Zhang Zhizhong
张治中
1890–1969
- General, National Revolutionary Army
- Governor of Hunan Province (1937–38)
Biography
Baoding to Whampoa
Zhang Zhizhong was born in 1890 in Chaohu, Anhui province, and trained at the Baoding Military Academy before entering the Whampoa system under Chiang Kai-shek. He participated in the Northern Expedition (1926–28) and rose to become one of the Nationalist army's senior commanders. At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he commanded the 9th Group Army in the three-month defence of Shanghai (1937) before the city fell to Japanese forces. He subsequently served as Governor of Hunan Province (1937–38).
The General Who Never Fought the Communists
Zhang's most distinctive quality was his consistent refusal to use force against the Chinese Communist Party — a stance without precedent among senior Nationalist commanders. He is best known for his role in the Chongqing Negotiations of 1945: personally flying to Yan'an to escort Mao Zedong under a government safety guarantee, serving as the KMT's chief negotiator throughout the forty-three days of talks, and co-signing the Double Tenth Agreement on 10 October. The agreement collapsed within months, but Zhang's role as a bridge between the two parties defined his historical identity more than any military campaign.
Remaining on the Mainland
In 1949, as the Nationalist government evacuated to Taiwan, Zhang chose to remain on the mainland. He participated in the inaugural Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and served on its Standing Committee within the PRC government. He died in Beijing in 1969, during the Cultural Revolution — a figure who had spent his career seeking reconciliation between two irreconcilable forces, and survived long enough to see neither prevail on terms he had hoped for.