In 1936, the Japanese Imperialists continued to expand their invasion to China. Chiang Kai-shek Government took non-resistance policy and continued with the civil war. Even worse, Chiang Kai-shek sent the Northeast Army led by Zhang Xueliang and the 17th Army led by Yang Hucheng, which were both then in the front line fighting against the Japanese army, to attack the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in Shaanxi-Gansu area. With the influence of Nationwide Anti-Japanese United Battlefront initiated by the Communist Party of China and the anti-Japanese atmosphere among the Chinese people, the two patriotic generals, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, ceased fire with the Red Army and demanded Chiang Kai-shek to cooperate with the CPC to fight with the Japanese army. In early December of 1936, Chiang Kai-shek went to Xi'an in person to supervise the anti-communist war. On December 12, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng went to his dwelling place and launched a mutiny. They detained Chiang Kai-shek and forced him to resist the Japanese invasion. This is the well-known Xi'an Incident, also called Double-12 Incident. The incident shocked China and the whole world. The Communist Party of China took a peace-making attitude and handled the incident perfectly in the interest of the Nation. As a result, the incident secured the second cooperation between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang.

The site of Xi'an Incident, originally the residence of General Zhang Xueliang from September 1935 to December 1936, was built in 1932, covering an area of 11 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare). Three three-storeyed brick-and-wood-structured western-style buildings are lined up from east to west. The building in the east was used for dealing with confidential affairs, which was once a temporary residence of the Communist party delegates, Zhou Enlai, Qin Bangxian and Ye Jianying, during the period of the Xi'an Incident. The one in the middle was the office building for lieutenants, with living rooms, a conference hall and so on in it. Most of the conferences and negotiations were held in the middle one in the process of peacefully resolving the Xi'an Incident. The one in the east was the living place of Zhang Xueliang. There are other structures like bungalows for security guards and batmen, tennis courts and parking lots in this site.
 

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