Collection Overview

Summary
Arrangement
Description
Using the Collection

Note: some material may be restricted or offsite

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Subject Headings
History / Biographical Note

Collection Contents

View All
Series III: Documents/系列三: 文件
Series VI: Art/系列六: 藝術品
Series VIII: Audio Visual/系列八: 視聽
Series IX: Photographs/系列九: 照片
Series X: Personal Effects/系列十: 個人物品

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

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#0210
Bib ID:
6484240 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Zhang, Xueliang, 1901-2001; Zhao, Yidi
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
60 linear feet (46 document boxes; 23 record cartons; 27 card file boxes; 2 mapcases)
Language(s):
English , Chinese .
Other Finding Aids

Partial Chinese/English finding aid for Box 1-34 available. 第1-34盒中英目錄: https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/rbml/Chang/pdf.pdf

Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: 46-96. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Box 25 (listed only in the PDF Chinese finding aid) is not available.

Description

Summary

Correspondence, manuscripts, notes, documents, artwork, calligraphies, study materials, photographs published manertal, and clippings, detailing the various stages of the life of Peter and Edith Chang.

本文件包括張學良和張趙一荻生平各個時期的通信，手稿，筆記，私人文件，藝術品，學習資料，相片，出版物及剪報。

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 10 series.

該檔案分為十個系列。

Using the Collection

Other Finding Aids

Partial Chinese/English finding aid for Box 1-34 available. 第1-34盒中英目錄: https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/rbml/Chang/pdf.pdf

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: 46-96. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Box 25 (listed only in the PDF Chinese finding aid) is not available.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Permission to quote from the papers must be obtained in writing from Robert Chang.

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

慾引用本文件必須獲得張閭林(Robert Chang)之書面許可。本文件不許複印、照相或製作縮微膠卷。

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Peter H.L. and Edith Chang papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Materials

Peter H.L. and Edith Chang oral history, interviewed by the Chang sisters (Chih-Ping Chang Sobelman/張之丙, Chih-Yu Chang Ho/張之宇) over sixty sessions between 1991 and 1993:

Transcript: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/15391078

Digitized interview audio files: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-7bfe-mv72

Peter H.L. and Edith Chang oral history, interviewed by Te-kong Tong, 1990:

Transcript: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/15391076

Digitized interview audio files: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-71n2-qw95

珍藏与手稿圖書舘另藏有兩份張學良口述歷史的謄寫本.

1993年張氏姊妹與張學良的口述歷史:

謄寫本: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/15391078

錄音(電子版): https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-7bfe-mv72

1990年唐德剛與張學良的口述歷史:

謄寫本: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/15391076

錄音(電子版): https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-71n2-qw95

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Acquisition/獲贈日期

Gift of Edith and Peter Chang, 1994. 1994年, 張學良暨張趙一荻贈與.

Gift of the James C. Elder and Tania Elder Family and the Reginald Mitchell and Jean Elder Mitchell Family, 2023. (2023-2024-M060)

Gift of Michael Feng, 2024. (2024-2025-M006): 18 items documenting the relationship between the Chang and Soong families. Micheal Feng is the grandson of TV Soong.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Papers processed 1993-2009 by various processors. 整理信息: 由蘇張之丙和Patrick Lawlor 整理.

2023-2024-M060: 1 folder of 13 photographs was processed and added to Box 44.

2024-2025-M006: 3 folders of 17 correspondence and 1 audiocassette were processed and added to the collection as Box 2 Folder 11-13.

Separated Materials

See collection file for photographs of scrolls returned to family.

Revision Description

2010-03-09 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.

6/28/2018 Added link to partial Chinese/English finding aid

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

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.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Name
Chiang, Ching-kuo, 1910-1988 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Chiang, Kai-shek, 1887-1975 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Chiang, May-ling Soong, 1897-2003 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Place
China -- Foreign relations -- Japan CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
China -- History -- 20th century CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
China -- History -- Republic, 1912-1949 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
China -- History -- Xi'an Incident, 1936 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Generals -- China CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Occupation CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID