Xi'an Incident

Around 1935, Japanese imperialism intensified its aggression against our country. At this unprecedentedly serious moment of national crisis, Chiang Kai-shek still insisted on the policy of 'first stabilizing the internal situation before resisting external threats.' General Zhang Xueliang was forced to 'suppress the communists,' and due to repeated failures on the battlefield in northern Shaanxi, he was blamed by Chiang Kai-shek, which led him to urgently seek a way out. During the Kuomintang 'Five All' Conference, he contacted our party through progressive individuals Du Chongyuan and Tian Wenhao alongside General Yang Hucheng. After returning from Nanjing to Xi'an, Zhang Xueliang established contact with our party through the relationship of Gao Fuyuan, the former Northeast Army commander released by our army, and had talks with Comrade Zhou Enlai in Yan'an. General Zhang decided to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to stop the civil war in light of the overall situation of national survival and unite to resist Japan. Meanwhile, Yang Hucheng received a handwritten letter sent by Chairman Mao. However, their activities had already been noticed by the agents planted by Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an, Li Daquan and Zheng Guangqing, who reported back to Nanjing. In response to the rampant activities of the spies, Zhang Xueliang ordered the arrest of the Kuomintang's provincial party committee in Shaanxi. This incident facilitated the cooperation between Zhang and Yang and shook Chiang Kai-shek who was at the time in Nanjing addressing the 'Guangdong-Guangxi military revolt.' In early December 1936, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived in Xi'an and stayed at the Huaqing Pool in Lintong, where Zhang Xueliang repeatedly 'advised' Chiang, only to be met with harsh refusal. Chiang Kai-shek gave him three days to respond on whether he would continue executing the order to 'suppress the communists,' or else he would relocate Zhang and Yang's forces from Shaanxi. Zhang and Yang were forced to carry out a 'military advice' against Chiang on December 12, 1936, triggering the shocking 'Xi'an Incident.' After the incident occurred, our party, invited by Generals Zhang and Yang, sent a delegation headed by Zhou Enlai to fly to Xi'an. Zhou Enlai persuaded Zhang and Yang from the perspective of national survival, leading to Chiang Kai-shek's acceptance of the 'Eight Proposals' for resisting Japan and saving the nation. The 'Xi'an Incident' was peacefully resolved, and the Anti-Japanese War entered a brand new phase.