| Home |
| Brief Intro |
| Main Characters |
| About Xi'an |
| Causes |
| December 12, 1936 |
| Meeting |
| Results and Importances |
| Timeline |
| Annotated Bibliography |
| Process Paper |
| About The Author |
| Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hsueh-Liang) was born in 1901. His father was the strongest warlord controlling Manchuria. In 1928, young Zhang took his father’s place after his father was killed by the Japanese. Ignoring opposition from Japan, Zhang made his army obey President Jiang Jieshi. On September 18, 1931, Japan easily took control of Manchuria because Zhang followed Jiang's order not to defend. Jiang then ordered Zhang to kill the remaining Communist troops in Northwest. Zhang was unwilling to kill Communists, and arrested Jiang Jieshi in Xi'an on December 12, 1936. He released Jiang on December 25 and immediately was jailed. He went to Taiwan and became free until 1988, when Jiang Jiseshi's son died. He spent rest of his life in Hawaii until his death in 2001. |  |
| Zhang
Xueliang (1901-2001) |
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Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) was born in 1898. He was the most important figure in the Nationalist Party after Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925. Jiang became the Chinese President. Jiang wanted to kill all Communists, but was abandoned because Zhang Xueliang kidnapped him to force to unite with Communist. He led China in World War Two, but was defeated in Civil War, and escaped to Taiwan, where he died in 1976. |
| Jiang
Jieshi (1887-1976) |
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Yang Hucheng was born near Xi'an. He strongly disagreed with Jiang's policy on Communists. He was an assistant to Zhang, and fled the country after the incident. When the Marco Polo Bridge Incident happened in 1937, his willingness to fight against Japanese was refused by Jiang. He was secretly killed in 1949. He was a great general and was considered a Chinese national hero. |
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| Yang
Huchen (1893-1949) |
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Zhou Enlai (Chou En-Lai) was educated in France where he got many Western ideas. Zhou played an increasingly important role in the Communist Party. He also had very good personal relation with President Jiang. He represented his party in the Xi’an Incident and played an important role in the incident. His logical persuasive statements convinced everyone. He became the first Prime Minister of the Communist China in 1949. Zhou met with Nixon in 1972 in order to improve relationship between two nations. He died in 1976 childless. |
| Zhou
Enlai (1898-1976) |