Zhang Xueliang was regarded as a benefactor of the Communist Party. Mao never forgot this. Unfortunately, after Zhang left with Chiang, he never returned to mainland China. He died in the United States and was buried in Hawaii. The spirits of Mao and Zhang met at Zhang Xueliang’s gravesite.

Zhang spoke first to Mao: “You have come from afar. What advice do you bring?”

Mao replied, “By order of the Jade Emperor, I am on a journey of repentance, seeking forgiveness from departed souls so that I may soon escape from suffering.”

Zhang said, “The grievances between us have already been settled. I left behind the contentious lands of the mainland and Taiwan and came to Hawaii. This is where I will spend eternity.”

Mao said, “I am still suspended in uncertainty. My case has not yet been concluded. I have come this time to resolve some lingering doubts.”

Zhang said, “Very well! This is a rare opportunity. Let us open our hearts and speak frankly. I suppose you most wish to discuss the ‘Xi’an Incident,’ don’t you?”

Mao said, “Yes, you guessed correctly. I want to ask you—tell me honestly—why did you launch the ‘Xi’an Incident’?”

Zhang said, “You understand. We both shouted ‘resist Japan’ as a slogan, but who among us had no calculations in mind? More than eighty years have passed. Today I confess frankly: I wanted to rise above Chiang. Zhang Xueliang has never been content to stand beneath another.”

Mao said, “Good—you have spoken the truth. But did you believe your strength was sufficient?”

Zhang replied, “I weighed the situation. I intended to unite with your Communist Party, and the key was Stalin’s support. The success of the Northern Expedition had depended on Soviet funding and arms.”

Mao said, “You have struck the point. We were thinking alike. At that time, I supported you in replacing Chiang.”

Zhang said, “Then speak your own heart. Why did you support my move against Chiang? Was it truly for resisting Japan?”

Mao replied, “As you just confessed, resisting Japan was a slogan everyone seized upon. I will also be frank—I had my own calculations. I knew my strength was smaller than yours, but under the name of alliance, I sent people to infiltrate your ranks and manipulate matters from behind the scenes, effectively making you follow my lead. I held the trump card of Stalin’s backing.”

Zhang said, “I believed you. You proposed forming a ‘Northwest National Defense Government,’ separating from China like Outer Mongolia, with the Soviet Union as backing. You even specifically requested that Stalin provide three million U.S. dollars per month in aid. To show my sincerity, I arranged for your two sons to be escorted from Shanghai through France to the Soviet Union over several months. With your support and Stalin’s backing, I was ambitious to sit at the highest seat of the ‘United Government.’”

Mao said, “You launched the incident and arrested Chiang. I was excited. I even said Chiang could be killed. But later, why did you retreat?”

Zhang said, “It was not I who retreated; it was Stalin. He changed his position. On the third day of the incident, Pravda openly published an article condemning me, saying the coup served Japan, and unequivocally supported Chiang Kai-shek. When I saw that, my whole body turned cold. Stalin had deceived me. Your Communist Party did not keep its word. I had gambled and lost. I was finished.”

Mao said, “I only learned later that Stalin had changed his stance. What did you do then?”

Zhang said, “That very day, I went to see Chiang Kai-shek. I stood before him and silently wept. Chiang felt I was ‘deeply remorseful.’ After a long silence, I left, then returned and told him I had realized my actions were ‘rash and reckless,’ and that I would ‘arrange secretly to escort the Generalissimo back to Nanjing.’ Chiang cooperated as well. After the Nanjing government declared war on Japan on the 16th, Chiang immediately sent orders out, commanding that there must be ‘no conflict whatsoever’ and that the bombing should cease at once.”

Mao said, “So when you saw Stalin change, you immediately changed too and went to Chiang without consulting us.”

Zhang replied, “The big boss has the final say—what use is a small subordinate like you? I had to protect Chiang immediately and return to being his man. I had only one path—to release him and go back with him. That was my only hope of survival. Otherwise, I would have been killed by those who hated me for arresting Chiang. Even my subordinates were divided. By escorting Chiang back, I could gain his favor and seek his forgiveness. Otherwise, I would surely have died.”

Mao said, “Later I understood that Stalin changed his position because he saw that the earlier anti-Chiang movement in Guangxi and Guangdong had failed. Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Li Jishen and others eventually compromised with Chiang. They had three hundred thousand troops, greater military and financial strength than you, yet they could not overthrow him. Stalin judged you even less capable and abandoned you. He also needed Chiang to resist Japan and tie Japan down, fearing a Japanese advance northward against the Soviet Union.”

Zhang said, “Later Zhou Enlai came to Xi’an, but Chiang refused to see him. Wang Ming then arrived, bringing Moscow’s message that Chiang Ching-kuo was prepared to be released. Only then did Chiang agree to let Zhou go to Nanjing for direct negotiations, striking a compromise in exchange for his son. By April of the following year, Chiang Ching-kuo, who had been a hostage for eleven years, finally returned to Nanjing to reunite with his father.”

Mao said, “So in this incident, Chiang also gained something—his son was returned, and later in Taiwan he had a successor. We Communists gained breathing space to develop. Otherwise, including your forces, a total of five hundred thousand troops had us surrounded with no escape. Stalin had prepared for the worst, even planning to send airplanes to evacuate us leaders to Moscow.”

Zhang said, “That is why people say that in launching the incident, you Communists were the winners, and I became the criminal. I accept that crime. In 1991, when I gained my freedom and went to New York for my ninetieth birthday celebration, I confessed that I was a criminal—rash and reckless, deserving death. Forty years without freedom—I do not complain. If I am called a sinner for eternity, I accept it.”

Mao said, “Zhou Enlai said you were a hero for the ages.”

Zhang replied, “You gained growth and strength, eventually defeated Chiang, seized the entire mainland, and established a Communist regime. If your new government had governed well, bringing peace and prosperity and satisfying the people, I would feel at ease. But after peace came, you continued killing—land reform killings, suppression of counterrevolutionaries, purges—millions upon millions. Then the ‘Anti-Rightist Movement,’ the ‘Anti-Right Deviation Movement’—still more killings. Then the Great Leap Forward, with tens of millions starved to death, leading all the way to the Cultural Revolution—killing not only people but civilization. How could one bear to watch? You call me a ‘hero for the ages.’ My ‘achievement’ was to enable you, in New China, to kill, persecute, and starve seventy million? I never imagined the consequences of the Xi’an Incident would be like this. I often repent before God. I am not merely a sinner—I am a sinner among sinners.”

Zhang continued, “In 1991 I was free. In 1993 I moved to Hawaii. The mainland repeatedly invited me to visit. Deng Xiaoping even said he would send a special plane to fetch me. In 1997, when Jiang Zemin visited the United States and came to Hawaii, he sent people to speak with me, hoping to meet. I longed for my homeland. But if we met, what could I say? I not only lost the Northeast—I lost China because of it. I have no face to meet the elders of my hometown.”

After hearing Zhang’s words, Mao thought to himself: Zhang Xueliang is truly a bookish man. Not wishing to argue or lecture him, he merely said, “All this is a misunderstanding of history. This page can soon be turned.”

Zhang replied, “Unfortunately, the nation remains divided. You practice an authoritarian system; Taiwan practices a democratic system. This page cannot yet be turned.”

Mao asked, “What do you think is required for reunification?”

Zhang answered, “The key lies in the mainland’s system. It still follows the Soviet-Stalin model. Taiwan has no confidence. Reunification would mean the big swallowing the small, following your system and losing freedom. Taiwan has practiced constitutional democracy for thirty years. Even the Soviet Union practiced constitutional democracy for twenty years. Yet you still maintain autocracy. How can reunification occur?”

Mao said, “There is some truth in what you say. I must also send a dream to today’s mainland leaders, urging them toward constitutional democracy.”

Zhang said, “If that truly comes to pass, then more than eighty years after the Xi’an Incident, it will finally have reached fulfillment.”

He added, “Chairman Mao, take care. I must return now.”

Having said all that needed to be said, Zhang bade farewell and withdrew. Mao watched as his figure slowly blurred and faded into the distance. He felt that Zhang’s words were heartfelt and reasonable.

NEXT: 24. Chiang Ching-kuo (1910–1988)