Chang Hsueh-liang

Born in Haicheng, Liaoning province in 1901, Chang Hsüeh-liang was educated by private tutors and, unlike his father, felt at ease in the company of westerners.[7] He graduated from Fengtian Military Academy, was made a colonel in the Fengtian Army, and appointed the commander of his father's bodyguards in 1919. In 1921 he was sent to Japan to observe military maneuvers, where he developed a special interest in aircraft. Later, he developed an air corps for the Fengtian Army, which was widely used in the battles that took place within the Great Wall during the 1920s. In 1922, he was promoted to Major General and commanded an army-sized force. Two years later, he was also made commander of the air units. Upon the death of his father in 1928, he succeeded him as the leader of the Northeast Peace Preservation Forces (popularly "Northeast Army", 东北军 Dōngběi Jūn), which controlled China's northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Fengtian, and Jilin (Kirin).[8] In December of the same year he proclaimed his allegiance to the Kuomintang (KMT; Chinese Nationalist Party).

Chang with Chiang Kai-shek in November 1930.

The Japanese believed that Chang Hsüeh-liang, who was known as a womanizer and an opium addict, would be much more subject to Japanese influence than was his father. On this premise, an officer of the Japanese Kwantung Army therefore killed his father, Zhang Zuolin (the "Old Marshal"), by exploding a bomb above his train while it crossed under a railroad bridge. Surprisingly, the younger Chang proved to be more independent and skilled than anyone had expected. With the assistance of Australian journalist William Henry Donald, he overcame his opium addiction and declared his support for Chiang Kai-shek, leading to the reunification of China in 1928.

He was given the nickname "Hero of History" (千古功臣) by PRC historians because of his desire to reunite China and rid it of Japanese invaders; and was willing to pay the price and become "vice" leader of China (not because it was good that he was supporting the Kuomintang). In order to rid his command of Japanese influence, he had two prominent pro-Tokyo officials executed in front of the assembled guests at a dinner party in January 1929. It was a hard decision for him to make. The two had powers over the heads of others. Zhang was a fierce critic of many of the Soviet Union's policies, which served to undermine Chinese sovereignty, including its interference in Outer Mongolia. When he attempted to wrest control over a part of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Heilongjiang from the Soviets, he was beaten back by the Red Army.[9] At the same time, he developed closer relations with the United States.

Chang Hsüeh-liang, and Chiang with their respective wives, Yu Feng Tze and Soong Mei-ling.

In 1930, when warlords Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan attempted to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government, Chang stepped in to support the Nanking (Nanjing)-based government against the Northern warlords in exchange for control of the key railroads in Hopeh (Hebei) and the customs revenues from the port city of Tianjin. A year later, in the September 18 Mukden Incident, Japanese troops attacked Chang's forces in Mukden (Shenyang) in order to provoke a full-on war with China, which Chiang did not want to face until his forces were stronger.[10] In accordance with this strategy, Zhang's armies withdrew from the front lines without significant engagements, leading to the effective Japanese occupation of Zhang's former northeastern domain.[11] There has been speculation that Chiang Kai-Shek wrote a letter to Chang asking him to pull his forces back, but Zhang later stated that he himself issued the orders. Apparently, Chang was aware of how weak his forces were compared to the Japanese and wished to preserve his position by retaining a sizeable army. Nonetheless, this would still be in line with Chiang's overall strategic standings. Chang later traveled in Europe before returning to China to take command of the Encirclement Campaigns, first in Hopeh-Honan (Henan)-Anhui and later in the Northwest.

On 6 April 1936, Chang met with CPC delegate Zhou Enlai to plan the end of the Chinese Civil War. KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek at the time took a non-aggressive position against Japan and considered the communists to be a greater danger to the Republic of China than the Japanese, and his overall strategy was to annihilate the communists before focusing his efforts on the Japanese.[10] He believed that "communism was a cancer while the Japanese represented a superficial wound." Growing nationalist anger against Japan made this position very unpopular, and led to Chang's action against Chiang, known as the Xi'an Incident.

On 12 December 1936, Chang and Gen. Yang Hucheng kidnapped Chiang and imprisoned him until he agreed to form a united front with the communists against the Japanese invasion. After the negotiations, Chiang agreed to unite with the communists and drive the Japanese out of China. When Chiang was released, Chang chose to return to the capital of Nanking with him. Once they were away from Zhang's loyal troops, Chiang had him put under house arrest. From then on, he was under constant watch and lived near the Nationalist capital, wherever it moved to.

Former residence of Chang Hsüeh-liang in Wufeng, Hsinchu County, Taiwan.

In 1949, Chang was transferred to Taiwan, where he remained under loose house arrest for the next 40 years in a villa in Taipei's northern suburbs, where he received the occasional guests. Much of his time was spent studying Ming dynasty literature, the Manchu language, collecting Chinese fan paintings, calligraphy and other works of art by illustrious artists (a collection of more than 200 works, using his studio's name "Dingyuanzhai" (定遠齋), was auctioned with tremendous success by Sotheby's on 10 April 1994). Zhang studied the New Testament Bible. In 1964, he formally married Edith Chao, daughter of a senior official, who left her family in her teens to become his companion and later followed him into exile. His first wife, Ms. Yu, said she was so moved by Ms. Chao's devotion that she released her husband from his vows. Chang and his wife, Edith, became devout Christians who also regularly attended Sunday services at the Methodist chapel in Shilin, a Taipei suburb, with Chiang Kai-Shek's family. After Chiang's death in 1975, his freedom was officially restored.

Chang immigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1995. There were numerous pleas for him to visit mainland China, but Chang, citing his political closeness with the KMT, declined. He died of pneumonia at the age of 100[lower-alpha 1] at Straub Hospital in Honolulu,[2] and was buried in Hawaii.

Chang Gravesite at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park