Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Chang Hsueh-liang

General Chang Hsueh-liang

張學良字漢卿

General Chang Hsueh-liang was born at Hai-chen, Fengtien province, in 1898. He was given military training when he was a mere youth. He was among the first group of the graduates of the Military Training Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces. In July 1919, General Chang was appointed Commander of the Body Guards of the Tuchun of Fengtien, who was no other person than Marshal Chang Tso-lin, his father. In the same month he was made by the Peking government a colonel of National Artillery. In November 1919 he was awarded the Third Class Wenfu Decoration. In December 1919 he was promoted to become Commander, of the Second Battalion of the Body Guards Brigade. In May 1920, General Chang was appointed by President Hsu Shih-chang as his aide-de-camp. In June 1920 he was appointed Commander of the aforementioned Body-Guards Brigade which was the Third Mixed Brigade of Fengtien. Upon the outbreak of the war between Chihli and Anhui factions, General Chang was ordered by his father to march his brigade into Shanhaikwan to side with the Chihli forces. At Hsiao Chan, the place where the Pei Yang troops have been trained since Yuan Shih-kai's time, General Chang's men defeated the Anhui troops commanded by General Lung Chi-Kuang. As the result of this defeat, several regiments of the noted Frontier Army surrendered to General Chang who took them to Mukden upon his return. In the autumn of 1920, the province of Kirin was much disturbed by banditry and General Chang was sent with his troops to suppress it which he did in a short time. In October 1920 he was awarded by the Central government the Fifth Order of Merit. A month later he was made a Brigadier General. In March 1921 General Chang was awarded the Second Order of Wenfu. In October 1921, he was sent by his father to Japan to witness the autumn manoeuver. Upon his return, he introduced improvements in the Fengtien Army. While in Japan, he contributed funds for the support of the Chinese students studying in that country. When the Chili-Fengtien war broke out in the spring of 1922, General Chang was commander of the Second Section of the East Wing. At Shaihaikwan, the Fengtien forces made an offensive attack upon the advancing Chihli forces. General Chang participating as commander of the front line defence. After the war. he was made commander of the Second Brigade of the Manchurian Army, and concurrently held the position of Chief-of-Stiff of the Manchurian Army Reorganization bureau, as well as being superintendent of the Military Training Academy and commandeer of provosts. These posts he still holds. In the war between Chihli and the Anfu-Fengtien party which broke out in September 1924, Mr. Chang as leader of the Fengtien First Army rendered exceptional service in the fighting in the vicinity of the Great Wall. Early in 1925 General Chang Hsuch-liang was sent by his father and the Provisional President Tuan Chi-jui to Shanghai, as a special delegate for purpose of assisting in the final reorganization and political affairs in lower Yangtze valley.