Zhang Zongchang
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- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhang.
Zhang Zongchang (traditional Chinese: 張宗昌; pinyin: Zhāng Zōngchāng; Wade-Giles: Chang Tsung-ch'ang) (1881 – 1932), nicknamed the "Dogmeat General," was a Chinese warlord in Shandong in the early 20th century.
Born in poverty in Yi County (now Laizhou) in Shandong, he joined a bandit gang in 1911 and rose quickly after the bandits took service in the forces of the warlord of Jiangsu. After his defeat by rivaries, Zhang Zongchang sought refuge under Zhang Zuolin's power, and he made a good impression for himself at Zhang Zuolin's birthday party. In contrast to other guests who showered Zhang Zuolin with expensive gifts, Zhang Zongchang sent Zhang Zuolin with two empty baskets used by coolies without going to the party himself. Zhang Zuolin was of course baffled but his clever assistants and other smart guests figured out the purpose of the gift: Zhang Zongchang's empty basket implied that he was a capable commander who were able to shoulder heavy responsibilities, it all depended on how much Zhang Zuolin would trust him, just like the way people putting in heavy loads into the empty baskets because they trusted that basket would hold such heavy burden. Zhang Zuolin was obviously impressed and rewarded Zhang Zongchang with a high ranking commanding position in his army, and Zhang Zongchang proved himself soon afterward in the ensuing battles against other warlords' forces and only then did Zhang Zongchang go to visit Zhang Zuolin in person.
In April 1925, having conquered Shanghai and Nanjing for Zhang Zuolin, he was appointed military governor of Shandong, which he ruled as warlord until May 1928. He soon had a reputation as one of the most brutal and ruthless warlords, as well as one of the most colourful. One of the incident made news was that in one of the battles against another warlord Wu Peifu, Zhang Zongchang's numerically inferior 30,000 - 40,000 troops defeated an enemy several time of their size, resulting in mass defection of Wu's troops to Zhang Zongchang in large units, numbering 50,000 - 60,000. Zhang Zongchang rewarded the defectors by allowing them to keep their original ranks, and promoted his own officer to command the increased troops. However, there was not enough metal to make the gold and silver stars for the rank insignias for the newly promoted officers, so Zhang Zongchang ordered the stars on the rank insignias to be made of golden and silvery paper foils that were used to package cigarettes. During the mass promotion ceremony, the newly promoted officers were surprised and some of the stars on the rank insignias were readily torn even before the ceremony had ended.
Zhang's nickname 'Dogmeat General' came from his fondness for gambling, especially with Pai Gow, which the Northeastern Chinese calls "eating dog meat". He kept some thirty to fifty concubines of different nationalities that included Korean, Japanese, White Russians, French and American, who were given numbers since he could not remember their names. Zhang did not treat his concubines as persons, but rather as properties. He awarded his concubines to his high ranking subordinates. As a result, Zhang's commanders were much loyal to him, contributing to Zhang's success. According to the wife of Wellington Koo,
- 'he was known everywhere as the "Three Don't Knows". He said he didn't know how much money he had, how many concubines, or how many men in his army.'
Zhang Zongchang proved one of the more capable generals, and made effective use of armoured trains manned by experienced White Russian mercenaries. He recruited up to 4,600 White Russian refugees from the Russian civil war. Zhang Zongchang was also one of the first Chinese generals to incorporate women into the military on a large scale, as nurses, and he had recruited a regiment of nurse corps that was entirely consisted of White Russian women. The White Russian nurses, in turn, trained their Chinese counterparts, resulting in greater efficiency in taking care of Zhang's wounded troops, a significant boost of morale and combat capability for Zhang.
In 1928 his army was finally defeated by the Kuomintang. Zhang was spared and given permission to leave the country. In 1932, however, he was assassinated by the son of one of his many victims.
[edit] References
- David Bonavia. China's Warlords. Hong Kong: OUP, 1995.
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