Peter H.L. and Edith Chang papers, 1930s-2001

Peter H. L. Chang (his name also rendered as Zhang Xueliang, and Chang Hsueh-liang) was born in Manchuria in 1901 and died in Hawaii in 2001. After his father Chang Tso-lin Zhang Zuolin, a leading war-lord known as the Old Marshal, was assassinated in 1928 by the Japanese, Chang took his place as the Young Marshal, becoming one of the most powerful military figures in China.

In 1930 Chang became Deputy Commander in Chief of the Chinese Armed Forces. In 1933 he traveled to Europe. Upon his return to China, Zhou Enlai convinced him of the need for a united front between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese against Japan.

On December 4, 1936, Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist leader, met with Marshal Chang in Xian, ostensibly to plan a campaign against the Communists that was due to begin on December 12. Chang arrested Chiang Kai-shek, an event that became known around the world as the Xian incident. Two weeks later Chiang was released after agreeing to work with the Communists in fighting the Japanese.

After the Xian incident Marshal Chang might have chosen to join the Communists. Instead he surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek who placed him under house arrest. This was his status for the next fifty years, even after the Nationalists fled to Taiwan taking Chang with them. As he said in 1991 in his first interview after recovering his freedom"It was a rebellion and I had to take responsibility for it".

During his long period of confinement on Taiwan, Marshal Chang lived comfortably in a house with an extensive garden selected by Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, who succeeded his father as President of Taiwan. During this time Chang became a Baptist and spent many hours writing, reading the Bible, and studying history. The house was filled with paintings and calligraphy honoring the Chiang family, including a number that were drawn by Madame Chang Kai-shek. Many of these items are now at Columbia in the Chang Papers.

After his release Marshall Chang settled in Hawaii in 1995 with his second wife Yi Di Zhao, known as Edith Chang who predeceased him by one year. The daughter of a senior official, she had left her family while still in her teens to become his companion, later following him into exile on Taiwan. Her devotion so moved Chang's first wife Yu Feng-chih that she released him from his marriage vows.

張學良，字漢卿，1901年生於滿洲，2001年病逝于夏威夷。在其父張作霖 (主要的中國軍閥之一，經常被稱爲"大帥") 被日本人暗殺于1928年之後，張學良接掌了父親的職位成爲中國最有勢力的軍方人物之一，並被稱爲"少帥"。1930年，張學良就任中國軍隊的副總司令。1933年，張學良出有歐洲。在他返回中國后，周恩來勸説張學良相信國共雙方有必要組成聯合陣綫對抗日本人。1936年12月4日，國民党領導人蔣介石在西安會見了張學良，並計劃繼續進剿共產黨人。12月12日，張學良逮捕了蔣介石,此即震驚世界的西安事變。兩周后，蔣介石同意与共產黨人共同抗日並被釋放。西安事變之後，張學良本可加入共產黨。但他最終向蔣介石低頭，後者將其置於軟禁之下。這種狀態持續了50年，即使國民党從大陸敗退臺灣也未改變這一點。正如他在1991年重獲自由后第一次接受採訪時所說："那是一次叛亂，我必須爲此負責。"在其長期被軟禁于臺灣期間，張少帥舒適地居住在一所帶有大花園的宅邸中。房子是由蔣介石之子將經國為他挑選的。在臺灣，蔣經國後來繼其父成爲中華民國的總統。在這期間，張學良成爲一個浸信會教徒。他花費大量時間寫作，閲讀聖經，學習歷史。他的宅邸挂滿了中國書畫作品，其中許多出自蔣宋美齡之手。許多這些作品現藏于哥倫比亞大學的張學良文件。在他獲釋之後，張少帥于1995年定居夏威夷。陪伴他的有他的第二位妻子張趙一荻，張夫人早張少帥一年故去。張夫人出身高官門第，二十嵗前就離開家庭追隨張學良，並一直陪伴張學良于臺灣。她的獻身精神令張學良的第一位夫人于鳳至如此感動以至她同意与張學良解除婚姻。

Edith Chao Chang (pinyin: Zhao, Yidi; Wade-Giles: Chao, I-ti; Chinese: 趙一荻, 赵一荻; original name: Zhao Qixia, 趙綺霞, 赵绮霞; alias: 赵四小姐) was born in 1912, Hong Kong. She was the daughter of Lu Baozhen (吕葆贞) and Zhao Qinghua (趙慶華), a senior official. Edith met Peter Chang in 1928 and left her family while she was still in her teens to become his companion. She followed him into exile in mainland China and in Taiwan, and spent the rest of her life together with Peter Chang. Her devotion moved Chang's first wife Yu Feng-Tze that she released him from his marriage vows in 1964, allowing him to marry Edith. She died in Honolulu, Hawaii at the age of 88 in 2000.