On the Death of Zhang Xueliang
TADOKORO Takehiko Trustee of Toho Gakuen
Mr. Zhang Xueliang died on October 14 in Hawaii where he
had been staying. He was a hundred years old.
Newspaper articles and obituary columns reported his death
by highlighting the leading role he played in the Sian Incident
of 1936. It is true that this incident - in which Zhang
detained Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), supreme leader
of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and demanded
the formation of an anti-Japanese Nationalist-Communist
United Front - marked the turning point in modern Chinese
history, and I have no objections concerning the significance
of his role. However, Zhang - who was not a Communist -
had his reasons for taking such action. His father Zhang
Zuolin had been blasted to death by the Japanese army, and
he was forced to flee his homeland and ruling territory
in Dongbei after the Manchurian Incident, also known as
the September 18 Incident. His actions were borne of a deep
enmity against Japan.
Incidentally, on the night of September 18, 1931, the
day the Manchurian Incident occurred, Zhang Xueliang was
not in his stronghold of Shen-Yang. He was in Beijing, in
a theater, watching a Beijing Opera. In 'The Night of September
18,' a chapter of his book "Ten Tales From Beijing," writer
Murakami Tomoyuki offers a vivid description of the scene.
The young Murakami was living in Beijing at the time, and
on that night had also been at the Zhong He Xi Yuan Theater
in Qian Men Wai. The program was "Yu zhou feng" featuring
Mei Lan Fang. On that particular evening, Murakami found
a group of Chinese soldiers about the size of a platoon
posted at the entrance of the theater. He entered, wondering
why they should find it necessary to guard Mei Lan Fang,
and saw that the only vacant seat in the packed house was
the special boxed seats on the second floor and the space
immediately behind it. There was a piece of white cloth
hanging from the balustrade in front of the boxed seat.
Some time into the performance, Zhang Xueliang and his wife
at the time Yu Fengzhi appeared and took those seats. Zhang,
who at 30 was the effective ruler of Manchuria and Northern
China, was attired in a shirt and dress coat, and spent
the evening irritably puffing at his cigarette and looking
around at the audience. His behavior was in stark contrast
with that of his wife, who kept her eyes intently on the
stage. Murakami observed in Zhang that night 'that peculiar
sullenness displayed by the clown that is the husband at
the end of a quarrel between a married couple.'
At around eleven, an attendant rushed to his side and whispered
something into his ears, and with that Zhang led the entourage
out of the theater. It was the very moment that Zhang Xueliang
learned of the Manchurian Incident. Murakami even records
the fiery crimson color of the lining inside the cloak the
attendant threw over him.
In those days, Zhang Xueliang was a pleasure-seeker who
took to smoking opium. But following the Sian Incident,
that same man was to spend half a century under house arrest
on Jiang Jieshi's orders. He finally regained his freedom
in the mid 1980s and began making media appearances, which
included an interview with the NHK in 1990. Despite his
age of 90, he spoke in a steady manner, making comments
such as "my entire life was ruined by Japan" and "I don't
want the young people of Japan to ever commit the same mistake.
In the final analysis, military force solves nothing."
The handsome "Young General" who was transformed by the
September 18 Incident went on to lead China towards unity
in the Sian Incident. And though he was forced into a life
of prolonged captivity, his integrity remained intact. Japan's
lawless deeds and invasion in the past was what made him
rise to the occasion. The Japanese should remain diligent
in their efforts to see the past as it is, just like people
in all the other countries of the world.
The author is a Trustee of Toho Gakuen and former Beijing
Bureau Chief of the Asahi Shimbun.
November 2, 2001
