Of humble origins, he assisted the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) as leader of a Manchurianmilitia unit. He held various military posts under the Republic of China. From his appointment (1918) as inspector general of Manchuria until his death, he had effective control of Manchuria. He constantly warred to extend his rule southward from 1920 onward, contending in a three-way struggle with Wu P’ei-fu and Feng Yü-hsiang for control of the Beijing government. His Fengtien army occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area until driven out by the Northern Expedition (1926).
Chang was killed when the JapaneseKwantung Army bombed his train as he was returning to Shenyang having just handed over control of Beijing to the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek. The assassination was performed by a small group of military men commanded by the senior officer of the Kwantung Army, ColonelDaisaku Komoto. This was part of a plot to secure nearly all parts of Manchuria beyond the South Manchurian Railway Zone, which was ceded to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. He was succeeded by his son Chang Hsüeh-liang for control of Manchuria.
The Japanese troops withdrew from Jinan in May 1929, as a vigorous Chinese boycott (192829) protested Japanese intrusions.
ZhangZuolin, seeing his hold on Beijing slip through his fingers, left the capital by rail heading north; the train was bombed and Zhang assassinated by Japanese officers opposed to the less radical policies of their own government and angry at Zhang's growing sense of independence.
1898) inherited the command of his father, ZhangZuolin, and joined forces with the GMD (Nov.).
Zhang Xueliang (24373;學良), or Chang Hsüeh-liang in Wade-Giles (written as Chang Hsueh-liang on computers without diacritic capability and in English as Peter H.L. Chang), (June 3, 1901 - October 15, 2001), became effective ruler of Manchuria after the assassination of his father ZhangZuolin[?] on June 4, 1928 by the Japanese.
In the Xian incident (December 12, 1936), Zhang and another general Yang Hu-cheng kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek and imprisoned the head of the Nationalist government until he agreed to form a united front with the communists against the Japanese invasion.
Zhang is today largely considered a patriotic hero because at considerable danger to himself he forced his own government to fight against the invaders.