But in recent years, contact across the Taiwan Strait has meant that historians can read and use the archive material made public on the mainland and the results of mainland research. From these, along with such materials as the diary of Xu Yongchang (Hsu Yung-chang) published by the Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History, researchers have begun to gain a clearer understanding of Zhang Xueliang's relationship with the CPC.
近年來，由於海峽兩岸交流，學者可以參閱並利用大陸方面所公開的檔案資料與研究成果，加上中央研究院近代史研究所所出版的《徐永昌日記》等資料，使學者對於張學良與中共方面往來的情形開始有較為清楚的瞭解與認識。