54 Facts About Zhang Zongchang

Zhang Zongchang, courtesy name Xiaokun, was a Chinese warlord who ruled Shandong from 1925 to 1928.

Zhang Zongchang's troops were defeated by the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition in 1928, and he fled to Japan before returning to Shandong in 1932, where he was assassinated by a young officer.

Zhang Zongchang was born in 1881 in Yi County in Shandong.

Zhang Zongchang's father worked as a head shaver and trumpeter, and was an alcoholic.

Zhang Zongchang stayed with his mother who had taken a new lover.

Zhang Zongchang successively worked as a pickpocket, bouncer, and prospector.

Zhang Zongchang impressed his commanding officer Cheng Dechuan so much that he appointed Zhang his successor.

Zhang Zongchang responded by murdering the revolutionary Chen Qimei in Shanghai in 1916, proving himself loyal and reliable to Feng.

Zhang Zongchang returned to Manchuria in 1922, and joined the Fengtian clique of warlord Zhang Zongchang Zuolin.

Zhang Zongchang made a good impression, with one story being that he rose in popularity one year at Zhang Zuolin's birthday party: in contrast to other guests who showered the warlord with expensive gifts, Zhang Zongchang sent him two empty coolie baskets and failed to turn up himself.

Zhang Zuolin was baffled until the purpose of the gift was ascertained: Zhang Zongchang's empty basket implied he was a man willing to shoulder whatever heavy responsibilities the warlord entrusted him with.

Zhang Zongchang was rewarded with a command position in his army, though only after proving himself in battle did Zhang Zongchang visit his superior in person.

Zhang Zongchang proved to be one of the more capable warlord generals, making effective use of armored trains.

Zhang Zongchang was one of the first Chinese generals to incorporate women into the military on a large scale, including using a regiment of nurses consisting entirely of White Russian women.

Zhang Zongchang later helped partition Shanghai between the opposing forces.

Zhang Zongchang often caroused in the city with Zhang Zuolin's son, Gen.

Zhang Zongchang became closely connected to Shanghai's criminal gangs and the drug trade.

Zhang Zongchang was appointed military governor of Shandong, which he ruled as warlord until May 1928.

Zhang Zongchang implemented excessive taxes, printed so much provincial currency that it became worthless, and starved public institutions of funds.

Any opposition was brutally suppressed; when a newspaper criticized his regime, Zhang Zongchang promptly ordered its editor shot.

Zhang Zongchang acted as benefactor for artists, writers, entertainers, arms dealers, drug kingpins, diplomats, and Western journalists.

In 1928, NRA troops led by Bai Chongxi defeated and destroyed Zhang Zongchang's army, capturing 20,000 of his 50,000 troops and almost capturing Zhang himself, who escaped beyond the Great Wall to Manchuria.

Zhang Zongchang instigated a parallel revolt in Beijing that was quickly suppressed.

Zhang Zongchang was charged, found guilty by a Japanese court and given the choice between 15 days' imprisonment or a $150 fine.

On 3 September 1932, Zhang Zongchang visited some old comrades in Jinan, including a banquet hosted by Shi Yousan at Han's residence, where he gifted his pistol to Shi after he repeatedly complimented it.

Zheng Jicheng was the nephew of Zheng Jinsheng, an officer of warlord Feng Yuxiang's "Five Tiger Generals", whom Zhang Zongchang had captured and executed on 6 November 1928, during a losing battle on a stretch of the Longhai railway.

Contemporary claims were made that the "filial murder" might have been part of a plan set up by Han to remove Zhang Zongchang with assistance from Shi, who might have aimed to leave Zhang Zongchang defenseless by flattering him into handing over his means of self-protection, as a potential political rival, combined with the fact that Han was a personal friend of Zheng Jinsheng during the Warlord Era.

At Han's house, Zhang Zongchang had actually been inadvertently seated in direct line of sight with a photo of Zheng Jinsheng and was briefly believed to have suspected ulterior motives when his expression changed drastically during the banquet, only to instead take note that exactly thirteen people were in the room.

Zhang Zongchang's funeral attracted family members, ex-retainers, paid mourners, and "the curious"; the funeral procession stretched for 2 miles.

In modern China, Zhang Zongchang is still mainly remembered as a "wicked warlord" representing the violent excesses of his era.

In course of his career, Zhang Zongchang gained a great number of nicknames, most of them derogatory:.

Zhang Zongchang was one of the most infamous and well-known Chinese warlords, and it is difficult to differentiate truth from slander and legends in regards to his life.

Historian Arthur Waldron stated that of all warlords of the time, Zhang Zongchang is "perhaps the one most generally held in contempt".

Zhang Zongchang's opponents stated that his behaviour was "mindlessly brutal" during his military campaigns and that he had "the physique of an elephant, the brain of a pig and the temperament of a tiger".

Zhang Zongchang was notorious for his hobby of splitting the skulls of prisoners with his sword, and for hanging dissidents from telephone poles.

Zhang Zongchang was described as being very brave, and as a "warmonger".

Waldron argued that Zhang Zongchang was one of the most talented military leaders among the Chinese warlords, something his critics refused to acknowledge.

Zhang Zongchang loved to boast about the size of his penis, which became part of his legend.

Zhang Zongchang's concubines included Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Koreans, Mongolians and at least one American.

Zhang Zongchang reportedly ate meat of black Chow Chow dogs every day, as it was popularly believed at the time that this meat would boost a man's virility.

Zhang Zongchang was free with his gifts, lavishly squandering money and concubines on superiors and friends.

Zhang Zongchang often ventured to Beijing to meet with China's high society and go gambling.

Zhang Zongchang repeatedly met and played poker with Oei Hui-lan, a socialite and wife of Chinese statesman Wellington Koo.

Zhang Zongchang later argued that Zhang proved to be a complex character: On one side, he was "so delightfully outrageous that he was disarming", such as when he regularly gambled away tens of thousands of dollars and behaved like a swashbuckler; yet he was highly respectful and friendly towards those whom he respected including Oei.

Zhang Zongchang funded actress Yang Naimei, helping her to set up the Naimei Film Company in Shanghai.

Zhang Zongchang made a pact of brotherhood with the Japanese ronin Date Junnosuke in 1929, which led Date to change his name to Zhang Zongyuan and change his nationality to Chinese.

In summer 1927, a famine struck Shandong particularly hard, and Zhang Zongchang was reported to have gone into a temple of the Dragon King to pray for rain.

When this failed to improve the situation, Zhang Zongchang returned to the temple.

Zhang Zongchang intended to build a shrine devoted to himself, including a large bronze statue, at Daming Lake.

Zhang Zongchang then promoted his own officers, but since there was not enough metal to make the gold and silver stars for their rank insignia, he ordered the stars to be made from the gold and silver paper foil in cigarette packages.

Zhang Zongchang usually travelled with a coffin planted atop a car during his campaigns; this was a typical way at the time to signify one's willingness to die in combat.

At times, Zhang Zongchang would sit in the coffin during his travels and smoke a cigar; he was famous for his consumption of large Cuban cigars.

Zhang Zongchang publicly announced that he would come home in his coffin if he was defeated in battle.

Zhang Zongchang raised a well-armed army of thousands of teenage soldiers for his son to command.