EbayItem 120198295806 Dec 2007
Chang Tso-lin
The railroad car Zhang was inZhāng Zuòlín (Chinese: 张作霖 , pinyin: Zhāng Zuòlín, WG: Chang Tso-Lin) (March 19, 1873 – June 4, 1928), nicknamed the "Old Marshal" (大帥), "Rain Marshal" (雨帥）or "Mukden Tiger", was one of the major warlords of China in in the early 20th century. He was the warlord of Manchuria and at one time ruled an enormous area of north China.

Of humble origins, he assisted the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) as leader of a Manchurian militia unit. He held various military posts under the Republic of China. From his appointment (1918) as inspector general of Manchuria until his death, he had effective control of Manchuria. He constantly warred to extend his rule southward from 1920 onward, contending in a three-way struggle with Wu P'ei-fu and Feng Yü-hsiang for control of the Beijing government. His Fengtien army occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area until driven out (1926) by Chiang Kai-shek in his Northern Expedition. Chiang was then compelling the submission of the warlords and building a national government for China. The time of the warlords was ending.

In 1928 Chang Tso-lin was growing less cooperative toward the Japanese army in Manchuria and he went to Beijing to make his submisssion to Chiang Kai-shek. He was killed by officers of the Japanese Kwantung Army who bombed his train as he was returning to Shenyang having just handed over control of Beijing to the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek. The assassination was performed by a small group of military men commanded by the senior officer of the Kwantung Army, Colonel Daisaku Komoto. This was part of a plot to secure nearly all parts of Manchuria beyond the South Manchurian Railway Zone, which was ceded to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. He was succeeded by his son the "Young Marshal" (少帥) Zhang Xueliang, in control of Manchuria.

Chang Tso-lin (jäng tsō'-lin') [key], 1873–1928, Chinese general. Chang was of humble birth. As the leader of a unit of Manchurian militia he assisted (1904–5) the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War. He held various military posts under the Chinese republic. From his appointment (1918) as inspector general of Manchuria until his death he controlled Manchuria, and from 1920 he constantly warred to extend his rule southward, joining in a three-way struggle with Wu P'ei-fu and Feng Yü-hsiang for control of the Beijing government. His Fengtien army occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area (1926) until driven out by the Northern Expedition (1926). Chang died when the train in which he was retreating to Shenyang before the Kuomintang army was bombed (for reasons still unclear) by officers of the Japanese army in Manchuria. His son, Chang Hsüeh-liang, succeeded to control of Manchuria.

Chang Hsüeh-liang
Chang Hsüeh-liang or Zhang Xueliang (jäng' shüe'-lyäng') [key], 1898–2001, Chinese warlord, son of Chang Tso-lin. On the death (1928) of his father, he succeeded as military governor of Manchuria. He was then known as Chang Hsiao-liang but later changed his name. Chang supported Chiang Kai-shek against a rebellious northern army in 1929–30 and was made vice commander in chief of all Chinese forces and a member of the central political council. Ousted (1931) by the Japanese from Manchuria, he suffered a loss of prestige. In 1936, with the help of Chinese Communists, he had Chiang kidnapped at Xi'an, to compel cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists and to force a declaration of war against Japan. Chiang Kai-shek was released unconditionally a few weeks later. Chang, who then surrendered to Chiang, was tried and sentenced for his part in the affair; he was pardoned but kept in custody until 1962. He was taken to Taiwan when the Nationalist regime fled there in 1949.

Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsüeh-liang (張學良, pinyin: Zhāng Xuéliáng, English: Peter Hsueh Liang Chang) (June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), became the effective ruler of Manchuria and much of Northeast China after the assassination of his father Chang Tso-lin on June 4, 1928 by the Japanese. As an instigator of the Xi'an incident spent three quarters of his life under house arrest, but is regarded by the Chinese people as a patriotic hero.

The Japanese militarists were offended that Chang Tso-lin had made peace with Chiang Kai-shek and believed that Zhang Xueliang, who was an opium addict, would be much more subject to Japanese influence. A group of Japanese army officers therefore killed the old warlord by exploding a bomb under his train on a railroad bridge. Surprisingly, the younger Chang proved to be more independent than anyone had expected. He overcame his opium addiction and declared his support for Chiang Kai-shek. 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. Zhang also tried to eliminate Soviet influence from Manchuria, but relented in the face of a Soviet military build-up. At the same time, however, he developed closer relations with the United States.

In 1930, when Feng Yü-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan attempted to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek’s government, Chang stepped in to support the Nanjing government against the northern Warlords in exchange for control of the key railroads in Hebei Province and the customs revenues from the port city of Tianjin. Following the Mukden Incident and the Japanese invasion of Chang's own domain of Manchuria in 1931, Chang's armies withdrew from the front lines without significant engagements. There has been speculation that Chiang Kai-Shek wrote a letter to Chang asking him to pull his forces back, but later Chang 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 Communist Suppression Campaigns first in Hebei-Henan-Anhui and later in the Northwest.

On April 6, 1936, General Zhang met with Zhou Enlai to plan the end of the Chinese Civil War. In the Xi'an incident (December 12, 1936), Zhang and another general Yang Hucheng kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek and imprisoned the head of the Nationalist government until he agreed to form a united front with the communists against the Japanese invasion.

Chiang at the time took a non-aggressive position against Japan and considered the Communists to be a larger danger to China than the Japanese, and his overall strategy was to annihilate the Communists, before focusing his efforts on the Japanese. However, growing nationalist anger against Japan made this position very unpopular, leading to Zhang's action against Chiang.

The ensuing negotiations were delicate and were not recorded. The apparent outcome was that Chiang agreed to focus his efforts against the Japanese rather than the Communists and in return Zhang would become Chiang's prisoner and cease any political role.

Following Chiang Kai-shek's release, the Young Marshal was tried, convicted, and sentenced to ten years in prison. Chiang Kai-shek intervened and Zhang was placed under house arrest. In 1949, Zhang was transferred to Taiwan where he remained under house arrest, spending his time studying Ming dynasty poetry. Only in 1990, after the death of Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, did he gain his freedom. Zhang was the world's longest-serving political prisoner.

After regaining his freedom, he emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993. There were numerous pleas for him to visit mainland China, but Zhang, claiming his political neutrality towards both the Communists and the KMT, declined. He never set foot in China again. He died of pneumonia at the age of 101 and was buried in Hawaii.