Zhangjingyao of Ten Major Crimes (January
19,1920)
Chen Shaoxiu and other citizens from all circles in Hunan accuse Zhang Jingyao of
ten major crimes and urge the Central Government in Beijing to dismiss him immediately from office. Their appeal reads as follows:
As the disaster in Hunan is now extreme, and the people are suffering miserably, we
appeal urgently and sincerely to the Central Government to dismiss the governor of
Hunan from office and punish him, so as to maintain the law and rescue the people from
calamity. In recent years, Hunan has constantly met with catastrophes. Slaughtered
and robbed by the former governor, Tang Xiangming,23 the people of Hunan have long
lived in tragic circumstances. The mutiny at Lingning brought war throughout the
17 A native of Hunan, Kuang Rixiu was a student at Beijing Normal University at the time of the
May Fourth movement, and a participant in the movement. He joined the New People’s Study Society
and was active in the struggle to oust Zhang Jingyao.
18 Luo Jiaoduo was a member of the urban gentry and leader of a “common man’s educational
movement” in Changsha in the early 1920s. In October 1921 he established a free school devoted to
middle school extension using provincial funds.
19 Xiong Mengfei (1895-?), also known as Ren’an, was born in Ningxiang, Hunan. He was an active
member of the New People’s Study Society. He was arrested as a counterrevolutionary in 1949, and died
soon afterward.
20 Li Zhenpien, also known as Chengde, a native of Hunan, was a student of the Hunan-Yale Medical
School. He later went to America to study.
21 Li Qihan (1898–1927), also known as Li Junhan and Li Sen, was born in Hunan, and was a
member of the New People’s Study Society.
22 Chen Chuncui (1896–1951), also known as Tianmin and Shouzhen, was born in Jiangxi, and was
a member of the New People’s Study Society.
23 Jiang Zhuru (1899–1967), also known as Jixu, Weiwan, and Qingpu, was born in Xiangtan, Hunan.
He was a classmate of Mao’s at First Normal School, and a member of the New People’s Study Society.

province.24 Since Zhang Jingyao came in April 1918, the people of Hunan have further
sunk into disaster. Here we present to you the facts about Governor Zhang’s crimes
and hope the central government will be able to perceive the misery that the people
of Hunan have suffered. Beginning in May 1918, the entire town of Yuling, amounting
to more than ten thousand houses, was burned down. The conflagration also spread
to the outskirts and continued for ten days. In Zhuzhou alone, several thousand shops
were ransacked at the same time. During the battle of Huangtu Hill in You xian, so
many women were raped and died that their bodies covered the hill, while tens of
thousands were massacred.25 Even the most remote villages could not escape being
ransacked by Zhang’s troops. Unable to return home, people are forced to live in exile.
The dead cannot be buried, while the living have no place to stay. With the greater
part of the buildings burned down, and nine out of ten dwellings
empty, conditions in Yuzhou and Baoqing26 are too horrible to contemplate. One
might think that this calamity was caused by war and that the devastated areas were
too remote for Zhang to control. But things are just the same in Changsha, where
Zhang’s headquarters are located. Robberies by Zhang’s soldiers occur every day, and
his younger brother Zhang Jingtang is frequently seen to seize goods from shops without paying a single copper cash. The contingents sent by Zhang to the nearby countryside often arrest innocent people at will and then extort money from their families and
relatives. The price to redeem one person is from one thousand to several thousand
yuan. There is plenty of evidence of such cases. The disorders have ruined the livelihood of the Hunan people, but now they are again heavily exploited by Zhang and
are forced to sell wives and children to pay the excessive taxes and levies. There is not
even a single day of peace as Zhang’s soldiers go out every day in groups to ransack
households with the excuse of searching for bandits. As a result, peasants cannot farm,
nor are merchants able to take care of their business. Letting soldiers tyrannize the
people and bring calamity to them is Zhang’s first crime. There used to be the Bank
of Hunan, which issued bank notes in the province. On his arrival, Governor Zhang
abolished the Bank of Hunan and replaced it with a bank of his own, the Yuxiang
Bank,27 to absorb currency. His brother Jingtang28 has also set up a bank named the
Rixin Bank to monopolize the financial market. By purchasing copper coins in Hunan
and selling them in Wuhan, he has made huge profits. Moreover, invalidating over
24 On Tang Xiangming, see the note to Mao’s letter of July 18, 1916.
25 The Lingning garrison under the command of Liu Jianfan declared the independence of Hunan
on September 18, 1919, and at this time severed all relations with the Duan Qirui government.
26 Huangtu Hill is situated 45 kilometers north of the capital of You xian, on the border of Liling
xian, on the north-south route. Because of this location, Huangtu Hill became a stronghold for both
armies, of the north and the south, and fierce fighting resulted there.
27 In the spring of 1918, during the war between the north and the south, the towns of Yuzhou and
Baoqing were set on fire by troops, and two to three thousand residents were killed in their sleep.
28 The Yuxiang Bank was set up by Zhang Jingyao in August 1918. It was organized without any
real assets, and Zhang’s deputy Xu Kechang was made supervisor; it was obviously a means by which
Zhang could accumulate private wealth.

40 million yuan in Bank of Hunan notes, Zhang issued “Benefit the People”29 lottery
tickets and ordered them to be distributed throughout the province to absorb Bank
of Hunan notes as well as other currency. When the outcome of the lottery was declared, however, few who got the winning numbers were given the prizes. In this way,
as savings are taken away and the bank notes become invalidated, people have nothing
left and the financial resources of Hunan are exhausted. This is Zhang’s second crime.
After illegally leasing the Shuikoushan Lead Mine to foreigners,30 Governor Zhang has
again handed over the lead-smelting factory to American businessmen as pledge for
1.4 million yuan. In addition, despite the strong protest from the people throughout
Hunan, Zhang has leased all mines in Hunan to the British merchant Grant for 30
million yuan31 and sold the Hunan Textile Factory to a Tianjin merchant at the price
of 1.5 million yuan. The reclaimed paddies owned by the Bank of Hunan were also sold
by him for 200,000 yuan. Both the national and private enterprises in Hunan have now
gone into bankruptcy and can never be recovered. These acts are Zhang’s third crime.
Hunan used to be known for its strict ban on opium-smoking and the opium trade, and
there had been no opiumsmoking and no opium-growing throughout the province since
the founding of the Republic. However, that good practice is gone because Governor
Zhang is an opium addict himself, and most of the officers and soldiers in his army are
also addicted to opium. Zhang recently has even ordered people to grow opium. Under
his order, there must be 40 mu of opium per 100 mu of land, and Zhang levies 20 yuan
on every mu of opium. In Changsha xian alone, 40,000 packets of opium seeds have
been planted. Not long ago, Zhang brought 45 sacks of poppy seeds from Liaoning, but
they were confiscated at the Zhanyutao Railway Station in Wuchang on the way to
Hunan. The case was brought to court, people all over the country were outraged, and
even foreigners lodged protests. Nevertheless, Governor Zhang used his troops to seize
the seeds. If the situation continues, it will not only make Hunan an opium-addicted
province, but also cause diplomatic disputes, ruin the image of our country abroad,
and make China a laughingstock all over the world. This is Zhang’s fourth crime. Governor Zhang has drastically cut the budget for education since he came to Hunan. He
29 Zhang Jingtang, fourth younger brother of Zhang Jingyao who, along with two other brothers
(Jingshun, Jingyu), was made an officer in Zhang Jingyao’s army. Jingtang was known as the “Fourth
General” and was the most infamous of them all for tyrannical rule, abuse of power and venality, as well
as being showy and flamboyant.
30 In November 1918 Zhang Jingyao ordered the Bank of Hunan Stock Department to issue two
million lottery tickets to distribute amongst the people at a cost of five yuan each. According to an
article in the Dagongbao, the aim of the tickets was to recall bank notes, as during the year too many
had been issued, their value had dropped, and the price of many goods had risen. They were called
“Huimin” as they were supposedly designed to “benefit the people” in this way. Many people complained,
but Zhang enforced a rigid apportionment policy, causing widespread discontent.
31 The Shuikoushan mine was the largest mine under provincial government ownership in 1918.
In December 1919 Zhao’s Beijing representative signed a draft contract with the American Pacific
Enterprise Co. for transfer of the mines to joint ownership in return for American investment. A protest
in Beijing blocked the deal. For further details, see the text dated December 27, 1919.

withheld the fund set up in the term of former Governor Tan as the annual award
for meritorious primary school teachers, and then paid only 40 to 60 percent of the
money, and even completely stopped payment from January 1919. When teachers of
various schools went on strike last October to protest against withholding funds for
education, Zhang spread rumors at will to slander the teachers, ordered soldiers to
beat students, and drove educational personnel out of office, thus causing a boycott of
classes throughout the schools of Hunan. In addition, he has used schools as barracks
for his army since he came to Hunan. As school buildings have been destroyed and
facilities damaged, students now cannot go to school or have classes. This is Zhang’s
fifth crime. Governor Zhang’s soldiers often commit crimes. But once they are caught,
Zhang always frames innocent citizens to protect his soldiers. This notorious practice
has been frequently exposed by the press. Last July, Wu Canhuang, a Hunanese, returned to Changsha from Shanghai with his friend Cheng Peng and lived in Chuanshan
School. Because Wu was a member of the Shanghai National Assembly, Zhang had his
adopted son Zhang Jizhong32 lead soldiers to break into the school at midnight and
to bayonet Wu and Cheng to death.33 Assassinating citizens and deliberately trampling on the law is Zhang’s sixth crime. The Dagongbao in Changsha and the Hunan
Gazette34 have been closed twice by Zhang because they supported public opinion. The
Xiang River Review, a journal of academic research published by the United Students’
Association, was likewise shut down. Various weekly school journals were also banned.
The people of Hunan feel bitterly angered but dare not speak out because freedom
of speech has been completely swept into the dust. This is Zhang’s seventh crime.
There is evidence in the form of a telegram issued by the ministry concerned that
Governor Zhang appropriated several thousand bags of salt, which were confiscated
by the Beijing- Hankou Railway. Furthermore, on every bag of salt sold in Hunan, a
one-yuan tax is levied, in addition to the three-yuan handling and shipping fee. As a
result, the price of salt has risen sharply, and average people cannot afford to buy salt
for cooking. Violating the laws governing the sale of salt and defying the authority of
the central government constitute Zhang’s eighth crime. Governor Zhang frequently
extorts money from the merchants and gentry in Changsha and in many other xian
to pay for his army. The figure is often as high as several million yuan. In Xiangxiang
xian alone, he has extorted 5 million piculs of rice for his troops. He secretly transported to Tianjin 100 million piculs of rice taken from the people of Hunan to sell to
32 For further details see the text of December 27, 1919.
33 Zhang Jizhong, original name Mao Sizhong, was the adopted son of Zhang Jingyao. At this time
he was a troop commander in Zhang Jiangyao’s army.
34 Wu Canhuang, a Hunanese from Pingjiang, was executive secretary of the Shanghai National
Assembly and director of the China Industry Association. Cheng Peng, from Anhui Province, was a
special representative of the Industry Association. They were in Hunan to organize a similar Assembly,
and to make preparations for setting up a Hunan branch of the Industry Association. Zhang Jingyao
feigned sympathy for their cause, but on the night of August 16 they were killed in the circumstances
described by Mao.

Japan, but was repeatedly obstructed by the gentry of Hunan. There are documents
to prove all of this. Zhang has seized the ship Huasheng [Prosperous China] from the
China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company. Claiming to be a “meritorious official”
himself, he has renamed the ship Xunhua [Meritorious China] and put it under his
ownership. As for land tax in the various xian, 20 to 50 fen have been added for each
yuan collected. In some cases, the levy has even been doubled. The people’s livelihood
in rural areas has been extremely meager since the war, and the produce of the land is
insufficient to maintain their livelihood. Nevertheless, regardless of the misery of the
people, Governor Zhang grabs the spoils without taking part in the robbery. This is
his ninth crime. Governor Zhang has controlled only about 20 of the more than 70
xian in Hunan, but he falsely claimed to rule them all and forged votes accordingly
to reelect the Provincial Parliament. The election has been repeatedly denounced by
the people of Hunan in telegrams. Also, the Provincial Council on Education was originally an unofficial35 organization, but after this reelection, Governor Zhang had the
officials run it on his behalf, thus creating a fait accompli. He has also dismissed the
former president of the Hunan Agricultural Association.36 Falsifying public opinion
and sabotaging social organizations to serve his own interests constitute Zhang’s tenth
crime. The aforementioned facts are only a brief account of Zhang’s ten crimes. The
details are reported in A Brief Account of Calamity in Hunan, A Brief Record of War
Disasters in Liling, A Brief Record of War Disasters in Baoqing, and the monthly
Hunan,37 as well as other sources. Evidence of Zhang’s crimes is also recorded in many
previous appeals and telegrams from the Hunan United Reconstruction Association of
the gentry, and by student representatives. We hold that Governor Zhang is the source
of all the disasters in Hunan and is guilty of the most heinous crimes. Because of the
calamities brought by him, the people of Hunan have suffered beyond description. As
long as he stays in Hunan, the people will live in an endless abyss of misery. If the
central government still considers Hunan part of the Republic of China and the people
of Hunan as Chinese citizens, it ought to remove the tyrant in order to save the people.
It definitely has this responsibility. We hereby sincerely urge the president and the
cabinet to take into consideration this and our previous earnest appeals, to dismiss
Governor Zhang Jingyao of Hunan promptly, to transfer him back to Beijing, and to
punish him to the full extent of the law. It is our strong hope that you can appoint an
honest and capable official to replace him, so as to satisfy the people’s demands and
their urgent needs.
35 This should read Hunan Daily (Hunan ribao), as the Hunan Gazette (Hunan gongbao) ceased
publication in 1916 after the death of Yuan Shikai.
36 Minli, literally “set up by the people,” as opposed to shengli (set up by the province).
37 On December 28, 1919, the Association was banned by Zhang, who thought it might serve as a
node for agitation during the anti-Zhang student strikes of the time.