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The Japanese loans that boosted Zhang - and then blew up his bridge
A warlord rides a train across Manchuria with explosives beneath the bridge he’s crossing; who made that transaction, and why?
The Japanese loans that boosted Zhang - and then blew up his bridge
In this episode we set out the network of patronage, finance and infrastructure that shaped Zhang Zuolin’s rise in Manchuria and the fateful moment his train was bombed. We trace the loans, the political offices and the local institutions that bound him to Japanese capital - and ask what calculation could turn a sponsor into a saboteur.
Person: Zhang Zuolin
Date: June 4, 1928
Location: railway…
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