Xi'an Incident
In 1931, the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria, a region rich in resources and strategic importance. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek ordered General Zhang Xueliang not to resist this invasion. Chiang believed China was unprepared for war with Japan while still fighting a civil war against the Communists. He called his policy "first internal pacification, then external resistance." The Chinese Communist Party viewed this nonresistance as treasonous. They saw Chiang as a pawn of the Japanese invaders. By late 1932, some Communist guerrilla groups began cooperating with Nationalist guerrillas against the Japanese occupiers. This cooperation remained limited and unofficial.
The political landscape shifted dramatically after the Long March ended in October 1935. The CCP arrived in northern Shaanxi with over 90% of its original numbers lost. Their new base area was economically backward and cut off from the outside world. It bordered the Ordos Desert to the north and Shanxi province to the east. To the south and west lay the Northwest Bandit Suppression Headquarters. This command consisted of the 130,000-strong Northeastern Army led by Zhang Xueliang and the 40,000-strong Northwestern Army led by Yang Hucheng. Both generals were former warlords who had pledged their armies to the Nationalist government but retained significant independence.
Relations between Nanjing and Tokyo deteriorated sharply in late 1935. Japan stepped up expansionist policies in north China. Chiang Kai-shek feared a full-scale invasion was imminent. He wanted to secure material and diplomatic support from the Soviet Union. Public pressure mounted for active resistance against Japan. On the 9th of December 1935, a major student protest broke out in Beiping. Chiang sent emissaries to Moscow to negotiate a military mutual assistance treaty. However, progress halted when the Soviet ambassador insisted Chiang must negotiate directly with the CCP. Chiang called off negotiations after news leaked that he was contemplating a treaty with the USSR.
Zhang Xueliang governed Manchuria before it was overrun by the Japanese. He and his army strongly wished to retake their homeland. They resented the policy of nonresistance ordered by Chiang Kai-shek. Zhang found himself fighting Communists instead of Japanese invaders. This frustration drove him toward secret cooperation with the enemy. Yang Hucheng also became skeptical of Chiang's anti-Japanese commitment. He suppressed anti-Japanese demonstrations in December 1935 and found the offer of a united front persuasive. With officer Nan Hanchen acting as intermediary, Yang quickly concluded a secret ceasefire with the CCP.
Negotiations with Zhang took longer to begin. But after Dong Jianwu requested passage to CCP territory on his mission from the central government, Zhang realized the central government was negotiating with the Communists. He decided to do so himself. By the 25th of February 1936, the Communists had agreed to a temporary ceasefire. On the 9th of April, Zhou Enlai arrived at Zhang Xueliang's headquarters in Xi'an to solidify their agreement. Zhou formalized the covert ceasefire and secured supplies for the Red Army. In May, the CCP formalized a non-aggression pact with the Northwestern Army as well.
Zhou and Zhang held a series of secret meetings to discuss what a united front could look like. Zhang argued that resisting Japan would only be possible if the CCP let Chiang lead the united front. Zhou offered to discuss this point but refused to commit to changing policy. Meanwhile, Zhang tolerated growing Communist influence within the Northeastern Army. Communist cadres spread ideas among soldiers and recruited officers into secret societies. In June they set up an officer training camp that preached the virtues of a united front. His army's receptiveness helped persuade Zhang to conclude a formal alliance on the 22nd of September.
Chiang Kai-shek and his entourage drove from Luoyang to Xi'an on the 4th of December 1936. They made preparations for another assault on the Communists. Chiang stayed at the Huaqing Pool complex, an ancient resort located about 10 miles outside Xi'an. His associates remained in the city itself, housed in the newly built Western Capital Hotel. Zhang, Yang, and Chiang met to discuss policy but reached an impasse once again. Chiang shouted at Zhang that "I am the Generalissimo; I do not err; I am China; and China cannot do well without me!"
On the 9th of December, Chiang threatened Zhang and Yang that if they did not attack the Communists, he would remove them from command. He ordered their forces reassigned to distant provinces. This threat may have been the final straw confirming Zhang's intention to launch a coup. The meeting was interrupted by the arrival of tens of thousands of students demonstrating for a united front. Chiang demanded that Zhang disperse the crowd or he would have his guards open fire on them. Zhang promised the students "a definite reply in action within one week."
At 10 PM on Friday, the 11th of December, Zhang Xueliang ordered Sun Mingjiu, captain of his personal guard, to arrest Chiang Kai-shek. At 5 AM on the 12th of December, Sun led a few hundred soldiers on an assault of the Huaqing Pool complex. They reached the gate at 6 AM where they were asked for the password. Unable to give it, they began a firefight with Chiang's guards. In panic, Chiang fled out of his window. He jumped over the wall surrounding the compound, injuring his back in the process. Without his false teeth or one shoe, he fled up the side of a snow-covered mountain. He was discovered hours later shivering and exhausted. Sun carried Chiang down the mountain on his back.
Moscow received news of Chiang's arrest on the 13th of December. Georgi Dimitrov, head of the Comintern, was initially delighted. He prepared to authorize Chiang's execution until reading articles in Pravda and Izvestia condemning the Xi'an Incident as a plot by pro-Japanese elements. Stalin made it clear that he viewed Chiang as indispensable. He feared that without Chiang, figures like ex-Premier Wang Jingwei might take control of the Nationalists and create a pro-Japanese regime. This would place the Soviet Union in extreme danger of Japanese invasion.
Stalin's anxieties increased when Wang Jingwei met with Adolf Hitler to discuss China enlisting in the anti-Communist Axis. Pan Hannian advised Stalin that without Chiang, "China would be without a leader to fight the Japanese." Following Stalin's orders, the Comintern sent a telegram on the 16th of December instructing the CCP to bring the incident to a peaceful conclusion. The telegram was not received until the 17th and would not be fully decrypted for several days. However, by the 17th, CCP leadership had already learned Moscow's stance from public news sources and decided to change course.
On that day, the CCP announced they desired a peaceful settlement. On the 18th of December, they recanted their former call for a public trial of Chiang as inappropriate. Zhou Enlai arrived in Xi'an late on the 17th in the middle of an extremely delicate situation. A faction led by Yang Hucheng and radical young officers wanted to execute Chiang. But Zhang was gravely concerned about the Central Government's military response and lukewarm support from fellow warlords. Zhou had to carefully walk back the CCP's radical stance and break bad news to Zhang without jeopardizing the northwest alliance.
Zhang made it clear to Chiang that he must accept some demands before release. Chiang initially refused to talk. The situation improved when William Donald arrived on the 14th of December. Donald knew both men and convinced Chiang to accept better lodgings at Gao Guizi's house. He also predicted that holding Chiang hostage would undermine their cause in the eyes of the Chinese public. T.V. Soong, Chiang's brother-in-law, flew to Xi'an after learning Chiang was still alive. He arrived on the 20th of December. Zhang told him he was ready to negotiate but warned he would turn Chiang over to Communists if the Central Government launched a full-scale attack.
Soong and Donald could not convince Chiang to negotiate and returned to Nanjing on the 21st of December. They returned the next day with Soong Mei-ling and Dai Li, head of Nationalist military intelligence. Finally, his wife persuaded Chiang to negotiate. He refused to sign any document but verbally agreed to reshuffle the government, hold a national salvation conference three months later, reorganize the Kuomintang, and approve an alliance with Russia and cooperation with the Communist party. On 23, the 24th of December, negotiations were held between Zhou, T.V. Soong, Soong Mei-ling, Zhang, and Yang. These talks resulted in a more concrete agreement though still unsigned by Chiang.
On the 24th of December, Chiang received Zhou for a meeting, the first time they had seen each other since Zhou left Whampoa Military Academy over ten years earlier. Zhou began by saying: "In the ten years since we have met, you seem to have aged very little." Chiang nodded and replied: "Enlai, you were my subordinate. You should do what I say." Zhou said that if Chiang halted civil war and resisted Japan instead, the Red Army would willingly accept his command. Chiang then agreed to accept terms finalized earlier that day.
When Chiang arrived in Nanjing he was greeted by cheering crowds of over 400,000 people. The American journalist Edgar Snow declared Chiang returned with national standing higher than any leader in modern Chinese history. The Generalissimo made a show of taking responsibility for insubordination but repeatedly attempted to resign all posts. He was refused each time. The event served to further consolidate power within the Nationalist government into Chiang's hands. Historian Jay Taylor writes how Xi'an turned Chiang from a popular leader into a national hero.
Chiang moved swiftly to punish the conspirators. Zhang was arrested upon arrival in Nanjing and brought before a court-martial on charges of treason on the 31st of December. He was sentenced to ten years in prison which Chiang commuted to house arrest. Zhang remained under house arrest for over 50 years until 1990 after deaths of both Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. Chiang sent 37 army divisions north to surround the Northeastern Army and force them to stand down. The army was deeply divided on appropriate response. A conference of Northeastern officers in January overwhelmingly resolved not to surrender peacefully. However, five most senior generals led by Wang Yizhe met separately and decided to surrender.
This enraged radical officers in the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society who assassinated Wang Yizhe on the 2nd of February. They confronted Zhou Enlai as well threatening to kill him in retribution for his betrayal of Zhang Xueliang. Zhou managed to convince them to stand down. Nonetheless, the northwest alliance had been fatally damaged and subsequently disintegrated. Wang Yizhe's assassination turned majority of army against radicals. The Northeastern Army peacefully surrendered to General Gu Zhutong in February. Yang Hucheng was forced into exile but voluntarily returned to China in November 1937. He was immediately arrested and executed in September 1949.
Early historians assigned serious importance to the crisis. First book-length study by Tien-wei Wu subtitled it "pivotal point in modern Chinese history." But beginning in 1990s historians started downplaying impact. Parks Coble writes basic concepts determining Nationalist policy remained same even before coup. Rana Mitter points out terms agreed at Xi'an differed little from outline already in works months prior. Hans van de Ven argues main importance was both CCP and Chiang survived given how close both got to destruction.
At spot on mountain where Zhang Xueliang's bodyguards captured Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist government built monument called National Resurrection Pavilion. It renamed Seizing Chiang Pavilion after 1949 then Bingjian Pavilion in 1980s. In 1982 historic sites involved became part of Second Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at National Level. They remain popular tourist attractions in China in early twenty-first century.
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Common questions
What was the Xi'an Incident and when did it occur?
The Xi'an Incident occurred on the 12th of December 1936 when Zhang Xueliang arrested Chiang Kai-shek to force a united front against Japan. This political crisis involved Nationalist generals seizing the leader to end civil war and resist Japanese invasion.
Who were the main figures behind the Xi'an Incident?
Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng led the coup against Chiang Kai-shek while Zhou Enlai negotiated the terms with the Communist Party. William Donald, T.V. Soong, and Soong Mei-ling facilitated negotiations that secured Chiang's release.
Why did Stalin oppose the execution of Chiang Kai-shek during the Xi'an Incident?
Stalin viewed Chiang as indispensable because his removal might allow pro-Japanese figures like Wang Jingwei to take control of China. The Soviet Union feared that without Chiang, they would face extreme danger from a potential Japanese invasion.
How long was Zhang Xueliang under house arrest after the Xi'an Incident?
Zhang Xueliang remained under house arrest for over 50 years until 1990 following the deaths of both Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. He was sentenced to ten years in prison by court-martial on the 31st of December before Chiang commuted the sentence.
What agreement ended the Xi'an Incident on the 24th of December 1936?
Chiang Kai-shek verbally agreed to halt civil war, resist Japan, reorganize the Kuomintang, and approve an alliance with Russia and cooperation with the Communist party. These terms were finalized through negotiations involving Zhou Enlai, T.V. Soong, and Soong Mei-ling.