the product most likely to succeed, and this proved to be the case, although the company later exported sulphur black, other dyes, rubber chemicals, and agricultural chemicals.

In March 1921, Dr. Francis A.M. Noelting (1886-1964) arrived in Shanghai as sales manager for dyestuffs. However, the importation of dyestuffs was in the hands of a “dye guild’ of Chinese merchants who demanded that DuPont form a joint enterprise with fifty percent Chinese capital. Whether for lack of experience with local customs or some other cause, Noelting managed to offend the “dye guild” and botched the negotiations. He explored the possibilities in Japan, which he soon decided were unfavorable. In China, Noelting achieved success by bypassing the guild at Shanghai and making direct contact with cloth dyers in the interior. Often this involved arduous trips by river boat or sedan chair into regions were there were no paved roads and unsafe conditions were prevalent. On the whole, this strategy was successful, and DuPont developed a network of sales agencies in many of the Chinese provinces. The main office remained in Shanghai under Dr. Noelting, where there was also a small processing plant. Noelting employed a number of native Chinese, particularly those who had studied technical subjects in the U.S., in responsible positions. Eventually, a separate firm, DuPont (China), Inc., was incorporated in Delaware to handle the Chinese export business.

DuPont’s operations were naturally hindered by the outbreak of war between Japan and China in the 1930s and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Shanghai. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese seized the Shanghai office and plant and turned it over to the Chugai Investment Company, a subsidiary of Mitsui. As many of the employees either had managed to evacuate or were not American citizens, most of the staff seems to have escaped being sent to prison camps but were left to fend for themselves. The office in Chungking in unoccupied China was also closed.

After the war, the company managed to repossess most of its property, but business increasingly felt the impact of the civil war between Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists and Mao Tse-tung’s Communists, culminating in the latter’s occupation of Shanghai and victory in 1949. At first, it appeared that the Communists would allow some foreign trade to continue subject to restrictions and occasional confiscations. However, Western recognition of the Nationalist regime on Taiwan as the legitimate Chinese government, and the severing of relations with and economic boycott of Mao’s regime on the mainland, soon put an end to DuPont’s Chinese venture. Noelting retired at the end of 1949. The Shanghai office was closed, and a reduced operation was moved to Hong Kong under Gantt W. Miller Jr. (1909-1978).

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a conflict between China and Japan, which began on July 7, 1937, and ended with Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II on September 2, 1945. The Japanese Imperial Army sought to gain control over China's resources and territory. Skirmishes between the two countries had been going on since 1931. The catalyst that sparked the war is known as the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" on July 7, 1937. The Japanese military was conducting an exercise near the bridge, which led to a dispute with Chinese troops, and ended with a fire exchange. Afterwards, hostilities escalated and Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China.

At the end of July 1937, Japan captured the Chinese cities of Beiping (Beijing) and Tianjin. Shanghai was captured on November 26, 1937, after months of fighting. The Chinese were victorious at the Battle of Pingxingguan on September 25, 1937.

The Battle of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking) is also known as the Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing, which took place from December 1937 to the end of March 1938. The Japanese army carried out mass executions and other atrocities against captured Chinese soldiers and civilians. An estimated 300,000 Chinese people were killed during this time.

During 1938 and 1939, Japan captured several cities, including Wuhan, Guangzhou (Canton), and Nanchang (in Jiangxi Province). The Chinese army was consistently able to defend Changsha, but the city endured multiple battles and bombings leaving much of the city destroyed.

The Second Sino-Japanese War is often regarded as the start of World War II in Asia. The start of World War II is generally considered to be the Invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939.

Japan entered World War II when it invaded French Indochina on September 20, 1940, as part of its operations against China. The Tripartite Pact was signed on September 27, 1940, by Japan, Germany, and Italy.

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base in Hawaii. The attack caused the United States to enter the war, and the Second Sino-Japanese War became part of the broader Pacific War.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which in turn brought about Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, marking the end of both World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. The official surrender occurred on September 2, 1945.