Short Biographies of the Anguojun Figures

Home , Rehe Province, Tang Yulin, Zhang Jinghui

Short BiographiesAppendix 3 of the Anguojun Figures 251 Appendix 3: Short Biographies of the Anguojun Figures

Zhang Zongchang (1881-1932) came from an impoverished village of Shandong. He first went to Manchuria as a laborer, and then became a coolie leader who had close link with the local bandit groups. During the 1911 Revolution, Zhang organized a small cavalry detachment to join the revolutionaries at Nanjing. He then rose to command a regular army unit of the new Republic, and became President Feng Guozhang’s adjutant and a divisional commander. After his unit was destroyed during the North-South War, he turned to Zhang Zuolin. In 1923, with the permission of Zhang, he sought the cooperation of the White Russians stranded in Manchuria-Soviet border and organised a Chinese brigade with a White Russian detachment. During the Second Zhili-Fengtian War he distin- guished himself by leading this brigade across the Rehe province and capturing Luanzhou behind the Zhili Army’s line. He was then sent by Zhang Zuolin to occupy Xuzhou and Shanghai in 1925, and became the military governor of Shandong until 1928. After the death of Zhang Zuolin he pleaded Zhang Xueliang to allow his army to return to Manchuria, but was refused by the latter. He then launched a desperate attack against the Fengtian Army, but his troops were dispersed and absorbed by both the Fengtian Army and the NRA. Zhang sought refuge in Japan until 1932, but was assassinated when he returned to China in the same year.1

Zhang Jinghui (1871-1959) was a Fengtian native. After he joined Zhang Zuolin, they surrendered to the Qing Government. In 1910, he entered the Fengtian Military Academy. Thereafter, he served under Zhang Zuolin as regimental commander, brigadier, and then divisional commander. However, after the First Zhili-Fengtian War he was withdrawn from frontline service, but remained Zhang Zuolin’s close associate. After the death of Zhang Zuolin he was made the Governor of the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone, but was little more than a figurehead. When the Japanese invaded Manchuria he collaborated with the invaders and became the Premier of Manchukuo from 1935 to 1945.2

Zhang Zuoxiang (1881-1949) a native of Fengtian, came from an impoverished family in Jinzhou. He received some classical education, but was forced to discontinue when his brother was killed in a

1 Su Quanyou, Zhang Zongchang chuanzhuan, op. cit. 2 Chen Zhixin, et. al., Jilin wenshi ziliao, Vol. 18 (Changchun: Zhengxie Jilinshi weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 2000), 388-410.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/9789004340848_011 252 Appendix 3 feud. He then worked as a bricklayer in Mukden, before he became a fugitive after avenging his brother’s death. In 1901, he and his band of bandits surrendered them- selves to Zhang Zuolin, who was the leader of a larger local militia group. He was known as the leader of the “old faction” of the Fengtian Clique, and firmly supported Zhang during Guo Songling’s rebellion. When Zhang Zuolin was assassinated, he supported Zhang Xueliang to succeed his father. After the fall of Manchuria, he withdrew to retirement, and refused to serve in the Manchukuo government.3

Tang Yulin (1871-1937) was a Shandong immigrant. He spent his early years as a bandit, before joining Zhang Zuolin’s group. Although he had seen much frontline service, his army was usually deployed in the secondary fronts due to his lack of military education and the quality of his troops. In 1928, he became the military governor of Rehe, but his failure to hold the province in 1933 against the Japanese invasion ended his political and military career.4

Sun Baihu (1861-1920) was a native of Tianjin. He was a junshi before the Qing abolished the Civil Service Examination. In 1900 he went to Fengtian to work as an official of the Resettlement Bureau (Xianhouju). He became a councillor of the Provincial Assembly (Fengtian ziy- iju) in 1909, and was briefly the head of the Eastern Three Province State Bank. In 1919, he became the head of the Fengtian Chamber of Commerce, until his death in 1920.5

Han Linchun (1885-1931) was also a Fengtian native. He joined up in the New Army in 1904, and was sent to the Shikan Gakkō in the same year as an artillery officer. He served in the Qing Government as a weapon specialist beginning in 1908, and served in the Ministry of War of the Beijing Government until 1922. After a brief tour of duty in the United States as the military attaché, he went to Europe as a representative of the Ministry of War in the Chinese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. Between 1922 and 1924, Han was mainly responsible for the running of the Mukden Arsenal. By September of 1924, he was in frontline service, serving as a corps commander and then the commander of all

3 Zhang Yufa, Shen Songqiao, Dong Wenqi xiansheng koushu lishi (Taibei: Academia Sinicia, 1986). 4 Shang Chengshan, “Tang Yulin Shengping Huiyi,” in Jinzhou wenshi ziliao, Vol. 8 (Jinzhou, Zhengxie Jinzhoushi weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui), pp. 145-8. 5 Dongbei renwu dacidian (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 1992), p. 737.