Zhang Xue Liang

Zhang Xue Liang 张学良 is a very controversial figure who played a crucial role during the Anti-Japanese War and the shaping of modern day China. His switching allegiance between the political parties has left many to question his legacy. Should he be viewed as a national hero or a traitor?

Zhang Xueliang was born on June 3, 1901. His nickname was "Young Marshal" after his father “Old Marshall” was a powerful warlord of the Manchuria region. Upon the death of his father in 1928 he became a high ranking military general in the National Army. This is where he developed a close friendship with the leader of the Kuo Ming Tang, Chiang Kai Shek.

He was raised in the Shenyang Grand Marshal Mansion in Shenhe District, Shenyang. The mansion complex was built in 1914 and covers an area of 36,000 square meters and 74 rooms. It is divided into 3 courtyards with a Siheyuan building (courtyard dwelling) and a Western mansion

You can also visit the Shenyang Finance Museum which was originally the Bianye Bank of Zhang. The museum includes the original display of the original Bianye Bank's trading floor and the president's office, history of financial development in the Northeast and the story of money.

He later resided with his wife Zhao Si in Tianjin at Shao Shui Fu. Former Residence of Zhang Xueliang is a three-story building of mixed Western and Chinese style. The residence has been restored with furnishings typical of the era and features photos and text on the life of Marshal Zhang Xueliang. The music, decorations, clothing, furniture and panoramic figures are all accurate reproductions of what the house might have looked like when Zhang lived in Tianjin's French Concession.

But tensions were rising as the Japanese had invaded the northern part of China and Chaing Kai Shek was still warring with the Communist party. Zhang Xue Liang wanted China’s army to stop fighting each other and instead to focus on the Japanese invaders. And so he had a secret meeting with the communists and developed a conspiracy plot to capture Chiang Kai Shek.

On 12 December, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and another general Yang Hucheng stormed the HuaQing Hot Springs where Chiang Kai-shek, the head of the Kuomintang government was located. It is said that it took Chiang Kai-shek 15 minutes to flee up the stairs into the mountains where he was found shivering behind a rock. This became known as the “Xián Incident” and is marked with original bullet holes and engravings in the stones by military generals. Jiang was detained and forced to cooperate with the communists against Japanese invasion.

The result was nearly a decade of uneasy cooperation between Chiang's Nationalists and the Communists, until the end of World War II. The long reprieve helped the Communists recover their strength and positioned them to conquer the entire Chinese mainland in 1949.

If Mr. Zhang had joined the Communists after the kidnapping, he might’ve been treated like a national hero. Instead, feeling that he should do penance for having challenged his superior, he surrendered to Chiang -- and was promptly placed under house arrest, vanishing from public view for more than half a century

Chiang took him to Taiwan when the Nationalists fled there in 1949, and Mr. Zhang remained hidden from view, his name never mentioned, as he whiled away the decades reading the Bible and studying history.

He later sought asylum in Hawaii, America and died on 15 October 2001 aged 100 never returning to his home country China. After his death, many celebrated Zhang as a patriotic hero who sacrificed himself to unite the Chinese people against a foreign enemy.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/world/zhang-xueliang-100-dies-warlord-and-hero-of-china.html