Mao Zedong, Agreement on Resisting Against Japan, two copies, 1936

Collection of Hyland 'Bud' Lyon (1908-1973).

Bonhams New York, 20th March 2013, lot 5.

The present manuscript agreements are closely associated with the political realignments of 1936 that culminated in the Xi’an Incident, a pivotal event in the transition from protracted civil conflict toward coordinated resistance against Japanese expansion. Drafted by the Chinese Communist Party and signed by Mao Zedong in his capacity as representative of the Red Army, and prepared for the signature of Zhang Xueliang as representative of the Northeastern Army, these documents reflect the evolving negotiations between the Chinese Communist Party and elements within the Nationalist military establishment during a period of acute national crisis.

By the mid-1930s, the strategic situation in China had deteriorated markedly. Japan’s occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and continued encroachment into North China posed a sustained external threat, while internal military campaigns against Communist forces continued to consume significant resources. Following the Long March, the Communist leadership regrouped in Shaanxi but remained militarily vulnerable. In response to these conditions, the Chinese Communist Party formally articulated a policy of a united anti-Japanese front at the Wayaobu Conference in December 1935 and began to pursue contacts with non-Communist military forces operating in the northwest.

Zhang Xueliang, commander of the Northeastern Army, became an important interlocutor in this process. After the loss of Manchuria and subsequent redeployments, Zhang’s forces were reassigned to campaigns against the Red Army in Shaanxi and Gansu between 1934 and 1935, where they suffered a series of defeats. These military outcomes, combined with broader strategic concerns regarding Japan’s advance, contributed to the initiation of confidential communications between Zhang and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party.

On 9 April 1936, Zhou Enlai and Li Kenong met Zhang Xueliang at Fushi (modern Yan’an), marking the first formal high-level discussions between the two sides. Topics addressed in these exchanges included a cessation of hostilities, coordination against Japan, and broader political cooperation. The manuscript agreements titled “Resistance Against Japan” give structured expression to these discussions, outlining principles such as an end to civil war, the formation of a unified military command, and the establishment of a new national government. Although prepared for Zhang’s signature, the agreements remained unsigned by him, underscoring both the provisional nature of the negotiations and the political constraints under which they unfolded. On October 5th, 1936, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai wrote a letter to Zhang Xueliang, mentioning a draft agreement on Resisting Against Japan, published in Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji [Selected Correspondence of Mao Zedong], Beijing, 2003, p. 66. The present lot could be the agreement mentioned in the letter.

The historical importance of these documents is further underscored by their close temporal proximity to the Xi’an Incident of December 1936. When Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Xi’an to oversee renewed campaigns against Communist forces and to address tensions within the Northeastern and Northwestern armies, negotiations had already reached an impasse. The detention of Chiang by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng on 12 December brought these unresolved issues to a head. While no formal written treaty was executed during the twelve days of Chiang’s detention, the subsequent outcome, which included cessation of large-scale civil conflict and agreement on united resistance against Japan, closely aligned with the principles articulated in the present manuscripts. The Communist–Nationalist ceasefire, the establishment of the Second United Front, the release of political prisoners, and the reorientation of China’s military strategy toward full-scale resistance against Japan all followed directly from the principles outlined herein. In this sense, these manuscripts function not merely as unrealized drafts, but as foundational texts whose ideas were implemented through political necessity rather than signature.

For Zhang Xueliang, the cost was personal and irreversible. Escorting Chiang back to Nanjing after the peaceful resolution of the incident, Zhang was immediately placed under arrest and spent the next five decades in confinement. His political career ended at the very moment his actions reshaped the fate of the nation. For Mao Zedong, however, the Xi’an settlement marked the Communist Party’s emergence from isolation into national legitimacy—a transformation in which these documents played a conceptual and diplomatic role.

Surviving in two nearly identical copies, each signed and sealed by Mao as Red Army representative, these manuscripts are therefore among the most important extant documentary witnesses to the birth of the Second United Front. They embody the moment when revolutionary theory, military necessity, and individual moral choice converged, capturing Zhang Xueliang at the fulcrum of history, and Mao Zedong on the threshold of national power.

Provenance associated with the documents further situates them within the aftermath of the Xi’an Incident. Hyland “Bud” Lyon, an American aviation mechanic employed by the China National Aviation Corporation, later served as pilot and aide to Zhang Xueliang. Following the incident, Lyon acted as a bodyguard and logistical assistant to Zhang’s family during the period of Zhang’s detention.