Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai, Autographed letter to Zhang Xueliang, circa 1936
Live auction begins on:
March 25, 01:30 PM GMT
Estimate
200,000 - 300,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
(3)
Letter:
Dear General (Hanqing) [courtesy name of ZHANG XUELIANG],
It was very nice to meet Colonel Shaoqing [courtesy name of GAO FUYUAN, 1901-1937, Nationalist officer]. We are so glad to hear that you and Mr. Ding Fang [courtesy name of WANG YIZHE, 1896-1937, commander of the Nationalist 67th army] are devoted to the mission of saving our nation from the Japanese invasion. Your dedication has not only been shown by ending the destruction of the Red Army, but also by helping our Army in terms of practical supplies. The people of China are very fortunate to have you, and your greatness will continue to shine from one generation to the other.
The current situation is so fierce that the critical issue is not whether to fight back against Japan or if we have enough strength and commitment in the resistance against the Japanese invasion. On saving the nation from the Japanese invasion, the most critical issues are sincere attitudes and a cooperative spirit in discussing and exchanging ideas on strategies and action planning.
In accordance, our comrade, Li Kenong of the Political Protection Bureau, will convey our thoughts and carry out the discussion based on the following proposals:
1. Beginning from the 16th of this month, the Red Army will start retreating from the cities of Fushi and Ganquan. The two parties will then stop any hostile activities and rather, begin to plan the strategy of the resistance to Japan.
2. Meanwhile, we need to improve our defense, and prepare all necessities for resistance against Japan.
3. Send representatives to meetings to hold discussions on how to cease fire between the two parties, and to establish military strategies in the war against Japan. Meeting locations and dates are to be determined.
4. We suggest the set up of a new national government, and a united army to resist Japan. What do you think, Mr. Hanqing?
5. On the issue of resistance against Japan, Mr. Hanqing, what do you think about the Northeastern Army military strategies and plans, regardless of positive or negative?
The above statements are only our initial proposals. We would like to see you firmly hold your pledge to resist against Japan. We hope you understand that the Red Army shall heartily collaborate in the battle against Japan.
Things are very urgent and not much time is left. The people in China are in days of suffering while the nation is in a dangerous situation. The fall of North China boosts the spread of poverty with the sick and the poor in the country. The heroes will be the ones to avoid fratricide and take initiatives to fight against Japan, and to make an allied power to protect the country. Despite your family having been humiliated by the Japanese, we know that your greatest concern is the people of China. In the same way, we are determined to regain the loss of North China. We sincerely look forward to hearing from you soon, day or night.
Warm regards,
The Red Army of China, 1st Field Army
Commander Peng Dehuai (signature by Mao and personal seal of Peng Dehuai)
Political Commissar Mao Zedong (signature and personal seal)
Height 8¼ in., 21 cm; Width 5⅜ in., 13.7 cm
Collection of Hyland 'Bud' Lyon (1908-1973).
Bonhams New York, 20th March 2013, lot 2.
This extraordinary letter, jointly signed and sealed by Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai, stands among the earliest surviving written appeals from the Chinese Communist leadership to Zhang Xueliang, the powerful Northeastern Army commander whose decisions in 1936 would decisively alter the trajectory of modern Chinese history. Composed most likely in April 1936, at a moment of extreme political fragmentation and accelerating Japanese aggression, the letter precedes the Xi’an Incident by only months and occupies a pivotal position in the prehistory of the Second United Front.
By early 1936, the Chinese Communist Party, having survived the Long March, remained militarily vulnerable and politically isolated, while Japan’s occupation of Manchuria and encroachment into North China posed an existential threat to the Chinese state. Zhang Xueliang—whose homeland had fallen to Japan in 1931—had become increasingly disillusioned with Chiang Kai-shek’s policy of prioritizing the destruction of the Communists over resistance to foreign invasion. Against this backdrop, Mao and Peng’s letter represents a carefully calculated diplomatic intervention, designed to transform a former adversary into a potential ally.
Addressed to Zhang by his courtesy name, Hanqing, the letter combines praise, persuasion, and concrete strategic proposals. Mao and Peng commend Zhang for ending hostilities against the Red Army and acknowledge his patriotic resolve, while urging a complete cessation of civil conflict. The five proposals outlined—Communist troop withdrawals, mutual ceasefire, joint strategic planning, and the creation of a national defense government and unified anti-Japanese army—articulate, in striking clarity, the Communist vision of a united national resistance. These ideas would soon form the ideological and practical foundation of the Second United Front established later in 1936.
The letter’s historical significance is further underscored by its connection to documented events. On 9 April 1936, Mao dispatched Zhou Enlai and Li Kenong to meet Zhang Xueliang in person—an unprecedented step that marked the intensification of secret negotiations between the two sides. The present letter was almost certainly conveyed to Zhang in this same context, serving either as a formal introduction or as written confirmation of Communist intentions. As such, it may constitute the first substantive documentary bridge between the CCP leadership and the man who would shortly detain Chiang Kai-shek in Xi’an to force a united anti-Japanese policy.
Hyland “Bud” Lyon was an American aviator and mechanic trained in California who travelled to Shanghai in late 1934 and joined the China National Aviation Corporation, becoming part of the expatriate community building China’s early aviation industry. Within a year, he was recruited as a mechanic and co-pilot to Zhang Xueliang. After the Xi’an Incident in December 1936 and Zhang’s subsequent detention, Lyon was entrusted with the care of Zhang’s wife, Edith Chao, and their young son, acting for the next five years as pilot, escort, and household agent while Zhang remained confined in Shanghai. He left China in 1941, returning to Los Angeles with a substantial personal archive of photographs and documents documenting Republican-era China.