The Xi'an Incident was a major Chinese political crisis from 12 to 26 December 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Nationalist government of China, was placed under house arrest in the city of Xi'an by a Nationalist army he was there to review. Chiang's captors hoped to end the Chinese Civil War and confront Japanese imperial expansion into Chinese territory. After two weeks of intense negotiations between Chiang, his captors, and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chiang was released with a verbal promise to end the civil war and put up a firmer resistance to Japan.
The three principals involved in the Xi'an Incident: Chang Hsüeh-liang, Yang Hucheng, and Chiang Kai-shek (photo taken 2 months before the incident)
Chang Hsüeh-liang and Yang Hucheng in 1936
Bullet hole made while Northeastern Army soldiers were storming the Huaqing Pool complex
Negotiating room where Chiang Kai-shek met with Zhou Enlai and Lin Boqu
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and military leader. He was the head of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, General of the National Revolutionary Army, known as Generalissimo, and the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) in mainland China from 1928 until 1949. After being defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, he led the ROC on the island of Taiwan until his death in 1975.
Wartime portrait, 1943
Chiang in 1907
Sun Yat-sen and Chiang at the 1924 opening ceremonies for the Soviet-funded Whampoa Military Academy
Chiang in the early 1920s
