The Northeast Flag Replacement () refers to Zhang Xueliang's announcement on 29 December 1928 that all banners of the

Beiyang government The Beiyang government (), officially the Republic of China (), sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking (Beijing) between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally r ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

would be replaced with the flag of the Nationalist government, thus nominally uniting

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

under one government.

Origin

In April 1928,

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

was reinstated as commander of the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

, the position he previously resigned from after taking responsibility for splitting the

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...

during the First Northern Expedition. He proceeded with the

Second Northern Expedition The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

and was approaching

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

near the end of May. The Beiyang government in Beijing was forced to dissolve as a result; Zhang Zuolin abandoned Beijing to return to Manchuria and was assassinated in the Huanggutun incident by the Japanese Kwantung Army. However, Manchuria was still held by the Fengtian clique, which hung the banner of the Beiyang government. The ultimate objective of the Northern Expedition was not fully accomplished.

Process

Immediately after the death of Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang returned to Shenyang to succeed his father's position. On July 1 he announced an armistice with the

and proclaimed that he would not interfere with the reunification.Republic of China historical annal: 1928
under July 1, section A. The Japanese were dissatisfied with the move and demanded Zhang to proclaim the independence of Manchuria. He refused the Japanese demand and proceeded with unification matters. On July 3

arrived in

and met the representative from the Fengtian clique to discuss a peaceful settlement. This negotiation reflected the scramble between the US and Japan on her sphere of influence in China because the US supported Chiang Kai-shek unifying Manchuria. Under pressure from the US and Britain, Japan was diplomatically isolated on this issue. On December 29 Zhang Xueliang announced the replacement of all flags in Manchuria and accepted the jurisdiction of the Nationalist government. Two days later the Nationalist government appointed Zhang as commander of the Northeast Army. China was symbolically reunified at this point.

References

{{Warlord era 1928 in China History of Manchuria National unifications Warlord Era

Origin

Process

See also

References