Muslim Rebellions in China
Muslim rebellions in China primarily emerged during the mid-19th century, mainly in response to the Qing Dynasty's attempts to impose mainstream Chinese religious practices on the Muslim Hui population. These tensions were exacerbated by economic and political discrimination, including increased taxation. The Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan Province and the Dungan Revolt in Shaanxi and Gansu were significant uprisings that reflected the resistance of Muslims against such oppression. Under the leadership of figures like Du Wenxiu and Ma Hualong, these rebellions sought to establish autonomous governance and uphold Islamic law. Despite initial successes, the Qing forces, particularly under the military strategies of General Zuo Zongtang, eventually suppressed the rebellions by the mid-1870s after extensive and violent confrontations.
The conflicts had profound implications for the Qing Dynasty, threatening its stability and highlighting the complexities of ethnic and religious relations within its territory. The aftermath saw a significant shift in governance, with Xinjiang being incorporated as a province in 1884, amidst increasing Han Chinese settlement that has continued into the 21st century. These historical events remain a sensitive topic, reflecting ongoing issues related to identity, governance, and cultural preservation within China.
Muslim Rebellions in China
Date Winter, 1855-January 2, 1878
Growing tensions in China between ethnic Chinese and a Muslim minority erupted in a series of three distinct Muslim rebellions, at the same time that the Qing Dynasty was being threatened by two other major rebellions. The violent suppression and defeat of the Muslim rebels ensured China’s territorial integrity and contributed to the Qings’ preservation of imperial power.
Also known as Hui Minorities’ War
Locale China
Key Figures
Zuo Zongtang (Tso Tsung-t’ang; 1812-1885) andCen Yuying (Ts’en Yü-ying; 1829-1889), Chinese generalsYakub Beg (1820-1877), Muslim rebel and ruler of Kashgar, r. 1866-1877Bai Yanhu (fl. mid-nineteenth century), Muslim rebel leader of northwestern ChinaMa Hualong (Ma Hua-lung; d. 1871), Muslim rebel leader of Gansu ProvinceDu Wenxiu (Tu Wen-hsiu; 1823-1872), Muslim rebel leader in Yunnan Province
Summary of Event
During the early 1850’s, conflicts arose in China when the ruling Manchu Qing Dynasty attempted to impose mainstream Chinese religious traditions upon the Islamic population, which was composed mostly of an ethnic minority known as the Hui. Resistance to this imposition was centered in the Muslim population centers of the northwest and southwest. Many Muslims objected to economic and political discrimination, as Qing officials increased taxation. The rise of a radical new form of fundamentalist Islam called New Teaching added fuel to the religious conflict. The conquest of Xinjiang by the Qianlong Emperor by 1759 had brought Turkish Muslims into China, and their influence continued to spread.
In 1851, the Taiping Rebellion began, taking the Qing by utter surprise. In 1853, the Taiping conquered Nanjing, and the Nian Rebellion broke out to the north of this city. Next, with Qing authority severely weakened, the first Muslim rebellion erupted in Yunnan Province. This revolt, known as the Panthay Rebellion , began when ethnic Chinese attempted to seize a Muslim gold mine in the winter of 1855. In February, 1856, the Chinese burned Muslim villages and tried to kill Muslims in Yunnan. Under the spiritual guidance of Imam Yusuf Ma (Ma being used as the Chinese form for Muḥammad) and the military leadership of Ma Rulong, the Muslims rose and besieged Kunming.
As the rebellions spread, Muslim rebel leader Du Wenxiu captured the city of Dali in 1858. A fierce adherent of the New Teaching, he founded his own sultanate at Dali, also called Pingnan Guo (“Southern Pacified Kingdom”). To Westerners, he became known as Sultan Sulayman. He set up an Islamic court and imposed Sharia law. However, the Muslim rebels were divided over the New Teaching. In 1861, Ma Rulong accepted the rank of Chinese general and occupied Kunming for the Qing. Yusuf Ma also made peace with the Chinese, with Du Wenxiu continuing the rebellion.
In the northwest, the Qings’ war against the Taiping affected the Muslim population of the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. First clashes with the Chinese began in 1861. In June, 1862, a disbanded Muslim militia clashed with a Chinese merchant near Xian in Shaanxi. Chinese militias burned Muslim villages and killed Muslims. This triggered another Muslim rebellion, sometimes referred to as the Dungan Revolt, led by Ma Hualong and Bai Yanhu.
The Muslims established contact with the Taiping in the summer of 1862 and soon controlled the countryside of Shaanxi. In 1863, the Manchu general Dorongga arrived and rolled back the rebels, killing two Taiping commanders. Bai Yanhu fled west into Gansu, where he incited further Muslim revolts. General Dorongga was killed in battle in May, 1864, and Qing fortunes deteriorated.
Muslims spread rumors into Xinjiang that the Chinese planned to murder all Muslims of this territory. On the night of June 3-4, 1864, the Muslims of Kucha, Xinjiang, rebelled, killing more than one thousand Chinese. From Kucha, Muslims called for a jihad, or holy war, against the Chinese. In Urumchi, the Muslim Tuo Ming from Gansu used weapons stored in a mosque for an uprising on June 26, 1864. After he captured Urumchi, Tuo proclaimed a kingdom of Islam with himself as its king.
One city after another in Xinjiang fell to the Muslims, who controlled the entire territory by the end of 1864. While the Taiping were defeated by this point, the Nian Rebellion continued. In Yunnan, moreover, Du Wenxiu refused to surrender. In January, 1865, the Muslim adventurer Yakub Beg entered western Xinjiang (Kashgar) with a small expeditionary force from Khokand. Fighting both the remaining Chinese and those Muslims refusing his authority, Yakub established himself as ruler of Kashgar in the spring of 1866.
In August, 1868, the Nian Rebellion was crushed. While Du Wenxiu renewed his assault on Kunming, one of the best Chinese military leaders, Zuo Zongtang, arrived in Xian in November, 1868. In April, 1869, Zuo’s troops cleared the approach to the Muslim stronghold of Jinjibao. In the fall of 1869, the siege of Kunming was lifted. Du Wenxiu retreated to Dali. The Chinese commander Cen Yuying, aided by the former rebel Ma Rulong, continued his pursuit.
In the spring of 1870, Zuo laid siege to Jinjibao. In Xinjiang, Yakub Beg conquered Urumchi and Turfan from other Muslims. In February, 1871, Ma Hualong surrendered starving Jinjibao. Zuo had him and his family sliced to death, as well as executing his officials. Thousands of Muslims were deported to eastern Manchuria. Zuo turned his army south to Hezhou, where Bai Yanhu had fled.
With the rebels faltering in Yunnan in 1872, they turned to Great Britain and Turkey for support. Both countries refused. After defeating Zuo’s army in February 1872, Ma Zhanao of Gansu decided to submit to him. In exchange, he was made a Qing general and his Muslim troops were integrated in the Chinese army. Bai Yanhu escaped. In Xinjiang, Yakub Beg received diplomatic recognition from Russia with a trade treaty on June 20, 1872. He also nominally submitted to the sultan of Turkey in May, 1873.
In January, 1873, Cen Yuying captured Dali after fierce fighting. Du Wenxiu died by suicide or execution. Zuo reconquered Suzhou in November, 1873, and executed and deported many Muslims. The Muslim rebellions in Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu were suppressed, at great costs for both sides, by 1874. China then turned its attention to Xinjiang. On April 13, Yakub Beg concluded a commercial treaty with Britain. Japan then invaded Taiwan. Both events threatened the Qing, leading to a fierce Chinese debate as to which enemy to confront first. In Spring, 1875, Zuo Zongtang won the debate, arguing that China concentrate first on fighting the rebels. Russia, in spite of its treaty with Kashgar, sold him much-needed grain. In the summer of 1875, Zuo’s forces captured the first eastern Xinjiang cities.
In 1876, Yakub Beg tried a diplomatic solution, approaching the Chinese in vain. They took Urumchi on August 19 and reached their next objectives before winter. In early 1877, Yakub Beg sought British mediation with China, to which Great Britain agreed. On the battlefield, however, Zuo’s army advanced toward Kashgar. On May 29, 1877, Yakub Beg died at Kurla. Most historians believe he had suffered a stroke the previous day after flogging to death one of his men. His death left the Muslims in disarray. Their cities fell rapidly to the Chinese. By the end of October, Bai Yanhu and thousands of his people fled into Russia. On December 18, 1877, Chinese troops entered Kashgar. The fall of Khotan on January 2, 1878, marked the end of the Muslim rebellions in China.
Significance
The Panthay Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt seriously shook China culturally and politically, coinciding as they did with two other major rebellions and with the humiliation of China by the British and French in 1860. These Muslim rebellions (referred to by the modern Chinese government as the Hui Minorities’ War) had the potential to evolve into a general civil war that could have led to the disintegration of the Qing empire.
The ability of some Qing leaders to exploit Muslim divisions and the shift in the balance of power after the end of the Taiping and Nian Rebellions allowed China to suppress the Muslim rebellions. Because of Zuo’s focus on internal enemies, China reconquered Xinjiang. Russia and Britain had toyed with the idea of supporting an Islamic buffer state there, which would certainly have weakened China.
As it was, Russia exploited the Muslim rebellions by occupying the northernmost valley of the Ili River, in Xinjiang, in 1871. At a peace treaty in St. Petersburg in 1879, Russian diplomats tricked the Chinese envoy, Chong Hou, into ceding 70 percent of the territory. A second mission led by Zeng Jize, son of the illustrious Zeng Guofan, secured a better treaty in 1880. However, conflict with Russia over territory bordering Xinjiang continued into the twentieth century. China made Xinjiang a province in 1884, with a significant Muslim population under Chinese rule. During the early twenty-first century, aggressive settlement of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region gave Han Chinese a 40 percent share of the population.
Bibliography
Chu, Wen-djang. The Moslem Rebellion in Northwest China, 1862-1878: A Study in Government Minority Policy. The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton Press, 1966. First comprehensive study of the event in English, drawing on many original sources. Notes, index, bibliography.
Hsu, Immanuel C. Y. The Rise of Modern China. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Places the rebellions in the context of Qing Dynasty survival and nineteenth century Chinese international relations with Western powers. Notes, index.
Kim, Hodong. Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004. Focuses on the Muslim rebellion in Xinjiang and on Yakub Beg. The Shaanxi and Gansu rebellions are briefly mentioned in the context of Zuo Zongtang’s campaign. Illustrated, maps, tables, notes, bibliography.
Spence, Jonathan. The Search for Modern China. 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. The most widely available book on modern Chinese history in English. The end of chapter 8 discusses the Muslim rebellions in Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu; does not deal with the rebellion in Xinjiang. Maps, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.
Wright, Mary Clabaugh. The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism: The T’ung Chich Restoration, 1862-1874. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1957. Chapter 6 discusses the suppression of the Muslim revolts of Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in the context of the Qing restoration. Notes, bibliography, index.