Xi’an Incident

Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng detained Chiang Kai-shek at Huaqing Pond in Xi'an and started the “Military Remonstrance”. Xi’an Incident is also known as the “Double 12 Incident”.

On December 12, 1936, to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to change his established national policy of “first internal pacification, then external resistance”, stop the civil war and unite against Japan, Zhang Xueliang (then deputy commander-in-chief of the Northwest Banditry and leader of the Northeast Army) and Yang Hucheng (then commander-in-chief of the 17th Road Army of the National Revolutionary Army and leader of the Northwest Army) launched a “military remonstrance” at Huaqing Pond in Xi'an, detaining Chiang Kai-shek (then chairman of the Military Commission of the National Government and commander-in-chief of the Northwest Rebels). This event was then called the “Xi'an Military Remonstrance”. After the Xi'an Incident, He Yingqin, the head of the pro-Japanese faction in the KMT, actively planned to crush Zhang and Yang.

The pro-British-American faction of the KMT, including Soong Meiling and Soong Tzu-wen, actively campaigned for a peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident and the rescue of Chiang Kai-shek. Faced with the extremely complicated political situation, the CPC, with foresight and in the interest of the whole nation, put forward the idea of a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an and sent Zhou Enlai and others to Xi'an to participate in the negotiations. After efforts from all sides, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to accept the idea of “immediate end to civil war against the CPC, and to reorganize the Nationalist government by expelling pro-Japanese factions and adopting an active anti-Japanese stance”.

The Xi'an Incident was resolved peacefully. The Xi'an Incident showed the strong desire of all strata of China, including patriots within the KMT, to achieve a united resistance to Japan. The Communist Party of China advocated a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an, fully demonstrating its sincerity in uniting against Japan. The peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident became the key to turning the tide, marking the basic end of the ten-year civil war and unveiling the prelude to the transition from the civil war to peace and from division and confrontation to cooperation between the two parties against Japan.