Chang Tso-lin

Chang Tso-lin (jäng tsōˈ-lĭnˈ), 1873–1928, Chinese general. Chang was of humble birth. As the leader of a unit of Manchurian militia he assisted (1904–5) the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War. He held various military posts under the Chinese republic. From his appointment (1918) as inspector general of Manchuria until his death he controlled Manchuria, and from 1920 he constantly warred to extend his rule southward, joining in a three-way struggle with Wu P'ei-fu and Feng Yü-hsiang for control of the Beijing government. His Fengtien army occupied the Beijing-Tianjin area (1926) until driven out by the Northern Expedition (1926). Chang died when the train in which he was retreating to Shenyang before the Kuomintang army was bombed (for reasons still unclear) by officers of the Japanese army in Manchuria. His son, Chang Hsüeh-liang, succeeded to control of Manchuria.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Chang Tso-Lin

Born 1876; died June 21, 1928, in Mukden. Chinese general and head of the Fengt’ien clique of warlords.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, Chang was head of one of the Hung hu-tzu bands, which aided the Japanese in Manchuria. In 1906 he and his band were incorporated into the Chinese Army, and Chang was soon appointed a division commander. He became de facto ruler of Manchuria during the Hsinhai Revolution of 1911–13 and, after the death of Yüan Shih-k’ai in 1916, absolute dictator; he was supported by the Japanese.

In 1926 and 1927, as commander in chief of an army that united the forces of various warlords of Central and North China, Chang fought against the revolutionary army of the Canton (later Wuhan) government. In April 1927, on his orders, police raided the Soviet embassy in Peking; 25 Chinese Communists, led by Li Tachao, were arrested and executed. In 1928, Chang attempted to align himself with the USA. Chang was killed in a train explosion planned by Japanese intelligence.

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References in periodicals archive ?

The 50 yuan gold coin depicts military leader Chang Tso-Lin and was made in the 1920s in China.

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He worked continuously during the Chinese upheavals of the 1920s and during the civil war when the rival warlords Wu P'ei-fu and Chang Tso-lin were battling for supremacy.

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Chang was born in northeastern China in 1901 as the eldest son of Manchurian warlord Chang Tso-lin, who controlled China's northeast together with other Manchurian generals after the demise of the Qing Dynasty.