(The content of this article is based on authoritative sources, and there are literature citation sources at the end of the article)
During the Republic of China, Zhang Xueliang, the son of Zhang Zuolin, the king of the Northeast, was pampered since he was a child and was accustomed to the extravagant life of brocade clothes and jade food.
After the Xi'an Incident in 1936, he went from being a young marshal in the Northeast above 10,000 people under one person to a prisoner under Chiang Kai-shek.
Even though he is in prison, Zhang Xueliang's extravagant life has never changed, one of his toothbrushes costs 500 oceans, and when he has no money, he borrows money from Song Ziwen.
Prince of the Northeast
Zhang Xueliang was born on June 3, 1901, the eldest son of Zhang Zuolin, whose father Zhang Zuolin was the leader of the Feng warlords and was known as the "King of the Northeast".
Zhang Xueliang's childhood was not smooth. He lived with his mother in his early years and experienced a period of poverty.
Since he came to his father, his life has changed drastically. As Zhang Zuolin's eldest son, Zhang Xueliang enjoys first-class food, clothing, housing and transportation, and lives a luxurious life.
During Zhang Zuolin's control of the Northeast, he had strong financial resources, and Zhang Xueliang was able to squander it.
He was well-dressed, often wearing high-end suits and expensive jewelry. When you travel on weekdays, you must take a luxury car and make a generous move.
Zhang Xueliang would scatter money on the car, so that the children who followed him would scramble to pick it up, attracting passers-by.
As the son of the King of the Northeast, Zhang Xueliang is also keen on collecting famous cars. He owns dozens of cars from world-famous brands such as Rolls-Royce, Lincoln, etc. Whenever they travel, these famous cars will form a convoy, and the scene is very spectacular.
In addition to luxury cars, Zhang Xueliang also likes to raise dogs. He has raised hundreds of famous dogs, each of which is cared for.
These dogs eat twice as much as the average person every day, and the ingredients they feed them are all high-quality beef and mutton. In contrast, ordinary people are still worried about food and clothing.
Under the protection of the King of the Northeast, Zhang Xueliang also often went in and out of high-end places and mingled with celebrities and wealthy businessmen. He frequently appeared in high-end hotels and entertainment venues, and spent a lot of money.
Zhang Xueliang's extravagant lifestyle was famous during the Republic of China. He and several other sons are known as the "Four Sons of the Republic of China" and are well-known throughout the country.
In that turbulent era, his extravagant life became the talk of people after dinner.
Such fine clothes and fine food did not affect Zhang Xueliang's political talent. In his early years, he received military education in the Northeast Army Lecture Hall, and later went to the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School to study, and he had a lot of insight into military affairs.
After Zhang Zuolin's death in 1928, Zhang Xueliang, who was only 27 years old, inherited his father's mantle and became the de facto ruler of Northeast China.
Although Zhang Xueliang reduced his extravagance and waste after taking power, the extravagant style in his bones was difficult to change.
Even after the September 18 Incident in 1931, when the Northeast was lost, he still maintained a high standard of living.
It was not until after the Xi'an Incident, when he became a prisoner of Chiang Kai-shek, that this life changed.
The young marshal was imprisoned
In December 1936, the Xi'an Incident broke out, and the protagonists of the incident were Zhang Xueliang, the leader of the Northeast Army, and Yang Hucheng, the leader of the Northwest Army.
The incident originated from Zhang Xueliang's dissatisfaction with the Nationalist government at that time.
At that time, Japan's ambition to invade China was clearly exposed, but Chiang Kai-shek adhered to the policy of "settling the interior before attacking the outside world" and insisted on waging a war against the communists. Zhang Xueliang repeatedly persuaded Chiang Kai-shek to join forces with the Communist Party to resist Japan, but was refused.
In early December 1936, Chiang Kai-shek went to Xi'an to supervise the war.
On the 12th, after consulting with Yang Hucheng, Zhang Xueliang decided to take extraordinary measures to force Chiang Kai-shek to change his strategy.
That night, Zhang and Yang led their troops to surround Chiang Kai-shek's residence in Lintong Huaqingchi, detained Chiang Kai-shek, and demanded that he stop the civil war and unite with the outside world.
This is the famous "military admonition" incident, which is later known as the Xi'an Incident.
After the incident, the whole country was in an uproar. The entire Nationalist Government was shaken, and the CCP was also highly concerned about this matter. Under the pressure of public opinion and politics, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng telegraphed the whole country, demanding the reorganization of the Nationalist Government and uniting all parties to resist Japan.
After many mediations, the Xi'an Incident finally ended peacefully.
On December 25, Zhang Xueliang sent Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing and announced the end of the incident. But what Zhang Xueliang didn't expect was that he was detained by Chiang Kai-shek on the special plane back to Xi'an.
It turned out that Chiang Kai-shek hated this incident and regarded Zhang Xueliang as the culprit.
He ordered He Yingqin, Chen Cheng and others to secretly draw up a plan to deal with Zhang Xueliang. When the plane landed in Xi'an, Zhang Xueliang was controlled by the guards who had been waiting here for a long time as soon as he got off the plane, and then he was sent to another special plane and escorted to Luoyang.
After that, the Military Commission issued a general order to place Zhang Xueliang under residential surveillance. Zhang Xueliang went from a young marshal who called for wind and rain to become a prisoner in the blink of an eye.
He was secretly imprisoned in the staff of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, isolated from the outside world and under close surveillance.
At first, Zhang Xueliang had a glimmer of hope, he had illusions about Chiang Kai-shek's punishment, believing that he would be released after a period of detention.
However, as time passed, Zhang Xueliang gradually realized that he had become a political prisoner of Chiang Kai-shek, and it was difficult for him to regain his freedom.
During his captivity, Zhang Xueliang was not abused, but he was mentally tormented. He was incommunicado and kept in a small room day after day.
Despite being behind bars, Zhang Xueliang is still closely watching the situation in the outside world.
In July 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and the Japanese army invaded China in an all-round way. After Zhang Xueliang, who was in prison, learned the news, he was eager to participate in the war of resistance. He repeatedly begged Chiang Kai-shek to allow him to go into battle, but was refused.
Behind bars
At the end of 1936, Zhang Xueliang was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek and began a half-century-long prison career. During these long years, he traveled north and south of the country, and was detained in more than 10 places.
At first, Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned in the Song Ziwen Mansion in Nanjing. Here, although he lost his freedom, his life was not affected much.
Although Chiang Kai-shek hated him to the core, considering that Zhang Xueliang was his sworn brother after all, and his influence in the northeast was huge, he did not embarrass him too much.
In January 1937, Zhang Xueliang was transferred to Xuedou Temple in Xikou, Fenghua, Zhejiang. In this beautiful place, Zhang Xueliang's life can be described as pampered.
He lived in a spacious courtyard with a special person to serve him, and his diet and daily life were taken care of.
But this relatively free life didn't last long. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Xueliang was frequently transferred, successively to Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and other places.
Although the living environment has been good and bad, Zhang Xueliang's lifestyle has rarely changed.
No matter where he is, Zhang Xueliang maintains a luxurious style of life. He was addicted to cigarettes and smoked the most fanciful cigarette of the time, Chesterfield. The monthly cost of tobacco and alcohol was as high as 1,000 yuan, which was a large expense at that time.
In addition, Zhang Xueliang also loves collecting. He hoarded a large number of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and even hired someone to transport a lot of precious collections from Beiping.
He also loves to read, and often has people buy a lot of books and magazines from Hong Kong and Shanghai, spending thousands of yuan a month.
Even during the war years when materials were scarce, Zhang Xueliang did not reduce his pursuit of quality of life.
He uses top-of-the-line daily necessities, even toothbrushes and toothpaste, which cost more than 500 yuan per month. You know, that's already a worker's salary for a few months at the time.
In order to maintain this luxurious life, Zhang Xueliang has to spend a lot of money every month. But after all, life in captivity limited his financial resources, and over time, Zhang Xueliang began to make ends meet.
In order to fill the financial gap, he began to borrow money from relatives and friends, especially Song Ziwen for help.
Song Ziwen is Zhang Xueliang's best friend. Whenever Zhang Xueliang's capital turnover was not good, he would write to Song Ziwen for help. In these letters, Zhang Xueliang would list his expenses in detail and ask Song Ziwen for funding.
And Song Ziwen obviously knows Zhang Xueliang's personality and knows that most of the money is used to squander.
But out of brotherhood, he will still raise funds, try his best to meet Zhang Xueliang's requirements, and tell the spy leader Dai Li to take care of Zhang Xueliang's life.
In this financial situation, Zhang Xueliang's life in captivity became a paradox.
On the one hand, he lost his freedom and lived under the surveillance of the military police; But on the other hand, his quality of life has not diminished in the slightest, and he is still extravagant.
This contradictory state of life lasted until 1946. That year, the Nationalist government secretly transferred Zhang Xueliang to Taiwan, placing him under closer surveillance.
At this point, Zhang Xueliang's extravagant prison life came to an end.
The rest of the island of Taiwan
In 1946, the civil war broke out and the situation took a turn for the worse. In order to prevent Zhang Xueliang from falling into the hands of the Communists, the Nationalist Government secretly transferred him to Taiwan.
In Taiwan, Zhang's incarceration has become even stricter. He was housed in a villa on the outskirts of Taipei, heavily guarded and forbidden to the outside world.
This state of high alert lasted until 1949, when the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan.
Despite the turbulent times, Chang's life in Taiwan has been relatively peaceful. His daily life is taken care of, and although the quality of life is not as good as before, it can be regarded as worry-free. During this time, he began to study Buddhism and devoted himself to the study of Buddhist scriptures in order to seek peace of mind.
In 1949, the Kuomintang regime moved to Taiwan, and Zhang Xueliang also came to Taipei. Here, his range of activity was expanded and he could walk the streets near his residence, but he remained under close surveillance.
As time passed, Zhang Xueliang's life in Taiwan gradually became dull. He spends his days with books, studying Buddhist scriptures, and composing poems in his spare time.
In 1955, his wife Yu Fengzhi also came to Taiwan, and the husband and wife finally reunited.
Although his life is relatively stable, Zhang Xueliang always has an unrelieved regret in his heart. He longed to return to his hometown and worship his father, but he fulfilled his life's wish. However, this wish has never been realized.
In the 1980s, cross-strait relations began to ease. Zhang Xueliang repeatedly asked the Kuomintang authorities to return to the mainland, but they were all politely refused.
The Kuomintang was worried that Zhang Xueliang would cause unnecessary political turmoil after returning to the mainland, so it never relented.
Although he could not return to his homeland, Zhang Xueliang's longing for his hometown never stopped. In his mansion in Taipei, he arranged a small memorial hall to enshrine the statue of his late father to express his longing.
As the years passed, Zhang Xueliang's life in Taiwan gradually entered his twilight years. His physical condition deteriorated, and his mobility became difficult. But even so, he still longs for it, hoping to return to the mainland in his lifetime, but he has a long-cherished wish.
On October 14, 2001, Zhang Xueliang passed away in Taipei at the age of 100.
Resources:
[1] Wang Shaodan. Zhang Xueliang's solitary years in Taiwan[J].CPPCC Tiandi,2020(10):67-68.)
[2].Zhang Xueliang's former residence in Taiwan "Shaoshuai Zen Garden"[J].Taisheng,2019(23):77.