The Xi'an Incident Memorial Hall stands on Jianguo Road inside the old city, in a compound of three western-style villas built in the 1930s. Here, in December 1936, General Zhang Xueliang and General Yang Hucheng detained Chiang Kai-shek in an attempt to force him to stop fighting the Chinese Communists and turn instead against the Japanese invasion. The episode is one of the decisive political moments of twentieth-century China.
What happened
Chiang Kai-shek was staying at Lintong, outside the city, when Zhang's troops attacked the guest house in the early hours of 12 December. Chiang escaped over a wall and was found hiding in a rock crevice on Mount Li, where he was captured and brought back to Xi'an. He was held for two weeks while negotiations, involving Zhou Enlai on behalf of the Communists, worked out a settlement. Chiang was eventually released and returned to Nanjing, and the outcome was a nominal united front against Japan. Zhang, who flew back with him, spent the rest of his long life under house arrest.
The memorial
The compound preserves the rooms where the negotiations took place and where Zhang lived, furnished in the style of the period with desks, telephones, maps and beds. Displays set out the chronology of events with documents, photographs and newspaper reports, and there is material on Zhang Xueliang's earlier career as the ruler of Manchuria and on the wider political context of the 1930s. The exhibition is presented in Chinese with some English, and the rooms themselves are the most affecting part of a visit.
Visiting
The memorial is on Jianguo Road, a short walk east of the city wall between the Hepingmen and Jianguomen areas, and is reasonably close to Yongningmen station on Line 2. Admission is free with an identity document, and the site is closed on Mondays. Allow about an hour. It combines well with the City Wall and the Stele Forest, both of which are within easy walking distance in the southern half of the old town.
