Yang Yu-t'ing (1885-10 January 1929), Manchurian military officer who served as chief of staff under Chang Tso-lin (q.v.) and who later was executed by Chang's son Chang Hsuehliang (q.v.). The Fak'u district of Fengtien (Liaoning) was the birthplace of Yang Yü-t'ing. Little is known of his family background or early years except that he decided on a military career and went to Japan to study at the Shikan Gakko [military academy], from which he was graduated with an outstanding record in the artillery course. He then returned to Manchuria, where he served in the Fengtien military forces during the final years of the Ch'ing period. After the establishment of the new republican government and the accession to power of Yuan Shih-k'ai in 1912, the Manchurian provinces came under the nominal jurisdiction of Peking. In the reorganization of Fengtien forces at that time, Yang became a weapons specialist in the 27th Division at Mukden commanded by Chang Tso-hn (q.v.). After the death of Yuan Shih-k'ai in 1916, Chang Tso-lin moved to consolidate personal control of southern Manchuria and became military and civil governor of Fengtien. Yang continued to serve Chang, becoming chief of staff of the 27th Division. Early in 1918 the Fengtien faction lent military forces to Tuan Ch'i-jui and Hsü Shu-cheng (qq.v.) in north China, a move that led to the appointment of Chang Tso-lin as inspector general of the Three Eastern Provinces. During this interlude of cooperation between Chang Tso-lin and Tuan Ch'i-jui, Yang resided at Tientsin in north China.

In 1921 Chang Tso-lin named Yang Yü-t'ing chief counselor in the office of the inspector general of the Three Eastern Provinces. Although the Fengtien forces met defeat in the first Chihli-Fengtien war of 1922, Chang Tso-lin retained authority at Mukden and soon proclaimed himself commander in chief of the peace preservation forces of the Three Eastern Provinces. Yang Yü-t'ing was reappointed chief counselor in Chang Tso-lin's headquarters, with concurrent assignment as director of the Mukden Arsenal and supervisor of training of the Fengtien military forces.

The second Chihli-Fengtien war late in 1924 ended in defeat for the Chihli faction and left Chang Tso-lin's Manchurian army, with Yang Yü-t'ing as chief of staff, in a strong position in north China. Early in 1925 Yang and Chang Tsung-ch'ang (q.v.) pushed southward through Shantung to the Nanking-Shanghai area, where they defeated Ch'i Hsieh-yuan (q.v.) in Kiangsu. Yang was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and in August 1925 he became military governor of Kiangsu. That success was shortlived, however, for the armies of Sun Ch'uanfang (q.v.) defeated the Fengtien forces in October and forced them to retreat northward. Yang Yü-t'ing returned to Mukden, where he continued to serve as chief of staff in Chang Tso-lin's military establishment and played a role in the planning which led to the formation of a new coalition by Chang and Wu P'ei-fu (q.v.) against Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.). Feng, whose action in 1924 had led to the defeat of Wu P'ei-fu in north China, had made a covert arrangement with Kuo Sung-ling, a leading Fengtien general; and he counted heavily on Kuo's defection to undermine the power of Chang Tso-lin. When war broke out late in 1925, however, quick action by Yang Yü-t'ing led to the defeat of Kuo Sung-ling's troops and to the capture and execution of Kuo himself in December. Chang Tso-lin then moved to Peking in mid- 1926, leaving Yang Yü-t'ing in charge at Mukden. Although the Kuominchün armies of Feng Yü-hsiang were defeated in north China, a new challenge appeared as the forces of the National Revolutionary Army under the over-all command of Chiang Kai-shek drove forward from Canton in 1926 to establish a new Nationalist base of control in the lower Yangtze valley. To counter this threat, Chang Tso-lin and the northern generals, after a strategy conference at Tientsin in December, organized the Ankuochün [national pacification army], a coalition force that included Fengtien, Chihli, and Shantung units. At the beginning of 1927 Chang ordered Yang Yü-t'ing and Mo Te-hui (q.v.), civil governor of Fengtien province, from Mukden to Peking.

By the spring of 1927 the Nationalist armies had defeated Fengtien forces committed in Anhwei and Honan; while Feng Yü-hsiang in southern Honan and Yen Hsi-shan (q.v.) in Shansi had both shifted allegiance to the Nationalist side. The Chinese military situation was further complicated by Japanese interests and by conflicting views within the Fengtien high command itself. Yoshizawa Kenkichi, Japanese minister to China, held conversations with Yang Yü-t'ing in which he emphasized Japan's concern with the surging tide of radical Chinese nationalism and the continued intention of his government to view Manchuria as a special area in which Japan had recognized rights of long standing. Within the Fengtien military faction, Wu Chün-sheng recommended withdrawal of forces outside the Great Wall in order to preserve the integrity of Chang Tsolin's power base in Manchuria. Yang Yü-t'ing, on the other hand, proposed a plan for preservation of the status quo through cooperation with the Nationalists at Nanking, where Chiang Kai-shek had established himself in opposition to the Nationalist-Communist group at Wuhan, and with Yen Hsi-shan in Shansi. Yang's counsel prevailed, and in June 1927 Chang Tso-lin decided to make a stand in north China and assumed the title of Ta-yuan-shuai, or generalissimo, at Peking.

In the summer of 1927, when the continued disarray of Kuomintang political factions in the Yangtze valley was accompanied by the temporary retirement to Japan of Chiang Kai-shek, it appeared that Yang Yü-t'ing's estimates would prove sound. During the year that followed, however, plans based on Yang's estimates brought military debacle to the northern forces and disaster to the leader of the Fengtien faction. In January 1928, when Chiang Kai-shek resum^ed command of the National Revolutionary Army, it quickly became apparent that Nationalist strategy did not envisage coexistence with continued regional military power in the north. In a planning conference at Peking in late January, Chang Tso-lin then decided to strike first at the forces of Feng Yü-hsiang. As chief of staff, Yang Yü-t'ing was assigned to direct operations from Paoting. But in April, when Nationalist armies began a coordinated offensive drive into north China, the position of the Fengtien-Chihli- Shantung warlord coalition quickly proved untenable. Its forces began a general retreat northward toward Shanhaikuan. And on 4 June 1928 the railroad coach in which Chang Tso-lin was returning to Manchuria was wrecked by a bomb explosion as it neared Mukden.

The death of Chang Tso-lin, the Old Marshal, ended a chapter in the history of modern Manchuria and introduced a six-month interregnum. In early June of 1928 Yang Yü-t'ing and the Old Marshal's eldest son, Chang Hsueh-liang (q.v.), withdrew from Peking to Tientsin. A fortnight later, Chang Hsueh-liang returned to Mukden. Yang remained behind at Luanchow to supervise evacuation of the Fengtien forces. At the beginning of July, Chang Hsueh-liang, the Young Marshal, assumed the position of commander in chief of the Northeast Peace Preservation forces, though his control of Manchuria was hardly secure. On 13 July 1928 Yang Yü-t'ing returned to Mukden to assess the situation. Another leading candidate for power there was Chang Tsohsiang, also a long-time associate of Chang Tso-lin and governor of Kirin province. Chang Tso-hsiang, however, removed himself from the competition by pledging personal support to Chang Hsueh-liang. The position of Yang Yü-t'ing thus became delicate. As Chang Tso-lin's chief of staff for over ten years, he regarded himself as a major contender for the position of power which the Old Marshal had long held in Manchuria. However, Yang had become the target of much personal criticism because of the 1928 Fengtien military debacle. The able, ambitious, and impatient Yang thus found himself confronting the possibility that his future career might be dependent on the good graces of Chang Hsueh-liang, a younger and much less experienced officer.

During the autumn of 1928, Yang Yü-t'ing, who regarded the Young Marshal as a political upstart and an ineffectual weakling, refused to accept appointment under him and continued to act independently without consulting Chang. Ch'ang Yin-huai, civil governor of Heilungkiang province, head of the Manchurian railroad system, and former head of military police under Chang Tso-lin, was closely associated with Yang Yü-t'ing during this period. Rumors flew. Japanese agents reportedly were hoping to use Yang as a channel for exerting indirect control over Chang Hsueh-liang. Yang reportedly was hoping to interfere with arrangements which Chang Hsueh-liang was attempting to work out with Chiang Kai-shek's new regime at Nanking. But the most persistent report was that Yang Yü-t'ing was planning to overthrow the Young Marshal and to seize power himself At the end of December 1928 Chang Hsuehliang pledged the allegiance of Manchuria to the National Government at Nanking and raised the Nationalist flag at Mukden. By this time, he had recognized the danger of permitting the contest with Yang to go unresolved. On the evening of 10 January 1929 the Young Marshal invited Yang Yü-t'ing and Ch'ang Yin-huai to his headquarters for dinner and a game of mahjong. Chang greeted his guests and then excused himself to get a morphine injection. Although there are several versions of the events that followed, the generally accepted story is that, after the Young Marshal's exit, unidentified gunmen moved into the room and shot down both Yang and Ch'ang.

A statement issued by Chang Hsueh-liang's office the next day reported that detailed investigations over a period of months had revealed overwhelming evidence that the two men had been guilty of treason, disobedience to orders, and corruption. The Young Marshal, recalling the lesson of the 1925 rebellion of Kuo Sung-ling against his father, was aware that Yang Yü-t'ing stood as a major obstacle to establishment of control over Manchuria. Ihe elimination of Yang's rivalry was doubtless the chief motive for the double killing. What actually transpired on the chilly night of 10 January 1929 at Mukden may never be known.