Posted on: Tuesday, October 16, 2001
Chang Hsueh-liang, historical China figure, dead at 101
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Chang Hsueh-liang was more than a hero and patriot.
"He was a generous man who built a university and hospital in the northeastern region of China," Rob C. Chang said of his grandfather, better known as the warlord who forced an alliance between Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung in 1936 to battle Japanese troops invading China. "He was a person with great pride for his people."
Chang, who would later spend 41 years under house arrest in Taiwan, died Sunday of pneumonia at Straub Hospital in Honolulu at age 101.
"My grandfather has never been an angry and bitter man," Rob Chang said.
The family has received condolences from Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Chen Shui-bian, head of the Taiwan government, Chang said. China's ambassador to the United States will be in Honolulu for the funeral, he said. Service arrangements are pending.
Johnny Lau Yui-siu, a Hong Kong-based commentator, said for the government in Beijing, Chang represented solidarity between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang.
"His passing means the mainland has lost an icon in its political propaganda," Lau said.
Known as the "Young Marshall," Chang was a military chief in northern China when he kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek, the country's leader, in Xian on Dec. 12, 1936. At the time, Chiang Kai-shek was fighting Mao's communist guerrillas. After complex negotiations and a verbal offer from Chiang Kai-shek to review the situation, Chang freed the Chinese leader and ended his two-week coup.
Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists did later fight in a loose, short-lived "united front" with communist forces against the Japanese. Chang, however, was later court-martialed for insubordination and sentenced to prison.
In a British-produced television documentary shortly after he was granted full freedom in 1990, Chang said he had no regrets about what occurred in 1936.
"I wanted to be held wholly responsible for the things that I did ... and that is why I went to Nanjing after the Xian incident," he said. "In Nanjing, they could have put me to death or shot me by firing squad."
Chang, a leading authority on China's Ming period of the 14th to 17th centuries, spent much of his time reading the Bible and doing historical research during his years in Taiwan. Chang and his wife, Edith Chao, came to Hawai'i in 1991. Chao died here last year.
"We are deeply saddened by this loss," Chang's son, Robert Lu-lin Chang, a Honolulu resident, said. "I know my father touched many... lives, and I know he deeply enjoyed his last years on the Islands. He made many new friends on O'ahu, and enjoyed the warmth of the Hawaiian people."
Other survivors include a daughter, Pauline Tao of San Francisco; grandsons Jeff C. and Leslie Chang; granddaughters Connie and Terry Chang, and great-grandson, Lance Chang.
Advertiser news services contributed to this report.
