Editing Zhang Xueliang (section)

== Life under house arrest ==

[[File:Zhang Xueliang's former residence,Wufeng, Hsinchu, Taiwan.jpg|thumb|[[Former Residence of Zhang Xueliang (Hsinchu County)|Former residence of Zhang Xueliang]] in [[Wufeng, Hsinchu|Wufeng]], [[Hsinchu County]], [[Taiwan]]]]

===Trial===
As soon as Zhang landed in Nanjing, Chiang had him placed under arrest by military police.{{sfn|Shai|2012|p=98}} Zhang wrote Chiang an obsequious letter of apology. Although he never disavowed his role in the Xi'an incident, he admitted that what he had done was a crime, and asked to be punished. He intended the letter to be a private assurance of loyalty to Chiang, but the latter had the letter published so as to discredit Zhang.{{sfn|Shai|2012|pp=99-100}} [[Li Liejun]] then presided over a show trial which convicted Zhang of abducting the Generalissimo and attempting to change government policy, sentencing him to ten years in prison.{{sfn|Shai|2012|p=101}} Chiang had him pardoned just a few days later, on January 4, 1937, but with the stipulation that he not be given his civil rights back and that he would remain under protective detention.{{sfn|Shai|2012|p=102}}

===Mainland China===
During the first few years of Zhang's imprisonment, he was regularly moved from location to location under the close supervision of Chiang Kai-shek. He was soon joined by his first wife, Yu Fengzhi. The couple began living with the family of one of his wardens, Liu Yiguang. Zhang was allowed access to his bank account, but was (according to custom) expected to pay for most of the expenses related to his detention.{{sfn|Shai|2012|pp=106-107}} In 1940 Yu Fengzhi became sick with breast cancer and was granted permission to seek treatment in the United States.{{sfn|Shai|2012|p=113}} Although they remained affectionate in their letters to one another, the couple would never see each other again. In 1964, Yu agreed to divorce Zhang so that he could marry Edith Chao.{{sfn|Shai|2012|p=131}}

===Taiwan===
Zhang was eventually taken to Taiwan, where he remained under house arrest until Chiang's 1975 death.{{sfn|Coble|2023|p=53}} Much of his time was spent studying [[Ming dynasty]] literature and the [[Manchu language]] and collecting Chinese fan paintings, calligraphy, and other works of art by illustrious artists (a collection of more than 200 works using his studio's name "Dingyuanzhai" ({{lang|zh-Hant|定遠齋}}) was auctioned with tremendous success by [[Sotheby's]] on April 10, 1994).

Zhang studied the [[New Testament]]. In 1964, he formally married Edith Chao, daughter of a senior official, who left her family in her teens to become his companion and later followed him into exile. His first wife, Yu, said she was so moved by Ms. Chao's devotion that she released her husband from his vows. Zhang and his wife, Edith, became devout Christians who also regularly attended Sunday services at [[Shilin Official Residence|the Methodist chapel]] in [[Shilin District|Shilin]], a Taipei suburb, with Chiang Kai-shek's family. On March 26, 1988, two months after the death of Chiang Kai-shek's son [[Chiang Ching-kuo]], his freedom was officially restored.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Brill| isbn = 978-90-04-22154-3| last = Jacobs| first = J. Bruce| author-link= J. Bruce Jacobs| title = Democratizing Taiwan| location = Leiden ; Boston| date = 2012}}</ref>