The Muslim Conflict in

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

broke out when a coalition of Muslim generals revolted against the

Guominjun The Guominjun (), also known as the Kuominchun, abbreviated as GMJ and KMC, was a military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. The KMC had control of much of Northwest China, including Shaanxi ...

in 1927. Prominent among the rebels was Ma Tingxiang, the son of the General

Ma Anliang Ma Anliang (, French romanization: Ma-ngan-leang, Xiao'erjing: ; 1855 – November 24, 1918) was a Hui people, Hui born in Linxia City, Hezhou, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China (1912 ...

, who received aid in the form of arms from

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...

in Manchuria.

Causes

Famine, natural disaster, and use of their land for planting opium precipitated the rebellion of the people of Gansu under Guominjun rule. Two Muslim Hui Generals, Ma Tingxiang and Ma Zhongying raised the flag of revolt, and attacked Guominjun forces throughout Gansu, participating in sieges of Hezhou. The fighting was often brutal. The revolt degenerated from an anti-Guominjun movement into general ethnic and religious conflict with Muslims, with mass atrocities on both sides. Throughout the revolt, some Muslim Generals like Ma Fuxiang did not join in the revolt, remaining officially as a part of the Guominjun, and appealing for peace. At the end, Ma Fuxiang and his son

Ma Hongkui Ma Hongkui ( zh, s=马鸿逵 , t=馬鴻逵 , p=Mǎ Hóngkuí , w=Ma Hung-k'uei , first=t, Xiao'erjing: ; March 14, 1892 – January 14, 1970) was a prominent Hui people, Chinese Muslim warlord during the Republic of China (1912–1949), R ...

defected to the Kuomintang without doing any fighting. Some Muslim Generals like Ma Lin remained on the Guominjun's side and fought the rebels.

The revolt

A revolt led by Ma Tingxiang ( Ma T'ing-hsiang) () (a son of

) in the spring of 1928 broke out among the

Hui people The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Islam in China, Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the Northwest China, northwestern provinces and in the Zhongy ...

in Gansu province against the

of Feng Yuxiang. The

Fengtian clique The Fengtian clique () was the faction that supported warlord Zhang Zuolin during Republic of China (1912–1949), China's Warlord Era. It took its name from Fengtian Province, which served as its original base of support. However, the clique quic ...

under Zhang Zuolin sent weapons shipments to Ma to aid him in his revolt. The American botanist

Joseph Rock Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, List of explorers, explorer, geographer, linguistics, linguist, ethnographer and photographer. Life Josef Franz Karl Rock was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a s ...

saw the fighting between the Hui Muslim warlord Ma Qi and the Tibetan Buddhists of Labrang Monastery. Even more brutal fighting broke out when war between

happened against the

warlord

Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and later general in the National Revolutionary Army. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. A ...

in 1925, autumn. The position of Gansu governor was taken by Feng Yuxiang. Only Muslim warlords were left after many of the non-Muslim warlords were expelled by Liu Yufen's Guominjun army of 15,000 soldiers as acting governor under Feng Yuxiang. A huge amount of taxes was extracted for Feng by Liu Yufen after an earthquake and famine brought about by drought. Then in Hezhou a revolt against Liu Yufen was led in Liangzhou by Hui Muslim warlord Ma Tingxing (son of

) in 1928, Spring. Hui, Dongxiang and Salar Muslims were recruited to also siege Hezhou in the army of 10,000 by Ma Zhongying, who was related to Ma Qi. Ma Zhongying's Muslim soldiers were starving and numbered 25,000 by November so that attacked the Tao river valley in the south, slaughtering Tibetan Buddhist monks, burning the palace of the Tibetan

Tusi ''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ...

chief king Yang Jiqing, sacking the Tibetan city of Chone and defeated

Yang Jiqing Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration ...

's 3,000 strong Tibetan militia. Tibetan areas all across southern Gansu were laid waste to. Tibetan militias defended Taozhou from Ma Tingxing. The Tibetans inflicted heavy casualties upon Ma Tingxian so he supported Ma Zhongying's Muslim forces and together they ravaged and destroyed the Taozhou-Chone region destroying and burning Tibetan areas. The Muslims burned the printing presses and

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

of the Tibetan Buddhists in Chone. The Muslims then looted the gompa and massacred the Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Labrang monastery after fleeting from Liu Yufen in January 1929. 2 million died in the war as villages and towns across Gansu's south and east were destroyed during the war when Ma Zhongying was fighting as Feng Yuxiang attacked him. The Chone temple and palaces were rebuilt by the Tibetan Tusi chief king Yang Jiqing after the 1928-1929 war. The rebellion was put down by Feng Yuxiang and Gansu became peaceful again until the 1935 when the communist

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

came. Linxia (Hezhou) was often plagued by these frequent rebellions. The entire southern suburbs of the city (ba fang) "eight blocks" was ruined in 1928 by savage fighting between the Muslims and Guominjun forces. Ma Lin defeated Ma Ting-hsiang (Ma Tingxiang). Ma Tingxiang was attacked by the Muslim General Ma Hongbin who was serving in Feng's administration in

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

.刘国铭主编，中国国民党九千将领，北京：中华工商联合出版社, 1993年 Ma Zhongying, a Hui commander led three separate attacks against Feng's forces in Hezhou, and the following year, traveled to

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

and pledged his allegiance to the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

, attending the Whampoa Military Academy and promoted to General. Ma Zhongying also fought against his great uncle Ma Lin (warlord), who was a Muslim General in Feng Yuxiang's army, defeating him when Ma Lin attempted to retake Hezhou. The slogan of the rebels was "don't kill Hui, don't kill Han, only kill the officers of Guominjun" "不杀回，不杀汉，只杀国民军的办事员". Hui Muslims belonging to the Xidaotang sect and Tibetans in Taozhou were attacked by Hui Muslim leader Ma Zhongying and his own Hui Muslim soldiers, causing panicked exodus of Xidaotang Hui Muslims. The

incited anti

Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960; also romanized as Yen Hsi-shan) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China from June 1949 to March 1950 as its last premier in mainland China and first premi ...

and

sentiments among Chinese Muslims and Mongols, encouraging for them to topple their rule. The revolt ended with all the Muslim Generals and Warlords, like Ma Qi, Ma Lin, and Ma Bufang reaffirming their allegiance to the

government after defeating the Guominjun. Ma Zhongying and Ma Fuxiang travelled to

to pledge allegiance to the

and Chiang Kai-shek. Ma Fuxiang was promoted, and Ma Zhongying was trained at the Whampoa Military Academy under Chiang, making secret agreements for a future invasion of Xinjiang. By 1931 the rebellion stopped totally. Ma Tingxiang first rebelled against Feng and the Guominjun, then defected to Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang after Chiang and Feng went to war against each other, and finally after Chiang dismissed Ma from his posts, attempted to flee and was captured by Feng and executed in 1929. Ma Zhongying's 1928 revolt led to a blaze which destroyed the Multicoloured Mosque.

Causes

The revolt

See also

References

Further reading