Zhang Zongchang
Zhang Zongchang, was a Chinese warlord in Shandong in the early 20th century. Time dubbed him China's "basest warlord". He was known by many nicknames such as the "Dogmeat General".
Biography
Zhang was born in 1881 in Yi County in Shandong. His family was poor; his father worked as head shaver and trumpeter, while his mother was an exorcist. In his teens, his family moved to Manchuria, where Zhang became involved in petty crime in Harbin. He eventually became a bandit in the countryside, though served as auxiliary for the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905. Following the conflict, he returned to crime and rose to lead his own bandit gang. His activities during the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 are unclear, though he offered his band's services to the army of Jiangsu's military governor. By 1913, he commanded an army division, and served in various military factions during the Warlord Era's early stages.He returned to Manchuria in 1922, and joined the Fengtian clique of warlord Zhang Zuolin. He made a good impression, with one story being that he rose in popularity one year at Zhang Zuolin's birthday party: in contrast to other guests who showered the warlord with expensive gifts, Zhang Zongchang sent him two empty coolie baskets and failed to turn up himself. Zhang Zuolin was baffled until the purpose of the gift was ascertained: Zhang Zongchang's empty basket implied he was a man willing to shoulder whatever heavy responsibilities the warlord entrusted him with. He was subsequently rewarded with a command position in his army, though only after proving himself in battle did Zhang Zongchang visit his superior in person.
Zhang Zongchang proved to be one of the more capable warlord generals, making effective use of armoured trains manned by experienced White Russian mercenaries. He recruited up to 4,600 White Russian refugees from the Russian civil war, from which he formed a cavalry regiment, complete with pseudo-Tsarist uniforms and regalia. He was also one of the first Chinese generals to incorporate women into the military on a large scale, including using a regiment of nurses consisting entirely of White Russian women. They trained their Chinese counterparts, resulting in greater efficiency in taking care of Zhang's wounded troops, a significant boost for morale and combat capability.
In 1924, he took part in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War and helped partition Shanghai between the opposing forces. In April 1925 he conquered Shanghai proper and then seized Nanjing, both for the glory of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique. He was subsequently appointed military governor of Shandong, which he ruled as warlord until May 1928. Zhang traveled to Shanghai for frequent carousing sessions with Zhang Zuolin's son, Gen. Zhang Xueliang. Both men enjoyed opium, for which Shanghai was a key site in the smuggling trade, and the Fengtian economy became increasingly reliant on the drug. In an infamous incident in 1925, an argument in Zhang's headquarters over who among a group of officers should receive the biggest payment from an opium deal led to a shootout which saw three of them kill each other.
In 1928, during the Northern Expedition, Gen. Bai Chongxi led Kuomintang forces that defeated and destroyed Zhang Zongchang's army, capturing 20,000 of his 50,000 troops and almost capturing Zhang himself, who escaped beyond the Great Wall to Manchuria. He fled to Japanese protection in Dalian, though remained unwilling to accept his reduced status. From Dalian, he plotted to regain his former territories. Possibly enjoying covert support by Japan, Zhang, his long-time follower Chu Yupu and another warlord, Huang Feng-chi, returned to Shandong in 1929 and launched a major rebellion against Liu Zhennian, the Nationalist-aligned de facto ruler of eastern Shandong at the time. Gathering tens of thousands of demobilized soldiers who were still loyal to them, the three warlords fought for several months against Liu's followers, thereby causing great destruction and many casualties among the civilian population. In the end, the rebellion was defeated, though Zhang managed to escape back to Dalian. Later that year, he was living quietly in Beppu, Japan, with his mother, though he was thrown into the spotlight again when he "accidentally" shot Prince Xiankai, a cousin of the deposed emperor Puyi. According to Zhang the gun he was holding while standing at his hotel window happened to go off and shoot the young prince in the back, killing him instantly, though it was more likely he killed the playboy prince for dallying with one of Zhang's many concubines. He was charged, found guilty by a Japanese court and given the choice between 15 days' imprisonment or a $150 fine. He chose the fine.
While visiting Shandong in 1932, he was assassinated by the nephew of one of his many victims, who was in turn given clemency and pardoned by the Kuomintang government. Contemporary claims were made that the "filial murder" might have been part of a plan set up by a local governor to remove Zhang as a political rival.
Personal life
Nicknames and titles
In course of his career, Zhang gained a great number of nicknames, most of them derogatory:- "Dogmeat General": Some write that the name was based on his preference for or a Chinese brand of tonic known as "dogmeat"., but James Sheridan in Cambridge History of China writes that the name derived not from his diet but from his addiction to paijiu, a high stakes gambling game popularly known as "eating dog meat."
- "Monster"
- "Lanky General"
- "Old Eighty-Six": The origin of this nickname is unclear. According to rumours it either referred to his height or to the length of his penis which was said to measure up to a pile of 86 Mexican silver dollars when erect.
- "Three Don't Knows": Based on Zhang's alleged lack of knowledge about how much money he had, how many soldiers, and how many women in his harem.
- "72-Cannon Chang"
- "Chang of Shantung" by the foreign press
- "Great General of Justice and Might": A title he had awarded to himself.
Character
Zhang Zongchang was also known for writing poetry, though his works are generally considered to be quite bad. However, some sources have disputed these poems as being fabrications made by his political opponent Han Fuju to slander Zhang Zongchang.
Though not very pious, Zhang was reportedly superstitious. According to David Bonavia, he was strongly influenced by a Daoist diviner who had allegedly convinced the warlord of his powers by successfully prophesying that a train would derail. It was rumoured that the diviner had ensured this outcome by bribing some peasants to sabotage the tracks. Zhang also refused to drink any water except that which came from a minor tributary stream of the Jinan River. He preferred to drink the water directly from the stream, often excusing himself from dinner to go drink from the stream. After he participated in the partioning of Shanghai, he began drinking water solely from the Huangpu River. He claimed the water tasted "divine, as if the urine of heaven." In preparation for his military campaigns, he would instruct his soldiers to gather large quantities of drinking water from his favorite river at the time, which he would not allow others to drink. Whether near or far from his favorite river, his soldiers would present him with water from the nearest available source and claim it was water from his preferred river. There are no known accounts of Zhang disputing the water's origin. Zhang was regularly seen to relieve himself in both rivers.
While having a reputation as one of the most brutal and ruthless warlords, he was also one of the most colourful. After defeating the army of general Wu Peifu by making his enemy's forces defect, he rewarded the defectors by allowing them to keep their original ranks. He then promoted his own officers, but since there was not enough metal to make the gold and silver stars for their rank insignia, he ordered the stars to be made from the gold and silver paper foil in cigarette packages. During the mass promotion ceremony, the officers were surprised to find their insignia already torn even before the ceremony had ended. During one of his campaigns, he publicly announced he would win the battle or come home in his coffin. When his troops were forced back he was true to his word—he was paraded through the streets, sitting in his coffin and smoking a large cigar. It was also a matter of public amusement that he kept his aged mother with him at all times, except when on campaign, when he left her at his opulent palace.
During the Famine of Northwestern China in 1928–1930, a famine that struck Shandong particularly hard, Zhang Zongchang was reported to have gone into a temple of Zhang Xian where there were many people praying for rain and offering gifts to the deity, then walking up to the statue, he slapped it and said "Fuck your sister! How dare you make Shandong's people suffer by not giving us rain!" He then left the temple, the next day ordering his artillery to shoot into the sky until it rained. It rained the next day. This is also where his nickname of "72-Cannon Chang" came from.