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The Xi'an Incident of December 1936 (), an important turning point in Chinese modern history, took place in the city of Xi'an during the Chinese Civil War between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the insurgent Chinese Communist Party and just before the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 12 December 1936, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Kuomintang, was arrested by Marshal Zhang Xueliang, a former warlord of Manchuria, and Commander of the North Eastern Army who had fought against the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and subsequent expansion into Inner Mongolia by the Japanese and troops of the puppet state of Manchukuo that had been created in Manchuria. The incident led to a truce between the Nationalists and the Communists so as to form a united front against the threat posed by Japan. Some facts about the incident still remain unclear today as most of those involved died without revealing details. Before the Xi'an Incident, the Chinese Communist Party had established itself in Shaanxi province following being driven from Jiangxi and other regions in southern China in 1934. Japan had invaded northeast China in 1931, only coming to a temporary halt in 1933 after having captured Rehe Province. Chiang Kai-shek's response to the invasion had been weak, and he had failed to support commanders such as Marshal Zhang, who had fought back to halt Japan's advance. He Yingqin, a pro-Japanese senior general in the Kuomintang, was preparing to lead military forces to Xi'an from the KMT capital, Nanjing at the time of the incident. This appeared to be putting more of northern China at risk of conquest by the Japanese, something which was to come true in 1937. Some believe the steps taken by Marshal Zhang were inspired by the Soviets, but there were sufficient grounds for Zhang and Yang Hucheng to act on their own behalf in order to develop an effective resistance to the Japanese invasion. The Xi'an Incident is seen as turning point for the Chinese Communist Party, as before the incident the party itself was facing a new round of assaults by Kuomintang forces. Chinese nationalism had been roused by the Japanese invasion, but potential Chinese resistance was strengthened by the Xi'an Incident, leading to the United Front of Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. Ultimately it would benefit the Chinese Communists once the Chinese Civil War revived after the defeat of Japan in 1945. However, Joseph Stalin always remained ambivalent in his support of the Chinese Communist Party and he and its leader Mao Zedong became hostile to each other by the early 1950s. ==Background== Zhang Xueliang, known also as The Young Marshal, was the son of Zhang Zuolin, warlord of Manchuria in northeast China. For sometime prior to the Kuomintang-led China-uniting Northern Expedition (1926–1927), the elder Zhang was being quietly supported by the Japanese government. When it became imminent the advancing Expedition forces would defeat Zhang and thus threaten Japanese interests in Manchuria, rogue elements within the Kantogun (Japan's Army in Manchuria) forcibly halted the Expedition in Ji'nan and assassinated Zhang on the grounds he was an unreliable ally, hoping to capitalise on the confusion caused by his death. They miscalculated however, and his son quickly pledged his allegiance to Chiang Kai-shek, turning his forces over to Kuomintang control and supported Chiang in his war of unification against other warlords such as Li Zongren, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan. As a reward, Zhang remained ruler of Manchuria and even extended his influence to Northern China around Beijing and Hebei. Following the Mukden Incident of 1931, the Japanese invaded with defections of Chinese generals and the flight of the local governments, and quickly took full control of Manchuria. As with the other generals who tried to resist the invasion, Zhang's forces lacking equipment and reinforcements due to Chiang's reluctance to fight the Japanese, were pushed back. By 1936, his father's assassination and the loss of his homeland made Zhang one of the leading opponents of the Japanese among the Chinese general staff. Zhang left China for military training in Europe. After his return, Zhang and his Northeastern China Army were sent to Anhui and Hubei to suppress the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party. The CPC was forced on the Long March after suffering heavy losses and then set up another base in Yan'an, Shaanxi. Zhang and his troops were transferred to Shaanxi again for suppression in 1936, where he worked with General Yang Hucheng, who used to be a general of Northwestern China Army and a favorite of Feng Yuxiang but later defected to Chiang’s camp. Zhang and Yang suffered great losses in their attempted suppression of the CPC, and Chiang did not give them any support in manpower and weaponry. It was quite natural for them to think Chiang would take advantage of CPC’s resistance to eliminate their own armies, which were not of Chiang’s own Whampoa Clique. Zhang and Yang began to contact the CPC secretly, and, while overtly accepting Chiang's policies, covertly opposed Chiang’s leadership. Zhang and Yang reached an agreement with CPC for temporary peace. CPC even sent many members to work for Yang. At the same time, the tension between China and Japan rose day by day. Japan was hoping to conquer China in its entirety by invading vast areas of Northern China. Japanese troops fought against the Kuomintang troops along the Great Wall in 1933. Then in 1935, under the accord signed between He Yingqin, the commander of Kuomintang armies in Northern China, and Yoshijirō Umezu, the commander of Japanese troops in Northern China, elite Kuomintang troops related to the group Blue Shirts Society, core of Chiang’s Whampoa Clique, had to evacuate from Beijing and Northern China, which put the whole of Northern China under direct threat of Japanese invasion. But Chiang preferred to unite China by eliminating the warlords and CPC forces first. Chiang believed he was still too weak to launch an offensive to chase out Japan and China needed time for a military build-up. Only after unification would it be possible for the Kuomintang to mobilize a war against Japan. So he would rather ignore the discontent and anger within the Chinese people at his policy of compromise with the Japanese, and urged Zhang and Yang to carry out suppression efficiently. Meanwhile, Joseph Stalin and his Soviet Union in the 1920s and early of 1930s stood by Japan’s invasion of China at first, for they too had also invaded Manchuria and waged a war against Zhang and his father. The Soviets were hoping to make their own territorial gains at the expense of China, dividing it with the Japanese as they would do later with Germany over Poland in Europe. Soon the Soviets became wary of the Japanese ambition and success, fearing it might hurt Soviet interests in the Far East. Then, Stalin began to favor a stronger Chinese resistance to Japan. Under the authorization of Stalin and Comintern, the delegation of CPC to Comintern led by Wang Ming issued a manifesto urging Chinese to set up a new united front against the Japanese, which was later called the Ba Yi Xuan Yan. In this manifesto, Wang acknowledged the archenemy of CPC at the present stage was Japan instead of Chiang. But this received cold shoulders from Mao Zedong and his associates, who ruled the CPC and greatly disagreed with Chiang's policies. These were the complicated situations and relationships between the domestic and foreign parties which preceded the incident. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Xi'an Incident」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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