Zhang was a member of the
Honghuzi irregular cavalry forces of the Manchurian
warlord Feng Delin during the
First Sino-Japanese War. These forces were recruited as mercenaries by the Japanese during the
Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905. He subsequently studied at the Northeast Military Academy built by Gen.
Zhao Erxun. Following the
Xinhai Revolution, he was assigned command of an infantry regiment under the
Republic of China; however, he supported
Zhang Xun's abortive attempt to restore the
Qing dynasty in 1917. He afterwards joined forces with Manchurian warlord
Zhang Zuolin. In 1923 he was appointed a commissioner of the
Chinese Eastern Railway and participated in the
First Zhili–Fengtian War. in early 1931 his forces were involved in the suppression of the
Gada Meiren uprising. In early October 1931, shortly after the
Mukden Incident at
Taonan in the northwest of
Liaobei province, Zhang—who was commander of the 2nd Provincial Defense Brigade—took command of the local forces including the
Xing'an Reclamation Army and declared the district independent of China, in return for a shipment of a large quantity of military supplies by the
Imperial Japanese Army. Zhang followed up his political move by leading the men of the Xing'an Reclamation Army north to attack Gen.
Ma Zhanshan, the newly appointed governor of
Heilongjiang province. Soon after Zhang advanced upon Ma's capital at
Qiqihar, Ma offered to surrender it. Encouraged by Japanese
Kwantung Army Gen.
Shigeru Honjō, Zhang advanced cautiously to accept Ma's surrender. However, Zhang's advance guard was attacked by Ma's troops in the
Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge and it was routed. Following the establishment of the State of Manchukuo in March 1932, Zhang was reappointed to command his old force, which was now renamed the
Taoliao Army. He led Manchukouan troops against the
Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies during the
Pacification of Manchukuo and in the Japanese invasion of
Rehe in
Operation Nekka. Afterwards he was appointed to command the newly organized
Rehe Guard Army, which became the
5th District Army "Chengde" after the 1934 reorganization of the Manchukuoan Army. From March 1933 to November 1934 he was Governor of Rehe Province. He was promoted to full general in the Manchukuo Army in 1936. He was also chief aide-de-camp to Emperor Puyi. In March 1941, he retired. After the collapse of Manchukuo in April 1945, Zhang went into hiding in
Tianjin, but was discovered, tried and executed for
treason by the
People's Republic of China in 1951 in Beijing. ==References==