XI'AN INCIDENT - MEETING
   
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December 12, 1936
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Communist Party representatives arrived on December 17. Nationalists "First Lady" Song Meiling, and her brother Song Ziwen arrived on December 22.

Song Ziwen's diary, recently published by Stanford University, described Jiang Jieshi during the incident: "My brother-in-law [Jiang] had not eaten anything since then [the Xi'an Incident] he talks very little, and he doesn't really like the situation now and worries about the nation more..."
The communist Zhou Enlai used various strategies to gain advantages for his struggling party. Zhang understood he was being used by smart Communists and aggressive Nationalist rivals of Jiang.

Zhou Enlai softened stubborn Jiang. On December 17, Zhou said to Jiang, "Mr. Jiang, I know you miss your son, Jingguo, and you want to see him, but you do not where he is. We know he is a communist in Russia now. Though he does not want to see you, we have force him to meet you."
Qin Bang Xian, Ye Jian Ying and Zhou Enlai

Jiang, once angry, was appreciative by Zhou. This dramatic news not only affected the incident, but also affected the Chinese history, because Jingguo became the leader of Taiwan after Jiang's death.

Most of the newspapers supported Zhang and Yang's actions, while some conservative ones accused the rude actions of Zhang. Inside the Nationalist Party, some hated Jiang and wanted Zhang to kill Jiang.

Zhang regretted arresting Jiang, and was fearful about those rumors about killing Jiang. He also found out arresting Jiang would make things even worse and messed. Jiang Jieshi had seen the willingness of Chinese people against Japanese, and had changed his mind to fight with Japanese. Their cooperation resulted in easy quick negotiations.

Each side reached an agreement on December 24. The Nationalists would stop anti-Communist actions and instead, would unite with the Communists to fight the Japanese. President Jiang Jieshi also promised, "As long as I am still alive, no actions against Communists will be allowed in China."

See Result
Designed and Edited By Hanzhe Zhang