Chang Hsueh-liang nonetheless retained Manchuria's de facto autonomy until the Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the region in 1931.
16 Facts About Chang Hsueh-liang
2.
Chang Hsueh-liang 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.
3.
Northeastern soldiers under Chang Hsueh-liang's command arrested Chiang to force him to negotiate a Second United Front with the Chinese Communist Party against Japan.
4.
Chiang eventually agreed, but upon his release he had Chang Hsueh-liang arrested and sentenced to 50 years of house arrest, first in mainland China and then in Taiwan.
5.
Chang Hsueh-liang was born in Haicheng, Liaoning province on June 3,1901.
6.
Chang Hsueh-liang was educated by private tutors and, unlike his father, the warlord Zhang Zuolin, he felt at ease in the company of westerners.
7.
Chang Hsueh-liang graduated from Fengtian Military Academy, was made a colonel in the Fengtian Army, and appointed the commander of his father's bodyguards in 1919.
8.
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.
9.
Surprisingly, the younger Chang Hsueh-liang 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.
10.
Chang Hsueh-liang 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.
11.
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.
12.
In 1930, when warlords Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan attempted to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government, Chang Hsueh-liang 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.
13.
Apparently, Chang Hsueh-liang was aware of how weak his forces were compared to the Japanese and wished to preserve his position by retaining a sizeable army.
14.
Chang Hsueh-liang 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.
15.
In 1949, Chang Hsueh-liang was transferred to Taiwan, where he remained under house arrest for the next 40 years in a villa in Taipei's northern suburbs, where he received occasional guests.
16.
Chang Hsueh-liang died of pneumonia at the age of 100 at Straub Hospital in Honolulu, and was buried in Hawaii.