Chang Hsueh-liang

Chang Hsueh-liang (June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also romanized as Zhang Xueliang and known later in life as Peter H. L. Chang, was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1928 to 1936 and the commander-in-chief of the Northeastern Army after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin.

A reformer who was sympathetic to nationalist ideas, he completed the official reunification of China at the end of The Warlord Era by pledging loyalty to the Nationalist government in Nanjing.

Chang Hsueh-liang was born in Haicheng, Liaoning province on June 3, 1901.

Chang was educated by private tutors and, unlike his father, The Warlord Zhang Zuolin, he felt at ease in the company of westerners.

Chang graduated from Fengtian Military Academy, was made a colonel in the Fengtian Army, and appointed the commander of his father's bodyguards in 1919.

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 1921 he was sent to Japan to observe military maneuvers, where he developed a special interest in aircraft.

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 "Northeastern Army"), which controlled China's northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Fengtian, and Jilin.

In December of the same year he proclaimed his allegiance to the Kuomintang (KMT; Chinese Nationalist Party).

The Japanese believed that Chang Hsueh-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, 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 and declared his support for Chiang Kai-shek, leading to the reunification of China in 1928.

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.

In May 1929, relations between the Kuomintang Nanjing and the excessively strengthened Feng Yuxiang worsened.

In addition, the Japanese government, dissatisfied with the pro-Kuomintang policy of Zhang Zuolin, and now his son, threatened to "take the most decisive measures to ensure that the Kuomintang flag never flies over Manchuria".

The "Young Marshal" supported Nanjing, and Feng's troops were pushed back to the outlying provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, and in July 1929, Japan officially recognized Kuomintang China.

At the same time, Chang Hsueh-liang and Chiang Kai-shek held a personal meeting in Beiping, at which a decision was made on the armed seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway or CER.

By pushing Chang Hsueh-liang to take this step, Chiang Kai-shek sought to make the Young Marshal completely dependent on Nanjing and at the same time raise his prestige and get most of the profits from the operation of the CER at the disposal of Nanjing.

Chang Hsueh-liang, in turn, believed that the capture of the CER would strengthen his position in the Northeast, allow him to personally manage the profits of the CER, and ensure his independence from Nanjing.

As a result, on July 10, 1929, the Conflict on the CER began.

However, the Red Army showed a higher combat capability, and the conflict ended with the signing of the Khabarovsk Protocol of December 22, 1929.

In 1930, when warlords Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan attempted to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government, Chang stepped in to support the Nanjing-based government against the Northern warlords in exchange for control of the key railroads in 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 Shenyang in order to provoke a full-on war with China, which Chiang did not want to face until his forces were stronger.

In accordance with this strategy, Chang's armies withdrew from the front lines without significant engagements, leading to the effective Japanese occupation of Chang's former northeastern domain.

There has been speculation that Chiang Kai-Shek wrote a letter to Chang asking him to pull his forces back, but Chang 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 Hebei-Henan-Anhui and later in the Northwest.

He nonetheless retained Manchuria's de facto autonomy until the Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the region in 1931.

With the assistance of Australian journalist William Henry Donald and Dr. Harry Willis Miller, he overcame his opium addiction in 1933 with the administering of Cantharidin auto-serum therapy.

He was given the nickname "Hero of History" 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).

He was frustrated by Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" and helped plan and lead the 1936 Xi'an Incident.

Northeastern soldiers under Chang's command arrested Chiang to force him to negotiate a Second United Front with the Chinese Communist Party against Japan.

Chiang eventually agreed, but upon his release he had Chang arrested and sentenced to 50 years of house arrest, first in mainland China and then in Taiwan.

Although never personally a communist, Chang is regarded by the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China as a patriotic hero for his role in ending the encirclement campaigns and beginning the war of resistance against Japan.

On April 6, 1936, Chang met with CPC delegate Zhou Enlai to plan the end of the Chinese Civil War.