Dungan Revolt (1862–77)

For the eponymous revolt of 1895–96, see Dungan Revolt (1895–96).

Dungan revolt
Yaqub Bek
Date 1862-77 Location Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang Result Qing victory
Belligerents
Qing Empire Hui Muslim loyalists Khufiyya order under Ma Zhan'ao in Gansu (1872-77) Eleven Gedimu Battalions of Shaanxi (1872-77) Cui Wei's battalion (1872-1877) Hua Dacai's battalion (1872-1877)	Kashgaria (Kokandi Uzbek Andijanis under Yaqub Beg) Supported by: British Empire Ottoman Empire Taranchi Turkic Muslim rebels in Ili Supported by: Russian Empire	Hui Muslim rebels Gedimu Eighteen Shaanxi Battalions (Eleven of the Battalion leaders surrendered and defected to the Qing dynasty, six were killed, and one, Bai Yanhu, fled to Russia) Cui Wei's battalion (1862-72) Hua Dacai's battalion (1862-72) Bai Yanhu's battalion Jahriyya order under Ma Hualong in Gansu Khufiyya order under Ma Zhan'ao in Gansu (1862-72)
Commanders and leaders
Zuo Zongtang Dolongga Liu Jintang Wang Dagui Dong Fuxiang Ma Zhan'ao (1872-77) Ma Anliang (1872-77) Ma Qianling (1872-77) Ma Haiyan (1872-77) Cui Wei (1872-77) Hua Decai (1872-77)	Yaqub Beg Hsu Hsuehkung	Cui Wei (1862-72) Hua Decai (1862-72) Bai Yanhu Ma Hualong T'o Ming Ma Zhan'ao (1872-77) Ma Anliang (1872-77) Ma Qianling (1872-77) Ma Haiyan (1862-72)
Strength
Hunan Army, 120,000 Zuo Zongtang army and Khafiya Chinese Muslim troops	Andijani Uzbek troops and Afghan volunteers, Han Chinese and Hui forcibly drafted into Yaqub's army, and separate Han Chinese militia	Rebels in Shaanxi and Gansu
Casualties and losses
Muslim death in Shanxi alone may have been as high as 4,000,000 during the Tong Zhi Muslim Revolt (同治回乱） of 1862		Total deaths on all sides: 8,000,000-12,000,000, including civilians and soldiers

The Dungan Revolt (1862–77) (simplified Chinese: 同治回变; traditional Chinese: 同治回變; pinyin: Tóngzhì Huí Biàn) or Hui Minorities War was a mainly ethnic war fought in 19th-century China. The term sometimes includes the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan, which occurred during the same period. However, this article relates specifically to the uprising by members of the Muslim Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups in China's Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia Provinces, as well as in Xinjiang, between 1862 and 1877. The revolt arose over a pricing dispute involving bamboo poles, when a Han merchant selling to a Hui did not receive the amount demanded for the goods.

The uprising occurred on the western bank of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, but excluded 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 no evidence shows that the rebels intended to attack the capital, Beijing, or to overthrow the entire Qing government. When the rebellion failed, mass emigration of the Dungan people from Ili to Imperial Russia ensued.

Nomenclature

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

Anachronisms

The ethnic group now known as Uyghur people was not known by that name before the 20th century. The Uzbeks of Yaqub Beg were called "Andijanis" or "Kokandis", while the Uyghurs in 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" taken from the old Uyghur Khaganate. As a result, sources from the period of the Dungan revolt make no mentions of Uyghurs.

Although "Hui" was (and is) the Chinese name for Muslim people of Han ethnic background, Europeans commonly referred to them as "Dungan" or "Tungan" during the Dungan revolt.

Rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi

Background

The Dungan Revolt by the Hui occurred because of racial antagonism and class warfare, not purely religious strife as is sometimes mistakenly assumed.

When the Qing dynasty invaded the Ming dynasty in 1644, Muslim Ming loyalists in Gansu led by Muslim leaders Milayin and Ding Guodong led a revolt in 1646 against the Qing during the Milayin rebellion in order to drive the Qing out and restore the Ming Prince of Yanchang Zhu Shichuan to the throne as the emperor. The Muslim Ming loyalists were supported by Hami's Sultan Sa'id Baba and his son Prince Turumtay. The Muslim Ming loyalists were joined by Tibetans and Han Chinese in the revolt. After fierce fighting, and negotiations, a peace agreement was agreed on in 1649, and Milayan and Ding nominally pledged alleigance to the Qing and were given ranks as members of the Qing military. When other Ming loyalists in southern China made a resurgence and the Qing were forced to withdraw their forces from Gansu to fight them, Milayan and Ding once again took up arms and rebelled against the Qing. The Muslim Ming loyalists were then crushed by the Qing with 100,000 of them, including Milayin, Ding Guodong, and Turumtay killed in battle.

The Confucian Hui Muslim scholar Ma Zhu (1640–1710) served with the southern Ming loyalists against the Qing.

In Guangzhou, the national monuments known as "The Muslim's Loyal Trio" are the tombs of Ming loyalist Muslims who were martyred while fighting in battle against the Qing in the Manchu conquest of China in Guangzhou.

During the Qianlong era (1735–1796), scholar Wei Shu (魏塾) commented on Jiang Tong's (江统) essay Xironglun (徙戎论) that if the Muslims did not migrate, they would end up like the Five Hu, who overthrew the Western Jin with the result an ethnic rather than religious conflict breaking 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 travelled 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: Khafiya (also spelled Khafiyya or Khufiyah; 虎夫耶; Hǔfūyē), associated with Ma Laichi (1681–1766), and the more radical Jahriyya (also spelled Jahriya, Jahariyya, Jahariyah, etc.; 哲赫林耶; Zhéhèlínyē or 哲合忍耶; Zhéhérěnyē), 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, 格底目 or 格迪目). The Khafiya school and non-Sufi gedimu tradition—both tolerated by Qing authorities—were referred to as "Old Teaching" (老教; lǎo jiào), while Jahriya, viewed by authorities as suspect, became known as the "New Teaching" (新教; xīn jiào).

Disagreements between adherents of Khafiya 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.

Course of the rebellion

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 modern researchers, the Dungan rebellion 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 is also said that the Hui Ma Hsiao-shih claimed that the Shaanxi Muslim rebellion was connected to the Taiping.

Many Green Standard Army troops of the Imperial army were Hui. One of the many brawls and riots that contributed to the rebellion was initiated by a fight triggered over the price of bamboo poles that a Han merchant was selling to a Hui. This eventually led to a massacre of Hui in many area villages when they refused to agree to the price of the poles. Afterwards, Hui mobs attacked 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. A Manchu official noted that there were many non-rebellious Muslims who were loyal citizens, and warned the Qing court that exterminating all Muslims would force loyal ones to support the rebels and make the situation even worse. He said, "Among the Muslims, there are certainly evil ones, but doubtless there are also numerous peaceful, law-abiding people. If we decide to destroy them all, we are driving the good ones to join the rebels and create for ourselves an awesome, endless job of killing the Muslims".

Battle of the Wei River, painting of the Imperial Qing Court.

Given the low prestige of the Qing dynasty and its armies being occupied elsewhere, the rebellion 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 Dorongga (sometimes written To-lung-a) until the fall of 1863. Dorongga was a Manchu bannerman in command of the army in Hunan Province. His forces defeated the Muslim rebels and completely destroyed their position in Shaanxi province, driving them out of the province to Gansu. Dorranga 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 took over 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 Xinjiang.

Zuo Zongtang in military garment with long court beads, as the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu in Lanzhou in 1875

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 taels from foreign banks in the southeastern provinces. The loans from the banks would be paid back by fees and taxes levied by Chinese authorities on goods imported through their ports. Zuo also arranged for massive amounts of supplies to be available before he would go on the offensive. Ten thousand of the old Hunan Army troops commanded by General Zeng Guofan, were dispatched by him under Gen. Liu Songshan to Shaanxi to help General Zuo, who had already raised a 55,000-man army in Hunan before he began the final push to reconquer Gansu from the Dungan rebels. They participated along with other regional armies (the Szechuan, Anhui and Henan Armies also joined the battle).

Quarters for Qing troops in Gansu, 1875.

Chinese artillery on a three-wheeled cart

Zuo's forces consisted of the Hunan, Sichuan, Anhuiand Henan Armies, along with thousands of cavalry. The Hunan soldiers were expert marksmen and excelled in battlefield maneuvers under the command of Gen. Liu Songshan. Western military drill was experimented with, but Zuo decided to abandon it. The troops practiced "twice a day for ten days" with their western made guns.

The Lanzhou Arsenal was established in 1872 by Zuo Zongtang during the revolt and staffed by Cantonese. The Cantonese officer in charge of the arsenal was Lai Ch'ang, who was skilled at artillery. The facility manufactured "steel rifle-barreled breechloaders" and provided munitions for artillery and guns. The Muslim Jahriyya leader Ma Hualong controlled a massive Muslim trading network with many traders, having control over trade routes to multiple cities over various kinds of terrain. He monopolized trade in the area and used his wealth to purchase guns. Zuo Zongtang became suspicious of Ma's intentions, thinking that he wanted to seize control over the whole of Mongolia. Liu Songshan died in combat during an offensive against the hundreds of rebel forts protected by difficult terrain. Liu Jintang, his nephew, took over his command whereupon a temporary lull in the offensive set in. After suppressing the rebellion in Shaanxi and building up enough grain reserves to feed his army, Zuo attacked Ma Hualong. General Liu Jintang led the siege, bombarding the town over its walls with shells. The people of the town had to cannibalize dead bodies and eat grass roots to survive. Zuo's troops reached Ma's stronghold, Jinjibao (金积堡; Jinji Bao; "Jinji Fortress, sometimes romanised as Jinjipu, using an alternative reading of the Chinese character 堡") in what was then north-eastern Gansu in September 1870, bringing Krupp siege guns with him. Zuo and Lai Ch'ang themselves directed the artillery fire against the city. Mines were also utilized. After a sixteen-month siege, Ma Hualong was forced to surrender in January 1871. Zuo sentenced Ma and over eighty of his officials to death by slicing. Thousands of Muslims were exiled to other parts of China.

Zuo's next target was Hezhou (now known as Linxia), the main center of the Hui people west of Lanzhou and a key point on the trade route between Gansu and Tibet. Hezhou was defended by the Hui forces of Ma Zhan'ao. As a pragmatic member of the Khafiya (Old Teaching) sect, he was ready to explore avenues for peaceful coexistence with the Qing government. When the revolt broke out, Ma Zhan'ao escorted Han Chinese to safety in Yixin, and did not attempt to conquer more territory during the rebellion. After successfully repulsing Zuo Zongtang's initial assault in 1872 and inflicting heavy losses on Zuo's army, Ma Zhan'ao offered to surrender his stronghold to the Qing, and provide assistance to the dynasty for the duration of the war. He managed to preserve his Dungan community with his diplomatic skill. While Zuo Zongtang pacified other areas by exiling the local Muslims (with the policy of "washing off the Muslims" (洗; Xǐ Huí) approach that had been long advocated by some officials), in Hezhou, the non-Muslim Han were the ones Zuo chose to relocate as a reward for Ma Zhan'ao and his Muslim troops helping the Qing crush Muslim rebels. Hezhou (Linxia) remains heavily Muslim to this day, achieving the status of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture under the PRC. Other Dungan generals including Ma Qianling and Ma Haiyan also defected to the Qing side along with Ma Zhan'ao. Ma's son Ma Anliang also defected, and their Dungan forces assisted Zuo Zongtang's Qing forces in crushing the rebel dungans. Dong Fuxiang also defected to the Qing. He was in no sense a fanatical Muslim or even interested in rebellion, he merely gained support during the chaos and fought, just as many others did. He joined the Qing army of Zuo Zongtang in exchanged for a Mandarinate. He acquired estates which were large.

Reinforced by the Dungan people of Hezhou, Zuo Zongtang planned to advance westward along the Hexi Corridor toward Xinjiang. However, he felt it necessary to first secure his left flank by taking Xining, which not only had a large Muslim community of its own, but also sheltered many of the refugees from Shaanxi. Xining fell after a three-month siege in late 1872. Its commander Ma Guiyuan was captured, and defenders were killed in their thousands. The Muslim population of Xining was spared but the Shaanxi refugees sheltering there were resettled to arable land in eastern and southern Gansu, which were isolated from other Muslim areas.

Town of Anxi in the Hexi Corridor, still in ruins in 1875

Despite repeated offers of amnesty, many Muslims continued to resist at Suzhou (Jiuquan), their last stronghold in the Hexi Corridor in west Gansu. The city was under the command of Ma Wenlu, who was originally from Xining. Many Hui people who had retreated from Shaanxi were also in the city. After securing his supply lines, Zuo Zongtang laid siege to Suzhou in September 1873 with 15,000 troops. The fortress could not withstand Zuo's siege guns and the city fell on October 24. Zuo had 7,000 Hui people executed, and resettled the rest in southern Gansu, to ensure that the entire Gansu Corridor from Lanzhou to Dunhuang would remain Hui-free, thereby preventing the possibility of future collusion between the Muslims of Gansu and Shaanxi and those of Xinjiang. Han and Hui loyal to the Qing seized the land of Hui rebels in Shaanxi, so the Shannxi Hui were resettled in Zhanjiachuan in Gansu.

Confusion

The rebels were disorganized and without a common purpose. Some Han Chinese rebelled against the Qing state during the rebellion, and rebel bands fought each other. The main Hui rebel leader, Ma Hualong, was even granted a military rank and title during the rebellion by the Qing dynasty. It was only later when Zuo Zongtang launched his campaign to pacify the region, did he decide which rebels who surrendered were going to be executed, or spared.

Zuo Zongtang generally massacred New Teaching Jahriyya rebels, even if they surrendered, but spared Old Teaching Khafiya and Sunni Gedimu rebels. Ma Hualong belonged to the New Teaching school of thought, and Zuo executed him, while Hui generals belonging to the Old Teaching clique such as Ma Qianling, Ma Zhan'ao and Ma Anliang were granted amnesty and even promoted in the Qing military. Moreover, an army of Han Chinese rebels led by Dong Fuxiang surrendered and joined Zuo Zongtang. General Zuo accepted the surrender of Hui people belonging to the Old Teaching school, provided they surrendered large amounts of military equipment and supplies, and accepted relocation. He refused to accept the surrender of New Teaching Muslims who still believed in its tenets, since the Qing classified them as a dangerous heterodox cult, similar to the White Lotus Buddhists. Zuo said, "The only distinction is between the innocent and rebellious, there is none between Han and Hui".

The Qing authorities decreed that the Hui rebels who had taken part in violent attacks were merely heretics and not representative of the entire Hui population, just as the heretical White Lotus did not represent all Buddhists. Qing authorities decreed that there were two different Muslim sects, the "old" religion and "new" religion. The new were heretics and deviated from Islam in the same way that the White Lotus deviated from Buddhism and Daoism, and stated its intention to inform the Hui community that it was aware that the original Islamic religion was one united sect before the advent of new "heretics", saying they would separate Muslim rebels by which sect they belonged to.

Nature of the Rebellion

Pro-Qing forces in Gansu in 1875

During the rebellion, some Hui people fought for the Qing against the rebels from the beginning. A Hui leader, Wang Dagui, fought on the side of the Qing dynasty against Hui rebels, and was rewarded for doing so, until he and his family were all killed by other Hui rebels. In addition, the Hui Chinese rebel leaders never called for Jihad, and never claimed that they wanted to establish an Islamic state. This stood in contrast to the Xinjiang Turki Muslims who called for Jihad. Instead of overthrowing the government, the rebels wanted to exact revenge from local corrupt officials and others who had done them injustices.

When Ma Hualong originally negotiated with the Qing authorities in 1866, he agreed to a "surrender", giving up thousands of foreign weapons, spears, swords, and 26 cannons. Ma assumed a new name signifying loyalty to the Dynasty, Ma Chaoqing. Mutushan, the Manchu official, hoped that this would lead to other Muslims following his lead and surrendering, however, Ma Hualong's surrender had no effect and the rebellion continued to spread. Even after Ma Hualong was sentenced to death, Zuo canceled the execution when Ma surrendered for the second time in 1871, surrendering all his weapons, such as cannons, gingalls, shotguns, and western weapons. Zuo also ordered him to convince other leaders to surrender. Zuo then discovered a hidden cache of 1,200 western weapons in Ma Hualong's headquarters in Jinjipao, and Ma failed to persuade the others to surrender. Thereafter Ma along with male members of his family and many of his officers were killed. Zuo then stated that he would accept the surrender of New Teaching Muslims who admitted that they were deceived, radicalized, and misled by its doctrines. Zuo excluded khalifas and mullas from the surrender.

As noted in the previous sections, Zuo relocated Han Chinese from Hezhou as a reward for the Hui leader Ma Zhan'ao after he and his followers surrendered and joined the Qing to crush the rebels. Zuo also moved Shaanxi Muslim refugees from Hezhou, only allowing native Gansu Muslims to stay behind. Ma Zhanao and his Hui forces were then recruited into the Green Standard Army of the Qing military.

Hui Muslims in non-rebellious areas

Hui Muslims living in areas that did not take part in the rebellion were completely unaffected by it, with no restrictions placed on them, nor did they try to join the rebels. Professor Hugh D. R. Baker stated in his book Hong Kong Images: People and Animals, that the Hui Muslim population of Beijing remained unaffected by the Muslim rebels during the Dungan revolt. Elisabeth Allès wrote that the relationship between Hui Muslim and Han peoples continued normally in the Henan area, with no ramifications or consequences from the Muslim rebellions of other areas. Allès wrote in the document Notes on some joking relationships between Hui and Han villages in Henan published by the French Center for Research on Contemporary China that "The major Muslim revolts in the middle of the nineteenth century which involved the Hui in Shaanxi, Gansu and Yunnan, as well as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, do not seem to have had any direct effect on this region of the central plain."

Rebellion in Xinjiang

Yakub Beg's Dungan and Han Chinese taifurchi (gunners) take part in shooting exercises.

Pre-rebellion situation

By the 1860s, Xinjiang had been under Qing rule for a century. The area had been conquered in 1754 from the Zunghar Khanate whose core population, the Oirats, subsequently became the targets of genocide. However, as Xinjiang consisted mostly of semi-arid or desert lands, these were not attractive to potential Han settlers except some traders, so other people such as Uyghurs settled in the area. The whole of Xinjiang was divided into three administrative circuits:

• The North-of-Tianshan Circuit (天山北路; Tianshan Beilu), including the Ili basin and Dzungaria. This region roughly corresponds to the modern Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture and included prefectures it controlled along with a few smaller adjacent prefectures.
• The South-of-Tianshan Circuit (天山南路; Tianshan Nanlu). This included the "Eight cities" in turn comprising the "Four Western Cities" of Khotan, Yarkand, Yangihissar, Kashgar and the "Four Eastern Cities" (Ush, Aqsu, Kucha, Karashahr).
• The Eastern Circuit (东路; Donglu), in eastern Xinjiang, centered around Urumqi.

Overall military command of all three circuits fell to the General of Ili, stationed in Huiyuan Cheng. He was also in charge of the civilian administration (directly in the North-of-Tianshan Circuit, and via local Muslim (Uyghur) begs in the South Circuit). However, the Eastern Circuit was subordinated in matters of civilian administration to Gansu Province.

The Qing's not always successful attempts to prevent repetition of incursions by Afaqi khojas from Kokand into Kashgaria, similar to those of Jahangir Khoja in the 1820s and Wali Khan in 1857, meant that the government had increased troop levels in Xinjiang to some 50,000. Both Manchu and Han units were stationed in the province with the latter, mainly recruited in Shaanxi and Gansu, having a heavily Hui (Dungan) component. A large part of the Qing army in Xinjiang was based in the Nine Forts of the Ili Region, but there were also forts with Qing garrisons in most other cities of Xinjiang.

Maintaining this army involved much higher costs than the taxation of the local economy could sustainably provide, and required subsidies from the central government. Such support became unfeasible by the 1850-60s due to the costs of suppressing the Taiping and other rebellions in the Chinese heartland. The Qing authorities in Xinjiang responded by raising taxes, introducing new ones, and selling official posts to the highest bidders (e.g. that of governor of Yarkand to Rustam Beg of Khotan for 2,000 yambus, and that of Kucha to Sa'id Beg for 1,500 yambus). The new officeholders would then proceed to recoup their investment by fleecing their subject populations.

Increasing tax burdens and corruption only added to the discontent amongst the Xinjiang people, who had long suffered both from the maladministration of Qing officials and their local beg subordinates and from the destructive invasions of the khojas. Qing soldiers in Xinjiang, however, were still not paid on time or properly equipped.

With the start of the rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi in 1862, rumors spread among the Hui (Dungans) of Xinjiang that the Qing authorities were preparing a wholesale preemptive slaughter of the Hui people in Xinjiang, or in a particular community. Opinions as to the veracity of these rumors vary: while the Tongzhi Emperor described them as "absurd" in his edict of September 25, 1864, Muslim historians generally believe that massacres were indeed planned, if not by the imperial government then by various local authorities. Thus it was the Dungans who usually revolted in most Xinjiang towns, although the local Turkic people—Taranchis, Kyrgyzs, and Kazakhs—would usually quickly join the fray.

Multi-centric rebellion

Remnants of the citadel near Barkul in 1875. In 1865, rebels from Kucha led by Ishaq Khwaja attacked the fort.

A mosque official in Hami, 1875.

The first spark of rebellion in Xinjiang proved small enough for the Qing authorities to easily extinguish it. On March 17, 1863, some 200 Dungans from the village of Sandaohe (a few miles west of Suiding), supposedly provoked by a rumor of a preemptive Dungan massacre, attacked Tarchi (塔勒奇城; Tǎlēiqí Chéng now part of Huocheng County), one of the Nine Forts of the Ili Basin. The rebels seized weapons from the fort's armory and killed the soldiers of its garrison, but were soon defeated by government troops from other forts and were themselves slaughtered.

Rebellion broke out again the following year—this time, almost simultaneously in all three Circuits of Xinjiang—on a scale that made its suppression beyond the capability of the authorities.

On the night of June 3–4, 1864, the Dungans of Kucha, one of the cities south of Tianshan, rose up and were soon joined by the local Turkic people. The Han fort, which, unlike many other Xinjiang locations, was located inside the town rather than outside it, fell within a few days. Government buildings were burnt and some 1000 Hans and 150 Mongols killed. As neither the Dungan nor Turkic leaders of the rebellion had sufficient authority over the entire community to become commonly recognized as a leader, the rebels instead choose a person who had not participated in the rebellion, but was known for his spiritual role: Rashidin (Rashīdīn) Khoja, a dervish and the custodian of the grave of his ancestor of saintly fame, Arshad-al-Din (? - 1364 or 65). Over the next three years, he sent military expeditions east and west in an attempt to bring the entire Tarim Basin under his control; however, his expansion plans were frustrated by Yaqub Beg.

Only three weeks after the events in Kucha, rebellion broke out in the Eastern Circuit. The Dungan soldiers of the Ürümqi garrison rebelled on June 26, 1864, soon after learning about the Kucha rebellion. The two Dungan leaders were Tuo Ming (a.k.a. Tuo Delin), a New Teaching ahong from Gansu, and Suo Huanzhang, an officer who also had close ties to Hui religious leaders. Large parts of the city were destroyed, the tea warehouses burned, and the Manchu fortress besieged. The Ürümqi rebels then advanced westward through what is today Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, taking the cities of Manas (also known then as Suilai) on July 17 (the Manchu fort there fell on September 16) and Wusu (Qur Qarausu) on September 29.

On October 3, 1864, the Manchu fortress of Ürümqi also fell to the joint forces of Ürümqi and Kuchean rebels. In a pattern that was to repeat in other Han forts throughout the region, the Manchu commander, Pingžui, preferred to explode his gunpowder, killing himself and his family, rather than surrender.

After they learned of the Qing authorities' plan to disarm or kill them, the Dungan soldiers in Yarkand in Kashgaria rose up in the early hours of July 26, 1864. Their first attack on the Manchu fort (which was outside of the walled Muslim city) failed, but it still cost the lives of 2,000 Qing soldiers and their families. In the morning, the Dungan soldiers entered the Muslim city, where some 7,000 Hans were massacred. The Dungans being numerically few compared to the local Turkic Muslims, they picked a somewhat neutral party—one Ghulam Husayn, a religious man from a Kabul noble family—as the puppet padishah.

By the early fall of 1864, the Dungans of the Ili Basin in the Northern Circuit also rose up, encouraged by the success of Ürümqi rebels at Wusu and Manas, and worried by the prospects of preemptive repressions by the local Manchu authorities. The General of Ili, Cangcing (常清; Cháng Qīng), hated by the local population as a corrupt oppressor, was sacked by the Qing government after the defeat of his troops by the rebels at Wusu. Attempts by Mingsioi, Cangcing's replacement, to negotiate with the Dungans proved in vain. On November 10, 1864, the Dungans rose both in Ningyuan (the "Taranchi Kuldja"), the commercial center of the region, and Huiyuan (the "Manchu Kuldja"), its military and administrative headquarters. Kulja's Taranchis (Turkic-speaking farmers who later formed part of the Uyghur people) joined in the rebellion. When the local Muslim Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs felt that the rebels had gained the upper hand, they joined them. Conversely, the Buddhist Kalmyks, and Xibes mostly remained loyal to the Qing government.

Ningyuan immediately fell to the Dungan and Turki rebels, but a strong government force at Huiyuan made the insurgents retreat after 12 days of heavy fighting in the streets of the city. The local Han Chinese, seeing the Manchus winning, joined forces with them. However, a counter-offensive by Qing forces failed. The imperial troops lost their artillery while Mingsioi barely escaped capture. With the fall of Wusu and Aksu, the Qing garrison, entrenched in the Huiyuan fortress was completely cut off from the rest of empire-controlled territory forcing Mingsioi to send his communications to Beijing via Russia.

While the Qing forces in Huiyuan successfully repelled the next attack of the rebels on 12 December 1864, the rebellion continued to spread through the northern part of the province (Dzungaria), where the Kazakhs were glad to take revenge on the Kalmyk people that had ruled the area in the past.

Ruins of the Theater in Chuguchak, painting by Vereshchagin (1869–70)

For Chinese New Year 1865, the Hui leaders of Tacheng (Chuguchak) invited the local Qing authorities and Kalmyk nobles to assemble in the Hui mosque, in order to swear a mutual oath of peace. However, once the Manchus and Kalmyks were in the mosque, the Hui rebels seized the city armory, and started killing the Manchus. After two days of fighting, the Muslims gained control of the town, while the Manchus were besieged in the fortress. Nevertheless, wiith the help of the Kalmyks the Manchus were able to retake the Tacheng area by the fall of 1865. This time, it was the Hui rebels who were locked up in the mosque. The fighting resulted in the destruction of Tacheng and the surviving residents fleeing the town.

Both the Qing government in Beijing and the beleaguered Kulja officials asked the Russians for assistance against the rebels via the Russian envoy in Beijing, Alexander Vlangali and the Russian commander in Semirechye, General Gerasim Kolpakovsky respectively. The Russians, however, were diplomatically non-committal. On the one hand, as Vlangali wrote to Saint Petersburg, a "complete refusal" would be bad for Russia's relations with Beijing; on the other, Russian generals in Central Asia generally felt that providing China with serious assistance against Xinjiang's Muslims would do nothing to improve Russia's problems with its own new Muslim subjects. Were the rebellion to succeed and lead to the creation of a permanent Hui state, having been on the Qing side of the former conflict would offer Russia no benefit in its relations with that new neighbor. The decision was thus made in Saint Petersburg in 1865 to avoid offering any serious help to the Qing, beyond agreeing to train Chinese soldiers in Siberia—should they send any—and to sell some grain to the defenders of Kuldja on credit. The main priority of the Russian government remained guarding its border with China and preventing any possibility of the spread of the rebellion into Russia's own domain.

Considering that offense is the best form of defense, Kolpakovsky suggested to his superiors in February 1865 that Russia should go beyond defending its border and move in force into Xinjiang's border area then seize the Chuguchak, Kuldja and Kashgar areas. These could then be colonized with Russian settlers—all to better protect the Romanov empire's other domains. The time was not ripe for such an adventure, however: as Foreign Minister Gorchakov noted, such a breach of neutrality would be not a good thing if China eventually recovered its rebel provinces.

Meanwhile, Qing forces in the Ili Valley did not fare well. In April 1865, the Huining (惠宁) fortress (today's Bayandai, located between Yining and Huiyuan), fell to the rebels after a three-month siege. Its 8,000 Manchu, Xibe, and Solon defenders were massacred, and two survivors with their ears and noses cut off were sent to Huiyuan—the Qing's last stronghold in the valley—to tell the Governor-general the fate of Huining.

Most of the Huiyuan (Manchu Kulja) fell to the rebels on January 8, 1866. The majority of the residents and garrison perished along with some 700 rebels. Mingsioi, still holding out in the Huiyuan fortress with the remainder of his troops, but having run out of food, sent a delegation to the rebels, bearing a gift of 40 sycees of silver and four boxes of green tea, and offered to surrender, provided the rebels guaranteed their lives and allowed them to keep their allegiance to the Qing government. Twelve Manchu officials with their families left the citadel along with the delegation. The Huis and Taranchis received them and allowed the refugees from Huiyuan to settle in Yining ("the Old Kuldja"). However, the rebels would not accept Mingsioi's conditions, requiring instead that he surrender immediately and recognize the authority of the rebels. Since Mingsioi had rejected the rebels' proposal, they immediately stormed the citadel. On March 3, the rebels having broken into the citadel, Mingsioi assembled his family and staff in his mansion, and blew it up, dying under its ruins. This was the temporary end, for the time being, of Qing rule in the Ili Valley.

Yaqub Beg in Kashgaria

Yakub Beg's "Andijani" 'taifukchi' (gunners)--misspelled on the picture as "taifurchi"

As noted by Muslim sources, the Qing authorities in Kashgar had all along intended to eliminate local Dungans, and managed to carry out their preemptive massacre in the summer of 1864. This weakening of the local Dungan contingent was possibly the reason why the initial rebellion had not been as successful in this area as in the rest of the province. Although the Dungan rebels were able to seize Yangihissar, neither they nor the Kyrgyzs of Siddiq Beg could break into either the Manchu forts outside Yangihissar and Kashgar, nor into the walled Muslim city of Kashgar itself, which was held by Qutluq Beg, a local Muslim appointee of the Qing.

Unable to take control of the region on their own, the Dungans and Kyrgyzs turned for help to Kokand's ruler Alim Quli. Assistance arrived in early 1865 in both spiritual and material form. Spiritual aid came in the person of Buzurg Khoja (also known as Buzurg Khan), a member of the influential Afaqis family of khojas, whose religious authority could be expected to raise the rebellious spirit of the populace. He was heir to a long family tradition of starting mischief in Kashgaria, being a son of Jahangir Khoja and brother of Wali Khan Khoja. Material assistance—as well as the expected conduit of Kokandian influence in Kashgaria—consisted of Yaqub Beg, a young but already well known Kokandian military commander, with an entourage of a few dozen Kokandian soldiers, who became known in Kashgaria as Andijanis.

Although Siddiq Beg's Kyrgyzs had already taken the Muslim town of Kashgar by the time Buzurg Khoja and Yaqub Beg arrived, he had to allow the popular khoja to settle in the former governor's residence (the urda). Siddiq's attempts to assert his dominance were crushed by Yaqub Beg's and Buzurg's forces. The Kyrgyzs then had to accept Yaqub's authority.

With his small, but comparatively well trained and disciplined army consisting of local Dungans and Kashgarian Turkic people (Uighurs, in modern terms), their Kyrgyz allies, Yaqub's own Kokandians, as well as some 200 soldiers sent by the ruler of Badakhshan, Yaqub Beg was able not only to take the Manchu fortress and the Han Chinese town of Kashgar during 1865 (the Manchu commander in Kashgar, as usual, blowing himself up), but to defeat a much larger force sent by the Rashidin of Kucha, who sought domination of the Tarim Basin region for himself.

While Yaqub Beg asserted his authority over Kashgaria, the situation back home in Kokand changed radically. In May 1865, Alim Quli lost his life while defending Tashkent against the Russians. Many of his soldiers (primarily, of Kyrgyz and Kipchak background) deemed it advisable to flee to the comparative safety of Kashgaria. They appeared at the borders of Yaqub Beg's domain in early September 1865. Afghan warriors also assisted Yaqub Beg. Yaqub Beg's rule was unpopular among the natives with one of the local Kashgaris, a warrior and a chieftain's son, commenting: "During the Chinese rule there was everything; there is nothing now." There was also a falling-off in trade.

Yaqub Beg's Kashgaria declares Jihad against the Dungans

Taranchi Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang initially cooperated with the Dungans (Hui people) when they rose in revolt, but later abandoned them after the Hui attempted to subject the entire region to their rule. The Taranchi massacred the Dungans at Kuldja and drove the rest through the Talk pass to the Ili Valley. The Hui people in Xinjiang where neither trusted by the Qing authorities nor the Turkestani Muslims.

Yaqub Beg's Kokandi Andijani Uzbek forces declared a Jihad against Dungan rebels under T'o Ming (Tuo Ming a.k.a. Daud Khalifa). Fighting broke out between Dungan and Kokandi Uzbek rebels in Xinjiang. Yaqub Beg enlisted Han militia under Xu Xuegong in order to fight against the Dungan troops under T'o Ming. T'o Ming's Dungan forces were defeated at the Battle of Urumqi (1870) as part of Yaqub Beg's plan to conquer Dzungaria and seize all Dungan territory. Poems were written about the victories of Yaqub Beg's forces over the Hans and the Dungans . Yakub Beg seized Aksu from Dungan forces and forced them north of the Tian Shan, committing massacres upon the Dungan people (Tunganis). Independent Han Chinese militia who were not affiliated with the Qing government joined both the Turkic forces under Yaqub Beg, and the Dungan rebels. In 1870, Yaqub Beg had 1,500 Han Chinese troops with his Turkic forces attacking Dungans in Ürümqi. The following year, the Han Chinese militia joined the Dungans in fighting against Turkic forces.

Foreign relations of Kashgaria Yaqub Beg

Russia and Britain signed several treaties with Yaqub Beg's regime in Kashgar with Yaqub seeking to secure British and Russian aid for his government.

Relations with Russia

Relations between Yaqub Beg and the Russian Empire alternated between fighting and peaceful diplomatic exchanges.

The Russians detested the native population of Kashgar because of their elite's close contacts with the Kokand Khans who had recently been expelled during the Russian conquest of Turkestan. This animosity would have ruined Yaqub Beg had he sought extensive aid from them as he had originally intended.

Ottoman and British support

The Ottoman Empire and the British Empire both recognized Yaqub Beg's state and supplied him with thousands of guns. British diplomats Robert Barkley Shaw and Thomas Douglas Forsyth to Kashgar in 1868 and 1870 respectively, aroused British interest for Ya'qub's regime and the British concluded a commercial treaty with the emir in 1874.

Qing reconquest of Xinjiang

As Qing General Zuo Zongtang moved into Xinjiang to crush the Muslim rebels under Yaqub Beg, he was joined by Dungan (Hui) General Ma Anliang and his forces, which were composed entirely out of Muslim Dungan people. In addition, General Dong Fuxiang had an army of both Hans and Dungan people. Ma Anliang and his Dungan troops attacked the Muslim rebel forces, reconquering Xinjiang for the Empire of the Great Qing. General Dong Fuxiang's army seized the Kashgaria and Khotan area. Dong Fuxiang's army took Khotan.

The Qing military governor of Hami in 1875.

Ruins of a mosque in Hami destroyed by rebels in 1872.

General Zuo implemented a conciliatory policy toward the Muslim rebels, pardoning those who did not rebel and those who surrendered if they had joined in only for religious reasons. If rebels assisted the government against the rebel Muslims they received rewards. In contrast to General Zuo, the Manchu leader Dorongga sought to massacre all the Muslims and saw them all as the enemy. Zuo also instructed General Zhang Yao that 'The Andijanis are tyrannical to their people; government troops should comfort them with benevolence. The Andijanis are greedy in extorting from the people; the government troops should rectify this by being generous.', telling him to not mistreat the Turkic Muslim natives of Xinjiang. Zuo wrote that the main targets were only the 'die-hard partisans' and their leaders, Yaqub Beg and Bai Yanhu. The natives were not blamed or mistreated by the Qing troops, a Russian wrote that soldiers under General Liu 'acted very judiciously with regard to the prisoners whom he took . . . . His treatment of these men was calculated to have a good influence in favour of the Empire of the Great Qing' .

Zuo Zongtang, previously a general in the Xiang Army, was the commander in chief of all Qing troops participating in this counterinsurgency. His subordinates were the Han Chinese General Liu Jintang and Manchu Jin Shun.

Liu Jintang's army had modern German artillery, which Jin Shun's forces lacked and neither was Jin's advance as rapid as Liu's. After Liu bombarded Ku-mu-ti, Muslim rebel casualties numbered 6,000 dead while Bai Yanhu was forced to flee for his life. Thereafter Qing forces entered Ürümqi unopposed. Zuo Zongtang wrote that Yaqub Beg's soldiers had modern western weapons but were cowardly: 'The Andijani chieftain Yaqub Beg has fairly good firearms. He has foreign rifles and foreign guns, including cannon using explosive shells [Kai Hua Pao]; but his are not as good nor as effective as those in the possession of our government forces. His men are not good marksmen, and when repulsed they simply ran away.'

Dabancheng was destroyed by Liu's forces in April. Yaqub's subordinates defected to the Qing or fled as his forces started to fall apart. The oasis fell easily to the Qing troops. Toksun fell to Liu's army on April 26.

Chinese Soldiers in uniform of wool jackets, velveteen trousers covered with a wrapped skirt, hair wrapped in turbans in Hami, 1875.

Zuo Zongtang employed divide and conquer tactics in Xinjiang, sending messages to the people of Kashgaria that they had been fooled by the Central Asian troops under Yaqub Beg, the man who had persuaded them to rebel in the first place. Yaqub Beg became nervous when the tactic worked, and he executed several natives in Kashgaria. His forces disintegrated after fighting.

Liu's cavalry inflicted 600 deaths on Bai Yanhu's Muslim rebel forces before reaching Gucheng (now Qitai County).

After all official and private residences had been destroyed, the Muslim population was compelled by Bai Yenhu to follow him in his retreat. He appears to have been the commander of a portion of the rebel army left round Korla. Not only was Kashgaria deserted by its inhabitants, but so was the whole area controlled by Yakub Beg's forces thereabouts. Some, indeed, had fled to the mountains, but were afraid to return when they saw the Qing army established in their homes. The Qing army followed their usual plan of settling fresh Han Chinese, Manchu and Mongol people in the town. The Mongol noble, Cha-hi-telkh, was directed to move up some hundreds of the members of his tribe to occupy this important post, to restore the homes and restock the fields. While this work proceeded across the territory conquered by Qing troops, that through which they passed in hostile guise was subjected to far worse treatment. On 9 October, the Qing army marched against Korla from two sides, and on that day a cavalry skirmish took place in which fifteen of Bai Yanhu's horsemen were slain and two taken prisoner. Some volunteers in Bai's army told Qing troops that Bai Yanhu had withdrawn with all his forces to Kucha. Once the Qing army had exhausted their stock of information they beheaded the prisoners. The same day they entered Korla, which they found to be completely deserted, although not flooded. The walls remained, but many of the houses had been demolished. Here, the general's plight bordered on desperate because provisions transported by cart and camel had not arrived. The prospect of starvation almost compelled the victorious army to retreat before an idea struck the competent general. He guessed that there might still be supplies concealed in the city, which the rebels had been unable to carry away with them. Accordingly, the whole army set to work to search the houses, and to dig into the ground in all likely places. Their toil was soon rewarded, and "several tens of thousand catties' weight of food" were discovered. However, this was a meagre supply for an army of men which was probably under 10,000 strong.

The mass retreat of the rebel army shrank their sphere of control smaller and smaller. The next Qing army advance, which they could not expect to be as unopposed as their previous one, would bring them onto the plain of Kashgaria. No sooner had Karashar and Korla fallen into their possession than an edict was issued inviting the Mohammedan descendants to return to their homes. Many of them accepted the invitation. "In this quarter, the arms of the Empire of the Great Qing were not disgraced by any excesses, and moderation towards the unarmed population extenuated their severity towards armed forces."

Yaqub Beg lost more than 20,000 men either though desertion or at the hands of the enemy. He consequently considered it prudent to withdraw still further into his territory, and left Karashar after a few days' residence in Korla. Some weeks before the occurrence of these events, Yaqub Beg had sent an envoy to Tashkent to solicit the aid of the Russians against the advancing Qing army. But the Russians only gave his messenger fair words, and did not interfere with Mr. Kamensky's commercial transactions with the Qing army. At the moment, too, Russia was so busily occupied in Europe that "she had no leisure to devote to the Xinjiang issue".

General Zhang Yao captured the small towns of Chightam and Pidjamin in the middle of April without encountering serious opposition. From the latter, some fifty miles east of Turfan, he commenced a concerted movement with his superior, Zuo Zongtang, which overcame all Kashgarian resistance. At Turfan, Yakub Beg was trapped between two armies advancing from Urumqi and Pidjam, and if defeated his line of retreat would be greatly exposed to an enterprising enemy. Once the Qing army saw the success of their preliminary movements a general advance was ordered in all directions. It is evident that the Qing army at first met strenuous resistance at Devanchi. The forcing of the Tian Shan defiles had not been accomplished when news reached the garrison that their ruler had been expelled from Turfan by a fresh Qing army. Confusion then quickly spread through all ranks of Yakub Beg's followers. In doubt and unreasoning panic, the majority of his soldiers either went over to the enemy or fled headlong to Kashgaria. At this moment of desperation "the Athalik Ghazi still bore himself like a good soldier. Outside Turfan he gave battle to the Qing army, and though driven from the field by overwhelming odds he yet once more made a stand at Toksun, forty miles west of Turfan. When defeated a second time he withdrew to Kashgaria to make fresh efforts to withstand the invading army. Yakub Beg probably lost in these engagements."

During a halt of a few days at Korla, Jin Shun learned that Bai Yanhu had coerced the people east of Kucha at Tsedayar and other places to withdraw to Kucha and to destroy their crops. He at once resolved to frustrate the plan, and set out in person at the head of 1,500 light infantry and 1,000 cavalry to protect the inhabitants. By forced marches, sometimes carried on through the better part of the night, he reached Tsedayar on the 17 October, where he learnt that Bai Yanhu had driven off the whole of the population, and was already at Luntai on the road to Kucha. "At the next village to Tsedayar, a fortified post known as Tangy Shahr, he found that Bai Yanhu was still ahead of him, and that he was setting fire to the villages on his line of march. Jin Shun left a portion of his infantry behind to put out the conflagration, and resolutely pressed on with the remainder of his force to Luntai. This small town had also been set on fire, but here the rapidity of Qing general's advance was rewarded with the news that the enemy's army, with a large number of the inhabitants, was only a short distance ahead. The rear-guard, composed of 1,000 cavalry, was soon touched, and the Kashgaria, emboldened by the small numbers of Qing troops, came on to the attack in gallant fashion. Their charge was broken, however, by the steadiness of Qing infantry, armed with excellent rifles, and the cavalry performed the rest. The Kashgaria left 100 slain on the field of battle and twelve prisoners. From these latter it was discovered that the main body of 2,000 soldiers was some distance on the road to Kucha, with the family of Bai Yanhu and the villagers under its charge. It was too late to advance further that day, but on the next the forward movement was resumed. A large multitude—" some tens of thousands of people"—was speedily sighted by the advanced guard, but on examining these through glasses it was discovered that scarcely more than a thousand carried arms. All the troops were then brought to the front, and Jin Shun issued instructions that all those found with arms in their hands should be slain, but the others spared."

The armed portion of the rebel army drew off from the unarmed, leaving in their midst a large assemblage of rebel villagers who were being carried off to Kucha. These were sent to the rear by order of Jin Shun, and distributed in such of the villages as were most convenient. In the meanwhile a sharp fight took place a few miles in the rear of the old position, near a village called Arpa Tai. The action appears to have been well contested, but the superior tactics and weapons of Jin Shun's small army prevailed; and the rebel army retreated with considerable loss and in great disorder. "Kin Shun followed up his success with marvelous rapidity and restless energy, while the rebel troops fled to Kucha, abandoning the people and their control range to Qing troops. The unfortunate inhabitants implored with piteous entreaties the mercy of the conqueror, and it is with genuine satisfaction we record the fact that Jin Shun informed them of their safety, and bade them have no further alarm." By this time it is probable that Qing army had been largely reinforced from the rear so they began the attack on Kucha. When Qing troops appeared before its walls they found that a battle was proceeding there between the Kashgarian soldiers and the townspeople, who refused to accompany them in a further retreat westward. On the appearance of Qing army, the Kashgarian force evacuated the city and joined battle with it on the western side of Kucha. Qing soldiers attacked them immediately with little success in the first instance and a charge of the cavalry, numbering some four or five thousand men, was only repulsed with some difficulty. But the cannon of the Qing soldiers had a remarkable effect upon the rebel forces while Qing reserves arrived constantly. The infantry were at last ordered to advance, under the cover of a heavy artillery fire, and the cavalry made a charge at the most opportune moment. The whole enemy army then broke and fled in irretrievable confusion, leaving more than a thousand of their number on the ground. The numbers on each side were probably about 10,000 men, and it was won as much by superior tactics and skill as by brute force and courage. All the movements of Qing army were characterized by remarkable forethought, and evinced the greatest ability on the part of the general and his lieutenants, as well as obedience, valor, and patience on the part of his soldiers. The rapid advance from Kuhwei to Karashar, the forced march thence to Luntai, the capture of Kucha and the forbearance of Qing troops towards the inhabitants, all combined to make this portion of the war most creditable to the Qing and her generals. The reason given in the official report for the Kashgarian authorities attempting to carry off the population was that the rebels wished in the first place to deprive Qing armed forces of all assistance, thus making further pursuit very difficult. Furthermore, to ingratiate themselves with the Qing authorities reestablished in Kashgaria, the rebels delivered this large mass of Turkic Muslims into their hands. Bai Yanhu was thereby considered no Hakim Khan Sur by contemporary author Charles Boulger who also believed that Bai must have been either a Dungan refugee or a subordinate of Beg Bacha's.

"A depot was formed at Kucha, and a large body of troops remained there as a garrison; but the principal administrative measures were directed to the task of improving the position of the Turkic Muslim population. A board of administration was instituted for the purpose of providing means of subsistence for the destitute, and for the distribution of seed-corn for the benefit of the whole community. It had also to supervise the construction of roads, and the establishment of ferry boats, and of post-house in order to facilitate the movements of trade and travel and expedite the transmission of mails." Magistrates and prefects were appointed to all the cities, and special precautions were promptly taken to prevent the outbreak of epidemic or the onset of famine. Boulger writes: "There is no reason to believe that in the vast region from Turfan to Kucha Qing authorities have departed from the statesmanlike and beneficent schemes which marked their re-installation as rulers; and whatever harshness or cruelty they manifested towards the Dungan revolts and the rebel soldiers was more than atoned for by the mildness of their treatment of the people."

On the 19th, or more probably the 22 October, Jin Shun resumed his forward movement and encountered no serious opposition. His first halt was at a village called Hoser, where he stopped for one night. He prepared a report to Peking, which described the successes and movements of the previous three weeks. At the next town, known as Bai, Jin Shun halted to await the arrival of the rear-guard under General Zhang Yao. This force arrived before the end of October, and the advance against Aksu resumed. Up to this point, the chief interest centered in the army south of the Tian Shan and the achievements of Jin Shun. "The only authority for this portion of the account of the campaign is the Peking Gazette."

The Northern Army under the immediate command of Zuo Zongtang operated in complete secrecy. Estimates vary as to its strength—Boulger believes it comprised a minimum of 28,000 men and writes: "a St. Petersburg paper, on the authority of a Russian merchant, who had been to Manas, computed it to be of that strength." It was concentrated in the neighborhood of Manas, and along the northern outskirts of the Tian Shan; and also on the frontier of the Russian dominions in Kuldja. To all appearance this army was consigned to a part of enforced inactivity since it was impossible to enter Kuldja, and thus proceed by their old routes through the Bedel Pass or Muzat River. But it was not so; the travels of Colonel Prjevalsky in the commencement of 1877 had not been unobserved by Qing authorities, and it was assumed that where a Russian officer with his Cossack following could go, there also could go a Qing troop. By those little-known mountain passes, which are made by the Tekes and Great Yuldus rivers, Qing army which was under General Zuo crossed over into Kashgaria; and it is probable that the two armies joined in the neighborhood of Bai. It was by this stroke of strategy on the part of Zuo Zongtang that Qing army found themselves before the walls of Aksu. At that moment, the imperial army was an overwhelming army at the very sight of which all thought of resistance died away from the hearts of the rebel peoples and garrisons. General Zuo appeared before the walls of Aksu, the bulwark of Kashgaria on the east. And its commandant, who were panic and stricken, abandoned his post at the first onset. He was subsequently taken prisoner by an officer of Kuli Beg, and executed. Qing army then advanced on Uqturpan, which also surrendered without a blow. It is said that the Chinese have not published any detailed description of this portion of the war, and we are consequently unable to say what their version is of those reported atrocities at Aksu and Uqturpan, of which the Russian papers have made so much. There is no doubt that a very large number of refugees fled to Russian territory, perhaps 10,000 in all, and these brought with them the tales of fear and exaggerated alarm. We may feel little hesitation in accepting the assertion as true, that the armed garrisons were slaughtered without exception; but that the unarmed population and the women and children shared the same fate we distinctly refuse to credit. There is every precedent in favor of the assumption that a more moderate policy was pursued, and there is no valid reason why the Qing authorities should have dealt with Aksu and Uqturpan differently to Kucha or Turfan. The case of Manas has been greatly insisted upon by the agitators on this "atrocity" question; but there is the highest authority for asserting that only armed men were massacred there. This was what Qing troops had always done; it was a national custom, and they certainly did not depart from it in the case of the Dungan and Kashgaria. But there is no solid ground for convicting them of any more heinous crime, even in the instances of Manas and Aksu, which are put so prominently forward.

Early in December all Qing troops began their last attack against the capital city of the Kashgarian regime, and on December 17 the Qing army made a fatal assault. The rebel troops were finally defeated and the residual troops started to withdraw to Yarkant, whence they fled to Russian territory. With the fall of Kashgaria Qing's reconquest of Xinjiang was completed, and the other cities, Yangi Hissar and Yarkant, speedily shared the same fate. Khotan and Sarikol also sent in formal promises of subjection. But the capture of Kashgaria virtually closed down the rebels. No further rebellion was encountered, and the reestablished Qing authorities began the task of recovery and reorganization. The Qing forces beheaded Turkic rebel commanders, and also tortured Ottoman Turkish military officers who served with the rebels. When the city of Kashgaria fell, the greater portion of the army, knowing that they could expect no mercy at the hands of Qing authorities, fled to Russian territory, and then spread reports of fresh Chinese massacres, which probably only existed in their own imagination.

It was stated at the time that the strength of the Empire of the Great Qing has been thoroughly demonstrated and that her prestige remained unsullied. "Whatever danger there may be to the permanence of Qing's triumph lies rather from Russia than from the peoples of Tian Shan Nan Lu; nor is there much danger that the Chinese laurels will become faded even before a European foe. Zuo Zongtang and his generals such as Jin Shun and Chang Yao, accomplished a task which would reflect credit on any army and any country. They have given a luster to the modern Chinese administration which must stand it in good stead, and they have acquired a personal renown that will not easily depart. Qing Empire's reconquest of Xinjiang is beyond doubt the most remarkable event that has occurred in Asia during the last fifty years, and it is quite the most brilliant achievement of a Chinese army, led by Chinese generals, that has taken place since the Qianlong Emperor subdued the country more than a century ago. It also proves, in a manner that is more than unpalatable to us, that the Chinese possess an adaptive faculty that must be held to be a very important fact in every-day politics in Central Asia. They reconquered Kashgaria with European weapons and by careful study of Western science and technology. Their soldiers marched in obedience to instructors trained on the Prussian principle; and their generals maneuvered their troops in accordance with the teachings of Moltke and Manteuffel. Even in such minor matters as the use of telescopes and field glasses we could find this Chinese army well supplied. Nothing was more absurd than the picture drawn by some over-wise observer of this army, as consisting of soldiers fantastically garbed in the guise of dragons and other hideous appearances. All that belonged to an old-world theory. The rebel troops were as widely different from all previous Chinese armies in Central Asia as it well could be; and in all essentials closely resembled that of a European power. Its remarkable triumphs were chiefly attributable to the thoroughness with which China had in this instance adapted herself to Western notions"

Aftermath

Punishment

Yaqub Beg and his son Ishana's corpses were "burned to cinders" in full public view. This angered the population in Kashgar, but Qing troops quashed a rebellious plot by Hakim Khan. Surviving members of Yaqub Beg's family included his four sons, four grandchildren (two grandsons and two granddaughters), and four wives. They either died in prison in Lanzhou, Gansu or were killed by the Qing government. His sons Yima Kuli, K'ati Kuli, Maiti Kuli, and grandson Aisan Ahung were the only survivors alive in 1879. They were all underage children at that time. They were put on trial and sentenced to an agonizing death if they were found to be complicit in their father's rebellious "sedition". If they were innocent, they were to be sentenced to castration and servitude as eunuch slaves to the Qing troops. Afterwards, when they reached the age of 11 years old, they would be handed over to the Imperial Household to be executed or castrated. In 1879, it was confirmed that the sentence of castration was carried out, Yaqub Beg's son and grandsons were castrated by the Chinese court in 1879 and turned into eunuchs to work in the Imperial Palace.

Memorials

On January 25, 1891, a temple was constructed by Liu Jintang. He had been one of the generals participating in the counterinsurgency against the Dungan revolt and at that time he was the Governor of Gansu. The temple was built in the capital of Gansu as a memorial to the victims who died during the Dungan revolt in Kashgaria and Dzungaria. The victims numbered 24,838 and included officials, peasants, and members of all social classes and ethnic groups. It was named Chun Yi Ci. Another temple was already built in honor of the Xiang Army soldiers who fought during the revolt.

Flight of the Dungans to the Russian Empire

The failure of the revolt led to the immigration of some Hui people into Imperial Russia. According to Rimsky-Korsakoff (1992), three separate groups of the Hui people fled to the Russian Empire across the Tian Shan during the exceptionally severe winter of 1877/78:

• The first group of some 1000 people originally from Turpan in Xinjiang and led by Ma Daren (马大人), also known as Ma Da-lao-ye (马大老爷) reached Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan.
• The second group of 1130 people originally from Didaozhou (狄道州) in Gansu led by ahong A Yelaoren (阿爷老人), were settled in the spring of 1878 in the village of Yardyk some 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Karakol in Eastern Kyrgyzstan.
• The third group, originally from Shaanxi and led by Bai Yanhu (白彦虎; also spelt Bo Yanhu; 1829(?)-1882), one of the leaders of the rebellion, were settled in the village of Karakunuz (now Masanchi), in the modern Zhambyl Province of Kazakhstan. Masanchi is located on the northern (Kazakh) side of the Chu River, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of the city of Tokmak in north-western Kyrgyzstan. This group numbered 3314 on arrival.

Another wave of immigration followed in the early 1880s. In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg signed in February 1881, which required the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Upper Ili Basin (the Kulja area), the Hui and Taranchi (Uighur) people of the region were allowed to opt for moving to the Russian side of the border. Most people choose that option and according to Russian statistics, 4,682 Hui moved to the Russian Empire under the treaty. They migrated in many small groups between 1881 and 1883, settling in the village of Sokuluk some 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Bishkek, as well as at a number of points between the Chinese border and Sokuluk, in south-eastern Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan.

The descendants of these rebels and refugees still live in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring parts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. They still call themselves the Hui people (Huizu), but to the outsiders they are known as Dungan, which means Eastern Gansu in Chinese.

After the Sino-Soviet split, Soviet propaganda writers such as Rais Abdulkhakovich Tuzmukhamedov called the Dungan revolt (1862–1877) a "national liberation movement" for their political purposes.

Increase in Hui military power

The rebellion increased the power of Hui Generals and military men in the Qing Empire. Many Hui Generals who served in the campaign were promoted by the Emperor, including Ma Anliang, and Dong Fuxiang. This led Hui armies to fight again in the Dungan Revolt (1895) against the rebels, and in the Boxer Rebellion against Christian Western Armies. The Hui Gansu Braves rose to fame for protecting the Emperor and Polytheist Han Chinese against the Chinese Christians and Westerners.

Dungan rebels were known to avoid attacking Christians and people took refuge in Christian churches. Some therefore attribute the mass increase of Catholics and Protestant population along the west bank of yellow river in Gansu and Shanxi to people sought refuge in churches. Yet another possible reason is Chinese Christians, despite self-imposed ethnic identity, were classified by Manchurian too as Hui along with Muslims and Jews, per a similar registration system to that of the Mongolian Yuan.

Ma Fuxiang, Ma Qi, and Ma Bufang were descendants of the Hui military men from this era, and they became important and high ranking Generals in the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army.

Border dispute with Russia

After General Zuo Zongtang and his Xiang Army crushed the rebels, they demanded Russia return the city of Kuldja in Xinjiang, which they had occupied. Zuo was outspoken in calling for war against Russia and hoped to settle the matter by attacking Russian forces in Xinjiang. In 1878, tensions in the area increased. Zuo massed Qing troops toward the Russian occupied Kuldja. Chinese forces also fired on Russian expeditionary forces originating from Yart Vernaic, expelling them, which resulted in a Russian retreat.

After the incompetent negotiator Chong Hou was bribed by the Russians, he signed a treaty granting Russia extraterritorial rights, consulates, control over trade, and an indemnity—all without permission from the Qing government. Thereafter a massive uproar by the Chinese literati ensued with some individuals calling for the execution of Chong Hou. Zhang Zhidong demanded the beheading of Chong Hou and that China stand up to the government of Russia and declare the treaty invalid. He also stated that "The Russians must be considered extremely covetous and truculent in making the demands and Chong Hou was extremely stupid and absurd in accepting them . . . . If we insist on changing the treaty, there may not be trouble; if we do not, we are unworthy to be called a state.' The Chinese literati demanded the government mobilize armed forces against Russia. The government acted after this, giving important posts to officers from the Xiang Army. Charles Gordon became an advisor to the Chinese.

The Russians were in a very bad diplomatic and military position vis-a-vis China. Russia feared the threat of military conflict, which forced them into diplomatic negotiations instead.

See also

• Dungan Revolt (1895)
• Islam during the Qing Dynasty
• List of rebellions in China
• Taiping Rebellion
• Nian Rebellion
• Miao Rebellion (1854–73)
• Panthay Rebellion
• Punti–Hakka Clan Wars
• Nepalese-Tibetan War
• List of wars and disasters by death toll

Footnotes

•  This article incorporates text from Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, Volume 4, Issues 1-2, by Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Afd. Letterkunde, a publication from 1904 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Sectarianism and religious persecution in China: a page in the history of religions, Volume 2, by Jan Jakob Maria Groot, a publication from 1904 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Accounts and papers of the House of Commons, by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, a publication from 1871 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Encyclopædia of religion and ethics, Volume 8, by James Hastings, John Alexander Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray, a publication from 1916 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events, Volume 4, a publication from 1880 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Translations of the Peking Gazette, by 1880, a publication from now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from The American annual cyclopedia and register of important events of the year ..., Volume 4, a publication from 1888 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Appletons' annual cyclopedia and register of important events: Embracing political, military, and ecclesiastical affairs; public documents; biography, statistics, commerce, finance, literature, science, agriculture, and mechanical industry, Volume 19, a publication from 1886 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from The Chinese times, Volume 5, a publication from 1891 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from The Canadian spectator, Volume 1, a publication from 1878 now in the public domain in the United States.

Bibliography

General

• Kim Hodong, "Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877". Stanford University Press (March 2004). ISBN 0-8047-4884-5. (Searchable text available on Amazon.com)
• Bruce Elleman, "Modern Chinese Warfare (Warfare and History)". 2001, ISBN 0-415-21474-2. (p. 65-, the section on "The Tungan Rebellion, 1862-73").

Background, and the war in Shaanxi-Gansu

• Jonathan N. Lipman, "Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China (Studies on Ethnic Groups in China)", University of Washington Press (February 1998), ISBN 0-295-97644-6. (Searchable text available on Amazon.com)

War in Xinjiang, and Russian involvement

• Boulger, Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh (1878). The Life of Yakoob Beg: Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar. London: W. H. Allen & Co. Retrieved 2012-01-18. 
• "Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier", by Sarah C. M. Paine (1996) ISBN 1-56324-723-2
• "The Ili Crisis: A Study of Sino-Russian Diplomacy, 1871-1881", by Immanuel Chung-yueh Hsü (1966)

Russian

• V.A. Moiseev, "Muslim Rebellion in Xinjiang and Russia's policy (1864-1871)", in "Россия и Китай в Центральной Азии (вторая половина XIX в. - 1917 гг.)" (Russia and China in Central Asia (second half of the 19 c. thru 1917). Barnaul, Azbuka Publishers, 2003. ISBN 5-93957-025-9

Dungan emigration

• Svetlana Rimsky-Korsakoff Dyer. Karakunuz: An Early Settlement of the Chinese Muslims in Russia, with an English translation of V. Tsibuzgin and A.Shmakov's work. "Asian Folklore Studies", Vol. 51 (1992), pp. 243–279.
• The "Shaanxi Village" in Kazakhstan (Chinabroadcast.cn)