Editing Xi'an Incident (section)

== Aftermath ==
[[File:Chiang Kai-shek after Xi'an incident.jpg|thumb|[[Lin Sen]] receives Chiang Kai-shek at the Nanjing Airport after the Xi'an Incident.]]
When Chiang was released, public opinion was decisively in his favor. His arrival to Nanjing was greeted by cheering crowds of over 400,000 people.{{sfn|Spence|1990|p=386}} Edgar Snow declared that Chiang had returned with a national standing "higher than that of any leader in modern Chinese history."{{sfn|Frank|2020|pp=21-22}} The event served to further consolidate power within the Nationalist government into Chiang's hands.{{sfn|Eastman|1991|p=48}}

Historian Jay Taylor writes how Xi'an turned Chiang from a "popular leader" into a "national hero."{{sfn|Taylor|2009|pp=128–129}} American ambassador [[Nelson T. Johnson]] wrote how "Whereas the outstanding developments during the first half of 1936 increased the precariousness of China's position, the significant events of the second half, in their larger aspects, have had the opposite effect." He observed that the Xi'an crisis "fostered another spontaneous outburst of nationalism throughout the country and caused universal rejoicing when the Generalissimo was released on Christmas Day."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Foreign Relations of the United States |date=1936 |edition=IV |pages=453}}</ref>

=== The Second United Front ===
After Chiang returned to Nanjing, he announced a cease fire in the civil war. However, he also repudiated any promises that he had made in Xi'an. He had Zhang imprisoned and charged with treason.{{sfn|Coble|2023|p=53}} Chiang then sent 37 army divisions north to surround the Northeastern Army and force them to stand down. The army was deeply divided on the appropriate response. Yang Hucheng and the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society wanted to stand and fight if the KMT army attacked, and refuse to negotiate until Zhang was released. The Communist representatives strongly disagreed and cautioned that civil war would, in the words of Zhou Enlai, "make China into [[Spanish Civil War|another Spain]]".{{sfn|Itoh|2016|pp=176–180}}
[[File:1937年红军改组为国民革命军命令.jpg|thumb|upright|A Communist army order instructing its troops to accept orders from the Nationalist government]]
Further negotiations between the CCP and Nanjing continued. However, when a conference of Northeastern officers in January 1937 overwhelmingly resolved not to surrender peacefully, the CCP reluctantly decided that they could not abandon their allies and pledged to fight alongside them if the KMT attacked. The situation was again reversed when the five most senior Northeastern generals met separately and decided to surrender. The radical officers were enraged and assassinated one of the generals on 2 February, but this only turned the majority of the soldiers against the plan to stand and fight.{{sfn|Itoh|2016|pp=180–185}} The Northeastern Army peacefully surrendered to advancing KMT forces and was divided into new units, which were sent to Hebei, Hunan, and Anhui.{{sfn|Itoh|2016|p=191}} Yang Hucheng, however, was arrested and eventually executed,{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=234}} while the leaders of the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society defected to the Red Army. Zhang was kept under house arrest for over 50 years before emigrating to Hawaii in 1993.{{sfn|Eastman|1991|p=48-49}}

The rapprochement between the Communists and Nationalists outraged the Japanese, and eventually helped lead to the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].{{sfn|Paine|2012|pp=102-103}} This in turn hastened the two Chinese factions into formalizing their alliance as the [[Second United Front]].{{sfn|Eastman|1991|p=48-49}}

The Xi'an Incident was a turning point for the CCP. Chiang's leadership over political and military affairs in China was affirmed, while the CCP was able to expand its own strength under the new united front, which played a role in the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]].{{sfn|Garver|1988|p=78}}