Dungan revolt (1862–1877)

The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877), also known as the Tongzhi Hui Revolt (, Xiao'erjing: تُ‌جِ خُوِ لُوًا, ) or Hui (Muslim) Minorities War, was a war fought in 19th-century western China, mostly during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (r. 1861–1875) of the Qing dynasty. The term sometimes includes the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, which occurred during the same period. However, this article refers specifically to two waves of uprising by various Chinese Muslims, mostly Hui people, in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces in the first wave, and then in Xinjiang in the second wave, between 1862 and 1877. The uprising was eventually suppressed by Qing forces led by Zuo Zongtang.

The conflict began with riots by the Hui and massacres of the Han Chinese, followed by the revenge massacres of the Hui by the Han. It resulted in massive demographic shifts in Northwest China, and led to a population loss of 21 million people from a combination of massacres, migration, famine, and corpse-transmitted plague. Due to the conflict, Gansu lost 74.5% (14.55 million) of its population, Shaanxi lost 44.6% (6.2 million) of its population, and Northern Xinjiang lost 72.6% (0.34 million) of its population. The population reduction of Hui in Shaanxi was particularly severe. According to research by modern historians, at least 4 million Hui were in Shaanxi before the revolt, but only 20,000 remained in the province afterwards, with most of the Hui either killed in massacres and reprisals by government and militia forces, or deported out of the province. For example, on one occasion where 700,000 to 800,000 Hui from Shaanxi were deported to Gansu, most were killed along the way from thirst, starvation, and massacres by the militia escorting them, with only a few thousand surviving. Large numbers of Han people were also relocated to Inner Mongolia after the war. Modern Ningxia and eastern Qinghai regions such as Xining, Hualong and Xunhua used to be a part of Gansu province before the 20th century.

Harsh punishments were meted out against Hui in Shaanxi by Manchus over communal disputes at this time since they regarded Hui as the aggressors. The Qing governor of Shaanxi put all the blame of the rebellion on the Shaanxi Hui. He said that the Gansu Hui were not to blame, were forced to join the rebellion, and that they had good relations with Han unlike the Shaanxi Hui whom he accused of committing massacres, so he told Gansu officials Shaanxi would not let deported Shaanxi Hui in Gansu back in. Officials in Shaanxi wanted military force to be used against Hui rebels while officials in Gansu wanted leniency for Hui rebels. Han Nian rebels worked with the Shaanxi Hui rebels until general Zuo Zongtang defeated the Nian in the province by 1868 and the Hui rebels in Shaanxi fled to Gansu in 1869. The Hunan Army was extensively infiltrated by the anti Qing, Han Gelaohui secret society, who started several mutinies during the Dungan Revolt, delaying crucial offensives. Zuo put down the mutinies and executed those involved. Hubei Gelaohui soldiers mutinied in Suide in Zuo Zongtang's army in 1867. The Han Gelaohui had infiltrated the Qing military in Xinjiang during the Dungan Revolt (1895–1896) and allegedly planned to help the Hui rebels before the Hui rebels were crushed.

The conflict initially erupted on the western bank of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, excluding Xinjiang Province. A chaotic affair, it often involved diverse warring bands and military leaders with no common cause or a single specific goal. A common misconception is that the revolt was directed against the Qing dynasty, but evidence does not show that the rebels intended to overthrow the Qing government or attack the capital of Beijing. Instead it indicates that the rebels wished to exact revenge on personal enemies for injustices. In the aftermath of the conflict, mass emigration of the Dungan people from Ili to Imperial Russia ensued.

Nomenclature

In this article " Dungan people" refers to Hui people, who are a predominantly Muslim, Chinese-speaking ethnic group in China. They are sometimes called "Chinese Muslims" and should not be confused with the "Turkestanis" or " Turkic" people mentioned, who are Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzes, Tatars and Uzbeks amongst others.

Anachronisms

The ethnic group now known as Uyghur people was not known by that name before the 20th century. In prior times, the Uyghurs of the Tarim Basin were known as "Turki". Uyghur immigrants from the Tarim Basin to Ili were called "Taranchi". The modern name "Uyghur" was assigned to this ethnic group by the Soviet Union in 1921 at a conference in Tashkent, with the name "Uyghur" being derived from the old Uyghur Khaganate. As a result, sources from the period of the Dungan Revolt make no mention of Uyghurs.

Although " Hui" was (and can still be) a Chinese name broadly referring to Muslim people, the term refers specifically to the community of Chinese-speaking Muslims in China, who share many cultural similarities with the Han. Europeans commonly referred to these people as "Dungan" or "Tungan" during the Dungan Revolt.

The people referred to as "Andijanis" or " Kokandis" include the subjects of the Kokand Khanate—Uzbeks, Sarts, Southern Kyrgyzes, Ferghana Kipchaks and Tajiks. The Kokand army was predominantly formed from Uzbeks and the nomadic Kyrgyz and Kipchaks.

Revolt in Gansu and Shaanxi

Background

The Dungan Revolt occurred partly because of ethnic antagonism and class warfare, not only because of religious strife (as is sometimes mistakenly assumed).

Chinese Muslims played a major role in resisting the early Qing dynasty in the wake of its victory over the Ming. For example, in 1646, Muslim Ming loyalists in Gansu led by Milayin and Ding Guodong organized a revolt in 1646, aiming to drive the Qing out and restore as emperor the Ming Prince of Yanchang, Zhu Shichuan. The Muslim Ming loyalists were supported by Sa'id Baba, the Sultan of Hami, and the Sultan's son Prince Turumtay. Additionally, Han Chinese and Tibetans joined the Muslim Ming loyalists in the revolt. After fierce fighting and negotiations, a peace agreement was formulated in 1649. Milayin and Ding nominally pledged allegiance to the Qing, and they were given ranks as members of the Qing military. However, when the Qing withdrew their forces from Gansu to fight resurgent Ming loyalists in southern China, Milayin and Ding once again took up arms and rebelled with the support of Turumtay against the Qing. They were ultimately crushed by the Qing and 100,000 of them—including Milayin, Ding Guodong, and Turumtay—were killed in battle. Additionally, the Confucian Hui Muslim scholar Ma Zhu (1640–1710) served with the southern Ming loyalists against the Qing.

During the Qianlong era (17351796), scholar Wei Shu () commented on Jiang Tong's () essay ''Xironglun'' (), stating that if the Muslims did not migrate, they would end up like the Five Hu, who overthrew the Western Jin and caused an ethnic conflict to break out between the Five Hu and the Han Chinese. During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, there were clashes between the Qing authorities and the Jahriyya Sufi sect, but not with the majority non-Sufi Sunnis or the Khafiyya Sufis.

Chinese Muslims had traveled to West Asia for many years prior to the Hui Minorities' War. In the 18th century several prominent Muslim clerics from Gansu studied in Mecca and Yemen under Naqshbandi Sufi teachers. Two different forms of Sufism were brought back to northwest China by two charismatic Hui sheikhs: Khufiyya, associated with Ma Laichi (1681–1766), and the more radical Jahriyya, founded by Ma Mingxin (1719?–1781). These coexisted with the more traditional, non-Sufi Sunni practices, centered around local mosques and known as ''gedimu'' (qadim, or ). The Khufiyya school and non-Sufi gedimu tradition—both tolerated by Qing authorities—were referred to as "Old Teaching" (), while Jahriyya, viewed by authorities as suspect, became known as the "New Teaching" ().

Disagreements between adherents of Khufiyya and Jahriya, as well as perceived mismanagement, corruption and the anti-Sufi attitudes of Qing officials, resulted in uprisings by Hui and Salar followers of the New Teaching in 1781 and 1783, but these were promptly suppressed. Hostilities between different groups of Sufis contributed to the violent atmosphere before the Dungan Revolt between 1862 and 1877.

In the Jahriyya revolt sectarian violence between two suborders of the Naqshbandi Sufis, the Jahriyya Sufi Muslims and their rivals, the Khafiyya Sufi Muslims, led to a Jahriyya Sufi Muslim revolt which the Qing dynasty in China crushed with the help of the Khafiyya Sufi Muslims.

Course of the revolt

As Taiping troops approached southeastern Shaanxi in the spring of 1862, the local Han Chinese, encouraged by the Qing government, formed '' Yong Ying'' militias to defend the region against the attackers. Afraid of the now-armed Han, the Muslims formed their own militia units as a response.

According to some historians, the Dungan Revolt began in 1862, not as a planned uprising but as a succession of local brawls and riots triggered by trivial causes. There were also rumors—false, as it turned out—spread that the Hui Muslims were aiding the Taiping Rebels. It was also said that the Hui Ma Hsiao-shih claimed that the Shaanxi Muslim revolt was connected to the Taiping.

Many Green Standard Army troops of the Imperial army were Hui. According to some historians, one of the incidents which led to the revolt was caused by a fight over the price of bamboo poles that a Han merchant was selling to a Hui. After this fight, Hui mobs attacked the Han and other Hui people who had not joined them in revolt. It was this seemingly trivial and unimportant dispute over bamboo poles that set off the full-scale revolt. However, according to historical records from the era, bamboo poles were bought in large quantities by the Hui to make spears as weaponry. Moreover, there had already been attacks on Han counties prior to the Shengshan bamboo incident. Historical records from the era show that prior to the conflict over the price of bamboo poles, there had already been plans among the Hui community to set up an Islamic State in the west of China . Organized through mosques and mullahs, the Hui people in Shaanxi started purchasing bamboo poles in large volumes. These poles were then used to make spears. Before the Shengshan bamboo incident, there had already been attacks on Han in Dali county and Weinan county. Fearing persecution, the Shaanxi Han populace fled the Hui or hid underground in cellars.

Given the low prestige of the Qing dynasty and its armies being occupied elsewhere, the revolt that began in the spring of 1862 in the Wei River valley spread rapidly throughout southeastern Shaanxi. By late June 1862, organized Muslim bands laid siege to Xi'an, which was not relieved by Qing general (sometimes written To-lung-a) until the fall of 1863. Dorongga was a Manchu bannerman in command of the army in Hunan. His forces defeated the Muslim rebels and completely destroyed their position in Shaanxi province, driving them out of the province to Gansu. Dorangga was later killed in action in March 1864 by Taiping rebels in Shaanxi.

The Governor-general of the region, En-lin, advised the Imperial government not to alienate Muslims. He officially made it clear that there was to be no mistreatment of or discrimination against Muslims, resulting in the implementation of a "policy of reconciliation". Muslim rebels tried to seize Lingzhou (present-day Lingwu) and Guyuan in several attacks as a result of false rumors spread by some Muslims that the government was going to kill all Muslims.

A vast number of Muslim refugees from Shaanxi fled to Gansu. Some of them formed the "Eighteen Great Battalions" in eastern Gansu, intending to fight their way back to their homes in Shaanxi. While the Hui rebels were preparing to attack Gansu and Shaanxi, Yaqub Beg, who had fled from Kokand Khanate in 1865 or 1866 after losing Tashkent to the Russians, declared himself ruler of Kashgar and soon managed to take complete control of Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.

In 1867 the Qing government sent one of its most capable commanders, General Zuo Zongtang—who had been instrumental in putting down the Taiping Rebellion—to Shaanxi. Zuo's approach was to pacify the region by promoting agriculture, especially the growing of cotton and grain, as well as supporting orthodox Confucian education. Due to the region's extreme poverty, Zuo had to rely on financial support from outside Northwestern China.

Zuo Zongtang called on the government to "support the armies in the northwest with the resources of the southeast", and arranged the finances of his planned expedition to conquer Gansu by obtaining loans worth millions of tael