UCLA Center for  East Asian Studies

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Today in Asian History

June 21

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1928 Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin died. He was fatally injured when Japanese troops blew up his train on June 4. Following its defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (fought in Manchuria), Japan carved out a sphere of influence in northeastern China. Zhang Zuolin became the dominant Chinese ruler in the region in 1913 and from 1924 also controlled Beijing and the area around the Chinese capital. His killers were concerned about Zhang's ambitions and hoped to trigger a formal Japanese seizure of Manchuria.

Click here to see a photo of Zhang. The Encyclopedia Brittanica offers short articles on Zhang Zuolin and his son, Zhang Xueliang, and a longer one on Manchuria. Compton's Encyclopedia offers a map of China with Manchuria highlighted.

1953 Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister of Pakistan, was born. Bhutto, the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (led Pakistan 1971-1977), was first elected prime minister in 1988. Her government was dismissed in 1990 by Pakistan's president, but she returned to power in 1993 as head of a coalition government. Her government was again dismissed in 1996. 

Bhutto was educated at Harvard University and Oxford University. She took over as head of the Pakistani People's Party after her father's 1977 arrest by the military junta which overthrew his government (he was executed in 1979). General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq ruled until his own death in a 1988 plane crash, after which Bhutto's party led a coalition government. Poverty, corruption, and continuing military involvement in politics proved intractable problems for Bhutto's governments.

Click here to see a map of Pakistan. You may wish to visit the Government of Pakistan website. The University of Florida hosts the Pakistan WWW Virtual Library which includes links to many useful sites. The U.S. CIA World Factbook offers useful information on Pakistan. The U.S. Library of Congress country study on Pakistan was written in 1994.

1970 Sukarno, founder of the Indonesian Republic and its president for from 1945 to 1967, died. Born in 1901, Sukarno advocated a unified Indonesia under a secular government and declared, with Hatta, the nation's independence from the Netherlands on August 17, 1945. The military forced him into retirement in 1967.

Sukarno's father was a Javanese schoolteacher. His mother was Balinese. He became associated with nationalist leaders as a youth and was a founder of the Indonesian Nationalist Union (soon renamed the Indonesian Nationalist Party) in 1927. Sukarno articulated a vision for Indonesia that drew upon Javanese traditional beliefs, Islamic teachings, and a populist Marxism. 

In 1999 Time Magazine selected Sukarno as one of the most influential Asians of the twentieth century. Click here to see a map of Indonesia. U.S. government resources on Indonesia include the CIA World Factbook and Library of Congress country study. 

The AI "Today in Asian History" page was compiled by Clayton Dube. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send them to <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>.