Chang Hsüeh-liang

Chang Hsüeh-liang, also romanized as Zhang Xueliang, nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), known in his later life as Peter H. L. Chang, was the effective ruler of Northeast China and much of northern China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin, by the Japanese on 4 June 1928. He was an instigator of the 1936 Xi'an Incident, in which Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of China's ruling party, was arrested in order to force him to enter into a truce with the insurgent Chinese Communist Party and form a united front against Japan, which had occupied Manchuria. Chiang agreed, but when he had an opportunity, he seized Chang, who then spent over 50 years under house arrest, first in mainland China and then in Taiwan. Chang is regarded by the Chinese Communist Party as a patriotic hero for his role in the Xi'an Incident. He was also known for having an affair with Edda Mussolini.