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The two most important events in Zhang Xueliang’s life are the September 18th Incident and the Xi’an Incident. What is the general appraisal on his involvement in these two incidents? |
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See answer below. |
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The two most important events in Zhang Xueliang’s life are the September 18th Incident and the Xi’an Incident. What is the general appraisal on his involvement in these two incidents? |
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The most notable things Zhang Xueliang did in his lifetime are: He upheld national unity at the end of the Northern Expedition (北伐) and during the Central Plains War (中原大戰); he implemented the Non-Resistance Policy during Japan’s invasion of Northeast China; he failed to defend the Shanhai Pass (山海關) and Rehe Province (熱河) from Japan’s attacks; he participated in exterminating the Communists in Shaanxi and Gansu; and initiated the Xi’an Incident. However, the two most influential events he involved were the September 18th Incident and the Xi’an Incident. During the September 18th Incident, Zhang ordered his troops to implement the Non-Resistance Policy, which often brough him criticism. Although some believed that the policy was Chiang Kai-shek’s order, Zhang insisted that he was the one mainly responsible for it until his death. It was generally believed that Zhang should be held accountable for the loss of Northeast China for two reasons. First, he was the top military and political leader in Northeast China. Second, the Zhang family had ruled Northeast China for a long time since his father Zhang Zuolin (張作霖) established the Fengtian clique (奉﹝奉天﹞系). Due to different stances, the KMT and the CCP viewed the Xi’an Incident differently. For example, on the one hand Mao Zedong (毛澤東) said, “The Xi’an Incident liberated us from prison”, and Zhou Enlai appraised Zhang as a “National Hero” and “Hero of History”. On the other hand, Chiang sent him to the military tribunal and put him under house arrest for a long time. In 1990, Zhang regained his freedom and died at the age of 100 in 2001. |