- Yang Hucheng
Yang Hucheng (zh-tpw|t=楊虎城|p=Yáng Hǔchéng|w=Yang Hu-ch'eng) (
26 November 1893 –6 September 1949 ) was a Chinesewarlord during theWarlord Era of Republican China andKuomintang general during theChinese Civil War .A
bandit of unknown origins, Yang Hucheng had become a popular warlord ofShaanxi Province by 1926. Following the defeat ofFeng Yuxiang andYan Xishan in theCentral Plains War of 1930, Yang allied himself with theKuomintang 'sRepublic of China government becoming commander of the Kuomintang's Northwest Army. Ordered to destroy the newly establishedCommunist Party of China stronghold atYan'an withZhang Xueliang 's Northeast (Manchuria ) Army in 1935, both Yang and Zhang Xueliang were impressed with the Communists' determined defense and fighting capabilities and were convinced by the Communist proposal for a united Chinese defense against theJapan ese invasion of China.As both sides ceased hostilities, Kuomintang chairman
Chiang Kai-shek flew toXi'an in early December to investigate the inaction. Refusing the Communist proposal to join forces against the Japanese, Yang and Zhang Xueliang had Chiang Kai-shek arrested and held him captive until he agreed to an alliance between the Kuomintang and Communists. Flying back to the Kuomintang capital atNanjing with Chiang Kai-shek, both generals were arrested upon their arrival. Yang would remain in prison for over thirteen years until his execution was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek in October 1949, shortly before the Communist capture of Nanjing near the end of theChinese Civil War .References
*Dupuy, Trevor N. "The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography", New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1992.
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