Lot 2210

Description

China, Republic, award medal in silver nickel (?) (33.5mm; 16.7g) under Chiang Kai-shek, struck with a Heaton Mint coinage press (1936), awarded for service to China by the warlord of Manchuria Chang Hseuh-liang (KM.XM535). Nearly uncirculated and very rare.

This medal was presented by Chang Hsueh-liang (Zhang Xueliang) to graduates of his officer training school in Xi'an in June 1936. Chang was the warlord of Manchuria and a prominent military leader in Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government. He is regarded by many as one of the great heroes of China in 20th century history for his role in the famous Xi'an Incident. Having failed to persuade Chiang to make peace with Chinese Communists in the face of Japanese aggression, Chang planned and executed the daring kidnapping of Chiang during his visit to Xi'an in the early hours of December 12, 1936. The ensuing negotiations resulted in a temporary truce between the Nationalists and the Communists, which marked a turning point in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. For his trouble, Chang was arrested and kept under house arrest for the next 52 years by Chiang and his son, first on the mainland and then in Taiwan. It was not until 1990 that he finally regained his freedom and later emigrated to Honolulu, where he died in 2001 at the age of 100 (acknowledgements to Steve Album).