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 his territory independent of the Central Government, but never in such a way as to involve the partition of China into separate States. On the contrary, most Chinese civil wars were directly or indirectly connected with some ambitious scheme to unify the country under a really strong Government. Through all its wars and periods of "independence", therefore, Manchuria remained an integral part of China.

Although Marshal Chang Tso-lin and the Kuomintang had been allies in the wars against Wu Pei-fu, the former did not himself accept the doctrines of the Kuomintang. He did not approve of the constitution as desired by Dr. Sun, as it did not seem to him to harmonise with the spirit of the Chinese people; but he desired the unification of China, and his policy with regard to the spheres of interest of the U.S.S.R. and Japan in Manchuria shows that he would have liquidated both if he could have done so. Indeed, he almost succeeded in accomplishing this in the case of the sphere of the U.S.S.R. and initiated the policy of railway construction already referred to, which was to cut off the South Manchuria Railway from some of its feeder districts. This attitude towards U.S.S.R. and Japanese interests in Manchuria may be attributed partly to impatience at the limitations of his authority in dealing with these countries and partly to the resentment which he shared with all shades of Chinese opinion regarding the privileged position of foreigners in China. In fact, in November 1924, he invited Dr. Sun to a re-organisation conference in the programme of which the latter wanted to include the improvement of the standard of living, the convening of a national convention, and the abolition of unequal treaties. Dr. Sun's fatal illness prevented this conference from taking place; but his proposals suggest a certain understanding with the Marshal and a possible basis of agreement between them with regard to the foreign policy of their country.

In the last years of his life, Marshal Chang Tso-lin showed increasing unwillingness to allow Japan to profit by the privileges she derived from various treaties and agreements. Their relations at times became somewhat strained. Japanese advice that he should keep out of the factional strife in China and concentrate his energy on the development of Manchuria he resented and disregarded, as did his son after him. After the defeat of General Feng, Chang Tso-lin became the chief of the alliance of the Northern militarists, with the title of Great Marshal.

In 1928, he suffered defeat at the hands of the Kuomintang Army in their Northern Expedition referred to in Chapter I, and was advised by Japan to withdraw his armies into Manchuria before it was too late. The declared object of Japan was to save Manchuria from the evils of civils war which would have resulted from the entry of a defeated army pursued by its victors.

The Marshal resented the advice, but was obliged to follow it. He left Peiping (formerly Peking) on June 3rd, 1928, for Mukden, but was killed the next day by an explosion which wrecked his train just outside the city at the spot where the Peiping-Mukden Railway passes underneath the bridge over which run the lines of the South Manchuria Railway. The responsibility for this murder has never been established. The tragedy remains shrouded in mystery, but the suspicion of Japanese complicity to which it gave rise became an additional factor in the state of tension which Sino-Japanese relations had already reached by that time.

After the death of Marshal Chang Tso-lin, his son, Chang Hsueh-liang, became the ruler of Manchuria. He shared many of the national aspirations of the younger generation, and desired to stop civil warfare and assist the Kuomintang in its policy of unification. As Japan had already some experience of the policy and tendencies of the Kuomintang, she did not welcome the prospect of such influences penetrating into Manchuria. The young Marshal was advised accordingly. Like his father, he resented that