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Zhang Zuolin | |
|---|---|
張作霖 | |
 Zhang in 1924 | |
| Generalissimo of the Military Government of China | |
| In office June 18, 1927 – June 4, 1928 | |
| Premier | Pan Fu |
| Preceded by | Wellington Koo (as actingpresident) |
| Succeeded by | Tan Yankai (as chairman of the national government) |
| Warlord of Manchuria | |
| In office 1922 – June 4, 1928 | |
| Succeeded by | Zhang Xueliang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1875-03-19)March 19, 1875 |
| Died | June 4, 1928(1928-06-04) (aged 53) Shenyang, Fengtian,Republic of China |
| Manner of death | Assassination by bombing |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Political party | Fengtian clique |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 14, including: |
| Awards | Order of Rank and Merit Order of the Golden Grain Order of Wen-Hu |
| Nickname(s) | Old Marshal Rain Marshal Mukden Tiger King of the Northeast |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Years of service | 1895–1928 |
| Rank | Grand Marshal of the Republic of China,generalissimo |
| Battles/wars | |
Zhang Zuolin[a] (March 19, 1875 – June 4, 1928) was a Chinesewarlord who ruledManchuria from 1916 untilhis assassination in 1928, he led theFengtian clique, one of the most powerful factions during theWarlord Era. In 1927, he became the leader of theBeiyang government and was declaredGeneralissimo of theRepublic of China.
Born to a poor peasant's family in Manchuria, Zhang became a prominentmounted bandit in the region in the 1890s. After theBoxer Rebellion, his troops became a regiment of theQing dynasty's army, and during theRusso-Japanese War, they were hired by theJapanese Army as mercenaries. During the1911 Revolution, Zhang initially fought against the revolutionaries, and after the foundation of the Republic of China supported theBeiyang government. Zhang founded theFengtian clique and gradually expanded hisNortheastern Army, which established his supremacy over the three northeastern provinces (Fengtian,Jilin andHeilongjiang).
Zhang's government in Manchuria initiated important reforms and investments in agriculture and industry, resulting in good development. He was supported by the Japanese, who viewed him as best representing their economic interests. Seeking to extend his power to northern China, Zhang fought wars against theAnhui andZhili cliques, after which he became the most powerful figure in the Beiyang government and proclaimed himself Generalissimo in 1927. Zhang's troops were defeated by theKuomintang'sNorthern Expedition in 1928. During his retreat,he was assassinated by officers of the JapaneseKwantung Army. He was succeeded in Manchuria by his son,Zhang Xueliang, who recognized theNationalist government.
Zhang was born in 1875 inHaicheng,[1] a county in southern Fengtian province (modernLiaoning) in northeastern China, to poor parents. He received littleformal education, and the only non-military trade that he learned in his lifetime was a small amount ofveterinary science.[2] His grandfather had come to the northeast after fleeing a famine inZhili (modernHebei) in 1821. As a child, Zhang was known by the nickname "Pimple." He spent his early youth hunting, fishing and brawling.[2] He huntedhares in the Manchurian countryside to help feed his family. In appearance he was thin and short.[3]
Zhang asserted that he was aHan ChineseBannerman.[4]
When he became old enough to work, he got a job at a stable in an inn, where he became familiar with many bandit gangs operating in Manchuria at the time. At the age of twenty, he enlisted as a cavalry soldier to fight in theFirst Sino–Japanese War (1894–1895). After the end of the war, he returned to his hometown and became amounted bandit.[2] In one version of his beginnings as a warlord, during a hunting trip he spotted a wounded bandit (Honghuzi) on horseback, killed him, took his horse and became a bandit himself. By his late 20s he had formed a small personal army, acquiring something of aRobin Hood reputation.[5] His bandit career was euphemistically referred to as his experience in the "University of the Green Forest", as he was illiterate.[6] During his time of banditry, he became close with some figures who later occupied important positions in his military clique.
In 1900 theBoxer Rebellion broke out, and Zhang's gang joined theimperial army. In peacetime he hired his men out assecurity escorts for traveling merchants. In theRusso-Japanese War of 1904–05 theJapanese Army employed Zhang and his men asmercenaries. At the end of theQing dynasty Zhang managed to have his men recognised as a regiment of theregular Chinese army, patrolling the borders of Manchuria and suppressing other bandit gangs.[2] The American surgeonLouis Livingston Seaman met Zhang during the Russo-Japanese War, and took several photographs of him and his troops as well as writing an account of his journey.[7][8]
During the 1911Xinhai Revolution some military commanders wanted to declare independence for Manchuria; but the pro-Manchu governor used Zhang's regiment to set up a "Manchurian People's Peacekeeping Council", intimidating would-be rebels and revolutionaries. For his efforts in preventing civil disturbance and revolution, Zhang was named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs.[9][10]
On January 1, 1912Sun Yat-sen became the first President of theRepublic of China inNanjing.Yuan Shikai, operating out ofBeijing, sent other northern military commanders a series of telegrams, advising them to oppose Sun's administration. To gain Zhang's loyalty, Yuan sent him a large shipment of military provisions; Zhang sent Yuan an enormous (and costly)ginseng root in return tosymbolize their friendship. Zhang then murdered a number of leading figures in his base city ofShenyang (then known as "Mukden"), and was rewarded with a series of impressive-sounding titles by the nearly defunctQing court. When it became obvious to Zhang that Yuan would usurp control of the central government, he endorsed Yuan's rule over that of either Sun or the Manchus. After Zhang put down a rebellion in June 1912, Yuan raised him to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In 1913 Yuan attempted to move Zhang away from Manchuria by having him transferred toMongolia, but Zhang reminded Yuan of his successful efforts to keep local order, and refused.[11]
In 1915, when it became clear that Yuan intended to declare himself emperor, Zhang was one of the few officials who supported him. Besides political opportunism, Zhang saw Yuan as a central, unifying, and legitimate figure.[12] Furthermore, Yuan had promoted him to military governor of Fengtian to gain his support. Zhang's main rival for power in Manchuria,Zhang Xiluan, had been asked about Yuan's ambitions, and suggested to Yuan that he "think about it a bit more", for which Zhang Xiluan was recalled to Beijing while Zhang Zuolin was promoted.[13]
In March 1916, after manysouthern provinces revolted against Yuan Shikai's government, Zhang supported him but expelled a local military governor sent byDuan Qirui to replace him, with some support from local Japanese officers in theKwantung Army. Beijing accepted Zhang's authority and Yuan appointed Zhang superintendent of military affairs in Liaoning (known as "Fengtian" until 1929). After Yuan died in June 1916, the new central government named Zhang both military and civil governor of Liaoning, the essential components of a successfulwarlord.[14]
Zhang, a pragmatist, had always remained cordial withPuyi, the lastEmperor of China, and had sent him a gift of£1,600 for his wedding as a token of loyalty. Zhang sought good relations with Puyi in order to increase his power and cement his legitimacy if a restoration was ever attempted. In 1917 he plotted withZhang Xun, a Qing-loyalist general, to restore the abdicated Puyi to the throne.[15] Zhang Zuolin proposed talking to the National Assembly about a possible restoration.[12] After Zhang Xun rebelled, Zhang Zuolin remained neutral and actually supported Duan Qirui in suppressing Zhang Xun after it became clear that Duan would win. Zhang was able to absorb soldiers of nearby commanders who had been linked to the rebellion, increasing his own power. He intervened and took control of China's northernmost province,Heilongjiang, after a rebellion there forced the local governor to flee. Because the governor ofJilin province had been linked to the attempt to restore the monarchy, Zhang had allies from Jilin successfully agitate for the governor's dismissal in Beijing. By 1918 Zhang's control of Manchuria was complete, except for the small areas held by theEmpire of Japan.[16]
ATianjin-basedhonghuzi leader negotiated with Zhang Zuolin.[17]
In 1920 Zhang was the supreme ruler of Manchuria. The central government acknowledged this by appointing him Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces. He began to surround himself in luxury, building a chateau-style home nearShenyang, and had at least five wives (an accepted practice of any powerful or wealthy Chinese at the time). In 1925 his personal fortune was estimated at over 18 millionyuan (roughly $2.6 million).
His power rested on theFengtian Army, which was composed of about 100,000 men in 1922 and almost triple that number by the end of the decade. It had obtained large stocks of weapons left over from World War I and included naval units, an air force and an armaments industry. Zhang integrated a large number of localmilitias into his army, and thus prevented Manchuria from falling into the chaos which reigned inChina proper at the time.Jilin province was ruled by a military governor, who was said to be a cousin of Zhang; Heilongjiang had its own regional warlord, who never displayed any ambitions outside the province.
Although Manchuria officially remained a part of theRepublic of China, it became more or less an independent state isolated from China by its geography and protected by the Fengtian Army. The only pass atShanhaiguan, where theGreat Wall meets the sea, could easily be closed. In a time when the central government was barely able to pay the salaries of itscivil servants, no more revenues were forwarded toBeijing. In 1922 Zhang took control of the only rail link, theBeijing–Shenyang Railway, north of the Great Wall and also kept tax revenues from this railroad. Only postal and customs revenues continued to be sent to Beijing, because they had been pledged to the victorious foreign powers after the failedBoxer Rebellion of 1900, and Zhang feared their intervention.
It was proposed that Zhang Zuolin's domain (the "Three Eastern Provinces") takeOuter Mongolia under its administration by the Bogda Khan and Bodo in 1922 after pro-Soviet Mongolian Communists seized control of Outer Mongolia.[18]
Manchuria shared a long border withRussia, which had been weakened militarily after theOctober Revolution. The line of theChinese Eastern Railway, which was under Russian control, ran through northern Manchuria and the land immediately on either side of the tracks was considered to be Russian territory. From 1917 to about 1924 the newCommunist government in Moscow was having such difficulties establishing itself inSiberia that often it was not clear who was in charge of operating the railway on the Russian side. Still, Zhang avoided a showdown and after 1924 the Soviets re-established their dominance over the railroad.
The situation's precariousness was demonstrated by an outbreak ofpneumonic plague inHailar, a town at the western end of theChinese Eastern Railway, in October 1920. Chinese troops were present in great number and turned railway quarantine into a farce.[clarification needed] The soldiers freed some of their comrades who had been imprisoned as contacts, and they escaped to the mining town ofDalainor on theAmur River, where a quarter of the population died. In the other direction, all of the towns along the Chinese Eastern Railway as far asVladivostok were infected. Around 9,000 died, while only a few contacts were able to reach south Manchuria.[19]
The Japanese posed more of a problem. After the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05 they had gained two important outposts in south Manchuria: TheKwantung Leased Territory consisted of a 218-square-mile (560 km2) peninsula in the southernmost part of Manchuria. It included the ice-free port ofDairen (Chinese: Dalian), which became the main link to Japan. Reaching northward from the colony, theSouth Manchurian Railway passed through Shenyang (referred to as Mukden by the Japanese), linking up with the Chinese Eastern Railway inChangchun. The land on either side of the railway tracks remainedextraterritorial, now being controlled by the JapaneseKwantung Army. This army maintained 7,000-14,000 men in Manchuria, tolerating and being tolerated by theFengtian Army, although Zhang kept up a war of words, playing onanti-Japanese sentiments in the Chinese public.
Lu Zhankui, aMongol officer under Zhang, was instrumental in bringingOomoto leaderOnisaburo Deguchi, andAikido founderMorihei Ueshiba, to Mongolia in 1924.
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At the beginning of the 1920s, Zhang transformed Manchuria from an unimportant frontier region to one of the most prosperous parts of China.[citation needed] He had inherited a financially weak provincial government—in 1917 Fengtian faced ten outstanding loans from foreign-controlled consortia and banks totaling over 12 million yuan. Zhang choseWang Yongjiang, who had served as head of a regional tax office, for the task of solving Fengtian's financial problems. He was appointed director of the bureau of finance.
A number of currencies were circulating in the province, as was the custom in China, and the paper notes issued by the provincial government had experienced a steadydepreciation in value. Wang decided to switch to asilver standard and set the initial value of the new silver yuan equal to the Japanese gold yen, which was accepted throughout Korea and Manchuria. Much to the surprise of the Chinese, the new currency evengained in value against the gold yen, although Japanese businessmen claimed that it was not backed up by sufficient silver reserves. Wang then used the newly gained credibility to introduce another note, theFengtian dollar, which was not convertible into silver anymore.[20] However, it was accepted by the government for the payment of taxes, a sign of faith in its own currency.
Next, Wang turned to the chaotic tax collecting system. Because of his former job, he was well acquainted with the abuses of the system and introduced a number of controls. The provincial government had alsoinvested government funds in various enterprises, many of which were poorly managed. Wang ordered a review ofgovernment-sponsored firms. From 1918, revenues rose steadily, and by 1921 all outstanding loans had been repaid and there was even a budget surplus. Wang was rewarded by being appointed Civil Governor of Fengtian province while remaining director of the bureau of finance. He retained the title of Military Governor of Fengtian. Still, more than two-thirds of the budget was allocated to the military.
In 1919 France had leftRenault FT tanks inVladivostok after thejoint Allied intervention,[21] and Zhang Zuolin soon incorporated them into the Manchurian Army.
In the summer of 1920, Zhang made a foray into North China on the other side of the Great Wall, trying to toppleDuan Qirui, the leading warlord of Beijing. He did this by supporting another warlord,Cao Kun, with troops and they successfully ousted Duan. As a reward, Zhang was granted control over most ofInner Mongolia to the west of Manchuria.
In December 1921, Zhang visited Beijing; at his request, the entire cabinet, led byJin Yunpeng, resigned, leaving him free to appoint a new government.[22] InstallingLiang Shiyi as premier, he proposed a new constitution and the resolution of the republic's financial difficulties.[23] Now a figure of national prominence, he quickly came into conflict withWu Peifu,[24] a divisional commander of the North ChinaZhili clique, which was based in the province of Zhili that surrounded Beijing.
In the spring of 1922, Zhang personally took the position of Commander-in-Chief of theFengtian Army, and on April 19 his forces entered China proper. As his men took Beijing three days later,[25] fighting soon broke out. On May 4, the Fengtian Army was seriously defeated by the Zhili Army in what came to be known as theFirst Zhili–Fengtian War. Three-thousand troops had been killed and 7,000 wounded, and Zhang's units retreated toShanhai Pass. Zhili forces were in control of Beijing and Zhang's image as a national leader had been destroyed and he reacted by declaring Manchuria independent from Beijing in May 1922.
On June 22, Wang left Shenyang for Japanese-controlledDalian, allegedly for treatment of an eye infection. From there he challenged Zhang by demanding restrictions to military spending and complete control over civil affairs. Zhang gave in, lifted martial law and agreed to a separation of civil and military administration in all of the three provinces. Wang returned on August 6, thereby ensuring Manchuria's continued stability.
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In the following years Wang realized a far-reaching development plan. He tried to bring more workers into the booming Manchurian economy. Most had come on atemporary basis, returning to their homes in North China in winter. The Manchurian government now encouraged them to bring women and children, and settle permanently. As an incentive, they were made eligible for reduced fares on all Chinese-owned railways in Manchuria, received funds to build dwellings and were promised total ownership after five years of continuous occupation. Rent for the land was canceled for the first years. Most were sent to the interior of Manchuria, where they reclaimed land for agriculture, or worked in forestry or mines. Between 1924 and 1929 the amount of land under tillage increased from 20 million acres (81,000 km2) to 35 million acres (140,000 km2).
Manchuria's economy boomed while chaos and uncertainty reigned in the rest of China. An especially ambitious project was to break the Japanese monopoly on cotton textiles by creating a large mill which, much to Japan's sorrow, succeeded. The government also invested in other enterprises, among them quite a number of Sino-Japanese companies. During this time, the Fengtian Army successfully repressed Manchuria's many bandits. Various railway lines were built, among them the Shenyang-Hailong line, which opened in 1925. In 1924 Wang amalgamated three regional banks into the Official Bank of the Three Eastern Provinces, and became its general director. By this he tried to create adevelopment bank and at the same time keep accurate records of military spending.
After the disastrous defeat of 1922, Zhang had reorganized his Fengtian Army, started a training program, and bought new equipment, including mobile radios and machine guns. In the autumn of 1924, fighting broke out again inCentral China. Zhang saw an opportunity to capture North China and Beijing and become head of the central government. While most other warlord armies fought along theYangtze River, Zhang attacked North China, thus beginning theSecond Zhili–Fengtian War.
In a surprise move, a Zhili commander,Feng Yuxiang, toppled Cao Kun and took control of Beijing. He shared power with Zhang, and both appointed the same Duan Qirui whom he had ousted in 1920. Zhang purchased 14 more FT tanks in 1924 and 1925 for the army, and they were used in the battles.
By August 1925, the Fengtian Army controlled four large provinces within the Great Wall —Zhili (where Beijing was located but not Beijing itself),Shandong,Jiangsu andAnhui. One unit even marched as far south as the city ofShanghai. However, the military situation was so unstable thatSun Chuanfang, aZhili clique warlord whose sphere of influence extended along the Yangtze, managed to push back the Fengtian Army again. By November, Zhang held only a small corner of north China, including a corridor connecting Beijing with Manchuria. Attacks on Beijing continued into the spring of 1926.
Manchuria was placed under martial law again, and its economy disintegrated under the burden of the insatiable war machine. Old taxes were increased and new taxes invented. Zhang demanded thatmore paper money be printed, out of step withsilver reserves. An extremely serious crisis erupted in November 1925, whenGuo Songling revolted and ordered his troops to turn back and march on Shenyang. The Japanese brought in reinforcements to protect their interests in Manchuria, but Zhang managed to put down the revolt in December. Even more seriously,Wang Yongjiang, now the civil governor of Manchuria, realized that his work of nine years had been in vain. He left Shenyang in February 1926 and resigned. Before his death from kidney failure on November 1, 1927, Wang, totally disillusioned, did not reply when Zhang asked him to return. Instead, Wang severed all connections with Zhang.
With the loss of his financial expert, Zhang took drastic action. In March 1926 he appointed a new governor, whose only job was to supply theFengtian Army with large amounts of money. He issued new provincial bonds and forced businesses and local communities to purchase them. (Early in 1927, he even entered into theopium trade by selling expensive licenses for the sale and use of opium.) Bank reserves and railway revenues were plundered, and ever more paper notes were issued. The best indicator of Manchuria's economic decline was the value of the Fengtian dollar (yuan), which had started on parity with the Japanese gold yen, but by February 1928, 40 yuan was equivalent to 1 gold yen. In the winter of 1926, Manchuria's economy collapsed. Workers went on strike, and hungry immigrants flooded back into Shenyang because they could not find any work.
Zhang provided weapons to anti-Guominjun Muslim rebels led by Ma Tingrang during theMuslim conflict in Gansu (1927–30).
In June 1926, Zhang managed to capture Beijing, and rumors swirled that he was planning to proclaim himself emperor.[26] Instead, a year later, withKuomintang forces rapidly closing in, he combined his military forces with those of the other warlords, includingZhang Zongchang andSun Chuanfang, into theNational Pacification Army and fought against theNorthern Expedition. At the same time, he proclaimed himselfGeneralissimo of the Republic of China, and thus led China's internationally recognized government as a dictator.[27] However, the Nationalists led byChiang Kai-shek attacked his forces, and in May 1928, the Fengtian Army had to retreat towards Beijing. In addition, Japan applied pressure on Zhang to leave Beijing and to return to Manchuria and underscored that by bringing reinforcements toTianjin. Zhang left Beijing on June 3, 1928.
The next morning, his train reached the outskirts of Shenyang. Here the line passed through the Japanese-operatedSouth Manchuria Railroad.
In what came to be known as theHuanggutun incident, Colonel Kōmoto Daisaku, an officer of the JapaneseKwantung Army, planted a bomb along a railroad bridge, which exploded on 4 June 1928 when Zhang's train passed it.[28] Mortally wounded, Zhang died a few days later.[29] At theTokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1946,Okada Keisuke testified that Zhang was murdered because the Kwantung Army was infuriated by his failure to stop Chiang's army, which was backed by Moscow, Tokyo's strategic rival. For two weeks, Zhang's death was kept secret while the scramble for power was decided.[30] That is why according to an announcement issued by the Fengtian Army, he officially died on June 21, 1928.
Zhang was succeeded, both as warlord of Manchuria and head of the now-exiled Beiyang Government, by his eldest son,Zhang Xueliang, the so-called "Young Marshal." Thegovernment-in-exile would not last very long since by July, Beiyang had reached an armistice with theKuomintang; and by the end of the year, theNortheast Flag Replacement occurred, nominally reunifying China under the Kuomintang banner.[31]
Zhang had six wives and 14 children (eight sons and six daughters), among which include his son and successor,Zhang Xueliang, as well asZhang Xueming.[32] He was aBuddhist.
A pragmatist, Zhang supported different movements depending on what would gain him the most power and legitimacy, and even supported the restoration of theQing dynasty in 1917. His nicknames include the "Old Marshal" (大帥, P:Dàshuài, W:Ta-shuai), "Rain Marshal" (雨帥, P:Yǔshuài, W:Yü-shuai) and "Mukden Tiger". The American press referred to him as "Marshal Chang Tso-lin,Tuchun of Manchuria".[33]
There are numerous movies, TV shows and radio shows depicting the life of Zhang Zuolin, including:
rolls bannermen zhang zuolin.
THE HEAD OF THE NOBBEN BANDITS OF MANCHUNIA In the centre, with the author on his right and Capt. Boyd, U.S.A., on his left, is General Chung Tzor Lin, the Manchurian Bandit who is now an officer in the Chinese ArmyLONDON SIDNEY APPLETON COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Original from the University of California Digitized Nov 21, 2007
GEN. CHUNG TZOR LIN, ONCE THE HEAD OF THE ROBBER BANDS OF MANCHURIA, IN FRONT OF HIS YAMEN Showing a portion of his cavalry guard, and the author standing at his leftLONDON SIDNEY APPLETON COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Original from the University of California Digitized Nov 21, 2007
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| Preceded byasPresident of the Republic of China | Generalissimo of the Military Government 1927–1928 | Succeeded byas Chairman of the National Government |
