Chinese Forces

Zhang Xueliang

nicknamed the "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang became the effective ruler of Manchuria and much of North China after the assassination of his father Zhang Zuolin by the Japanese on 4 June 1928. As an instigator of the Xi'an incident he spent over 50 years under house arrest, but is regarded by the People's Republic of China as a patriotic hero. On 6 April 1936, Zhang Xueliang met with Zhou Enlai to plan the end of the Chinese Civil War. In the Xi'an incident (12 December 1936), Zhang and another general Yang Hucheng kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek and imprisoned the head of the Kuomintang government 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, Zhang chose to return to the capital with him. However, once they were away from Zhang's loyal troops, Chiang had him put under house arrest. In 1949 with the evacuation of the Republic of China from mainland China, Zhang was transferred to Taiwan where he remained under a loose house arrest during the next 40 years in a villa in Taipei's northern suburbs. He spent his time studying Ming dynasty literature and the Bible.