On the Death of Zhang Xueliang
TADOKORO Takehiko / Trustee of Toho Gakuen
November 2, 2001
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.
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.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
張学良の死に思う
田所 竹彦 / 桐朋学園理事
2001年 11月 2日
張学良氏が10月14日、逗留先のハワイで死去した。百歳だった。
新聞記事やコラムは、1936年の西安事件の立役者だったことをクローズアップして彼の死を伝えた。国民党最高指導者の蒋介石を監禁し、国共合作を迫ったこの事件が中国現代史の転換点になったのは事実で、その評価に異論はない。ただ、共産主義者でもない張がそのような行動をとるのには、理由があった。父の張作霖を日本軍に爆殺され、満州事変（9・18事変）で、故郷であり、支配地でもあった東北を追われた。日本に対する深い怨みが、彼をそうさせた。
ところで、満州事変の起きた1931年9月18日夜、張学良は本拠地の瀋陽にはいなかった。北京にいたのである。劇場で、京劇を見ていた。村上知行が書いた『北京十話』の一章、「九・一八の夜」はその情景を鮮やかに描いている。
北京に住んでいた若い日の村上氏もその夜、前門外の中和戯院にいた。出し物は梅蘭芳の「宇宙鋒」。ところが、その夜に限って劇場の玄関に一個小隊ほどの中国兵がいる。梅蘭芳を護衛するわけでもなかろうに、と思いながら入ると、満員のなかで二階の特別ボックスとその後ろだけが空いていて、ボックスの前の手すりから白い布が下がっている。劇がだいぶ進んで、その席についたのは、張学良と当時の夫人、于鳳至だった。満州と北支の事実上の王者だった30歳の張は燕尾服、ワイシャツの姿だったが、煙草を吸ったり客席を見回したり、落ち着かない。舞台を見つめたままの夫人とは対照的だった。村上はその夜の張に「夫という道化役者が夫婦げんかの終わりに示す、あの奇妙な不機嫌さ」を見出した。
11時近くになって従者があたふたと駆けつけて耳打ちし、張を先頭に一行は劇場を後にした。満州事変発生を彼が知った瞬間だ。従者が掛けたマントの燃えるような真紅の裏地の色まで、村上は記している。
当時の張学良は遊び達者で、アヘンも吸っていた。その張が西安事件のあと、半世紀にわたって蒋介石に軟禁された。80年代半ばにやっと自由を回復した張はマスコミにも登場するようになり、90年にはNHKのインタビューにも応じた。90歳の高齢ながら、しっかりした語り口で「私は一生を日本によって台無しにされた」「日本の若者は二度と過ちを繰り返してほしくない。武力は結局、何も解決しえない」などと語った。
優男の青年将軍が、9・18を経て変わり、西安事件で中国を団結に導いた。自らは長い軟禁生活を強いられたが、その剛直さは失われなかった。日本の過去の無法と侵略が、彼を立ち上がらせたのだ。日本人は、過去をあるがままに見つめる努力を怠ってはならない。他のすべての国の人びとと同じように。
（筆者は桐朋学園理事、元朝日新聞北京支局長）
新聞記事やコラムは、1936年の西安事件の立役者だったことをクローズアップして彼の死を伝えた。国民党最高指導者の蒋介石を監禁し、国共合作を迫ったこの事件が中国現代史の転換点になったのは事実で、その評価に異論はない。ただ、共産主義者でもない張がそのような行動をとるのには、理由があった。父の張作霖を日本軍に爆殺され、満州事変（9・18事変）で、故郷であり、支配地でもあった東北を追われた。日本に対する深い怨みが、彼をそうさせた。
ところで、満州事変の起きた1931年9月18日夜、張学良は本拠地の瀋陽にはいなかった。北京にいたのである。劇場で、京劇を見ていた。村上知行が書いた『北京十話』の一章、「九・一八の夜」はその情景を鮮やかに描いている。
北京に住んでいた若い日の村上氏もその夜、前門外の中和戯院にいた。出し物は梅蘭芳の「宇宙鋒」。ところが、その夜に限って劇場の玄関に一個小隊ほどの中国兵がいる。梅蘭芳を護衛するわけでもなかろうに、と思いながら入ると、満員のなかで二階の特別ボックスとその後ろだけが空いていて、ボックスの前の手すりから白い布が下がっている。劇がだいぶ進んで、その席についたのは、張学良と当時の夫人、于鳳至だった。満州と北支の事実上の王者だった30歳の張は燕尾服、ワイシャツの姿だったが、煙草を吸ったり客席を見回したり、落ち着かない。舞台を見つめたままの夫人とは対照的だった。村上はその夜の張に「夫という道化役者が夫婦げんかの終わりに示す、あの奇妙な不機嫌さ」を見出した。
11時近くになって従者があたふたと駆けつけて耳打ちし、張を先頭に一行は劇場を後にした。満州事変発生を彼が知った瞬間だ。従者が掛けたマントの燃えるような真紅の裏地の色まで、村上は記している。
当時の張学良は遊び達者で、アヘンも吸っていた。その張が西安事件のあと、半世紀にわたって蒋介石に軟禁された。80年代半ばにやっと自由を回復した張はマスコミにも登場するようになり、90年にはNHKのインタビューにも応じた。90歳の高齢ながら、しっかりした語り口で「私は一生を日本によって台無しにされた」「日本の若者は二度と過ちを繰り返してほしくない。武力は結局、何も解決しえない」などと語った。
優男の青年将軍が、9・18を経て変わり、西安事件で中国を団結に導いた。自らは長い軟禁生活を強いられたが、その剛直さは失われなかった。日本の過去の無法と侵略が、彼を立ち上がらせたのだ。日本人は、過去をあるがままに見つめる努力を怠ってはならない。他のすべての国の人びとと同じように。
（筆者は桐朋学園理事、元朝日新聞北京支局長）
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟