Storm Over Xi'an

The Xi'an Incident of December 1936 stands as one of the most extraordinary episodes in China's modern history. What began as a daring act of defiance by General Zhang Xueliang—the Young Marshal—ended with a reluctant truce between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. In forcing Chiang Kai-shek to suspend civil war and redirect the nation's strength against Japanese aggression, Zhang altered the course of a nation at its most perilous hour.