Xi'an Incident

The Xi'an Incident, an important event in modern Chinese history, temporarily ended open hostility between the Communist and Nationalist movements and enabled China to present a unified opposition to Japanese aggression.

The incident emerged in 1935, in the aftermath of the Long March of 1934, when the Communists, now located in Yenan province in the northwest, urged all Chinese factions to unite to resist Japanese aggression. Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi, 1887–1975), the Nationalist leader, wanted to continue his anti-Communist campaign and to destroy that threat before dealing with the Japanese.

The Communist call for a united front appealed to many Chinese, including General Zhang Xueliang (1901?–2001) and his army, who longed to return to their homes in Manchuria, now occupied by the Japanese. Chiang ordered Zhang and General Yang Hucheng and their armies to attack the Yenan redoubt of Mao Zedong (1893–1976), but neither the generals nor their troops showed much cooperation.

On 3 December 1936, Chiang flew to Zhang's and Yang's headquarters in Xi'an to put pressure on them to launch a military offensive. Nine days later, Zhang arrested Chang and presented eight demands that centered on a united front against Japan and a halt to the anti-Communist campaign. The crisis worsened when Nationalist generals in Nanjing threatened to attack the two generals in Xi'an and then perhaps launch an all-out offensive against the Communists. It appeared to many that China might break down into chaos.

At this point, the Communist leader Zhou Enlai (1898–1976) offered to negotiate, for the Communists had decided that the threat of civil breakdown was worse than Chiang's continuing in power. Zhang agreed to restore Chiang to power, and Chiang nominally agreed to pursue a united front. Zhang then accompanied Chiang to Nanjing to explain the situation and perhaps to apologize for his actions, but Zhang was arrested, tried, and eventually sentenced to house arrest that lasted until 1962. Zhang later moved to the United States, where he died.

Kataoka, Tetsuya. (1974) Resistance and Revolution in China: The Communists and the Second United Front. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Wu, Tien-wei. (1976) The Sian Incident: A Pivotal Point in Modern Chinese History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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