or Chang Tso-lin
born March 19, 1875, Haicheng, Liaoning province, China
died June 4, 1928, Shengyang, Liaoning
Chinese warlord.
After fighting in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), Zhang organized a self-defense militia in his native district. By 1912 he was in command of a division, and he set out to dominate Manchuria (northeastern China), relying on the tacit support of the Japanese, to whom he granted concessions in Manchuria. In 1918 he became inspector general of Manchuria's three provinces, which he ruled as a virtually autonomous state. In 1920 he pushed south into China proper and in 1924 took Beijing, but his troops had to abandon their position in the face of Chiang Kai-shek 's 1927 Northern Expedition . Zhang was killed by a bomb planted by Japanese extremists who hoped his death would provoke the Japanese into occupying Manchuria.