2I2 THE MILITARY CHALLENGE quarters,where they maintained their religious practices and special customs.The Muslim revolt in Sinkiang,however,was characterized principally by a foreign invasion-the return from Kokand of a Makhdum- zada khoja,a descendant of the pre-Ch'ing Islamic rulers of Altishahr, where the tombs of his forebears near Kashgar were still the centres of faith.The turmoil in Sinkiang also led to the Russian occupation of the Ili area and to a lively Anglo-Russian rivalry,at least for a few years,over Ch'ing Turkestan. Although the Muslims in China proper never had a clear,culturally sanc- tioned basis for their allegiance to the imperial authority at Peking,they had been in China for many centuries.Their literature,while retaining special reverence for their supreme deity,nonetheless subscribed to the Confucian fan-ang,the human obligations to monarch,parent and hus- band.Traditionally,the Muslims had been treated comparatively well by the Ch'ing emperors;Muslims took the state examinations and many of them served in the civil and military bureaucracy,although seldom in high positions.Beginning in 1762,however,severe discriminatory laws against them were decreed by the throne.Theft and robbery committed by Muslims in Shensi and Kansu were,for example,punishable by exile to Yunnan and Kweichow,and sometimes by the lifelong wearing of the cangue-much heavier penalties than that of light flogging dealt out to other Chinese in comparable cases.These anti-Muslim laws preceded by some two decades the first outbreak of serious Muslim revolts under the Ch'ing;and these revolts,in turn,exacerbated the suspicion of the Ch'ing officials regarding the mosque-centred communities.As life became more difficult in the early nineteenth century,the Han Chinese increasingly looked upon the Muslims as competitors in landowning and in trade.When disputes between Han and Muslim were brought to court,adjudication was seldom fair towards the latter.The Han Chinese officials were themselves pre- judiced,while the Manchu officials generally took the side of the Han Chinese. Yunnan The Muslim Rebellion in Yunnan that broke out in 1856 was an expansion of bloody community feuds that had flared up in the 184os.The rebellion there must,however,be viewed not simply as a Muslim revolt,but as a general breakdown of order in this most south-western province of China. It began with prolonged fighting between Han and Muslim Chinese over See inter alia Chin Tien-chu,Cing-cben thib-i(Resolving suspicions regarding Islam),tb, 4-5,17b1921,25-8. 3o Wang Shu-huai,Hrien-T'smng,45-5z. Cambridge Histories Online O Cambridge University Press,2008
212 THE MILITARY CHALLENGE quarters, where they maintained their religious practices and special customs. The Muslim revolt in Sinkiang, however, was characterized principally by a foreign invasion - the return from Kokand of a Makhdumzada khoja, a descendant of the pre-Ch'ing Islamic rulers of Altishahr, where the tombs of his forebears near Kashgar were still the centres of faith. The turmoil in Sinkiang also led to the Russian occupation of the Hi area and to a lively Anglo-Russian rivalry, at least for a few years, over Ch'ing Turkestan. Although the Muslims in China proper never had a clear, culturally sanctioned basis for their allegiance to the imperial authority at Peking, they had been in China for many centuries. Their literature, while retaining special reverence for their supreme deity, nonetheless subscribed to the Confucian san-kang, the human obligations to monarch, parent and husband.2 ' Traditionally, the Muslims had been treated comparatively well by the Ch'ing emperors; Muslims took the state examinations and many of them served in the civil and military bureaucracy, although seldom in high positions. Beginning in 1762, however, severe discriminatory laws against them were decreed by the throne. Theft and robbery committed by Muslims in Shensi and Kansu were, for example, punishable by exile to Yunnan and Kweichow, and sometimes by the lifelong wearing of the cangue - much heavier penalties than that of light flogging dealt out to other Chinese in comparable cases.30 These anti-Muslim laws preceded by some two decades the first outbreak of serious Muslim revolts under the Ch'ing; and these revolts, in turn, exacerbated the suspicion of the Ch'ing officials regarding the mosque-centred communities. As life became more difficult in the early nineteenth century, the Han Chinese increasingly looked upon the Muslims as competitors in landowning and in trade. When disputes between Han and Muslim were brought to court, adjudication was seldom fair towards the latter. The Han Chinese officials were themselves prejudiced, while the Manchu officials generally took the side of the Han Chinese. Yunnan The Muslim Rebellion in Yunnan that broke out in 18 5 6 was an expansion of bloody community feuds that had flared up in the 1840s. The rebellion there must, however, be viewed not simply as a Muslim revolt, but as a general breakdown of order in this most south-western province of China. It began with prolonged fighting between Han and Muslim Chinese over " See inter alia Chin T'ien-chu, CVing-cben Mb-i (Resolving suspicions regarding Islam), ib, 4-5, 17b, 19-21, 25-8. J0 Wang Shu-huai, Hiien-T'urtg, 45-52. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
MUSLIM REVOLTS 2I3 the control of a silver mine in central Yunnan.Armed feuds between the majority communities and the Muslim minorities began to spread.In 1856, with the encouragement of a paranoid Manchu judicial commissioner,at least two or three thousand Muslims were massacred in Kunming,the provincial capital.In many counties of Yunnan,the Han gentry now organized military corps (t'tan-lien)to 'exterminate'Muslims,while the Muslims also organized themselves and began to occupy cities and take the lives of officials.In the general upheaval,Tu Wen-hsiu (1828-73),a Muslim of Han background who hadhad literary training,established in 1856 in Ta-li,western Yunnan,the kingdom of P'ing-nan(pacification of the south')with a military and civil bureaucracy composed of both Han and Muslim Chinese and with himself as commander-in-chief(ta yuan- sbrai)as well as sultan.A rival Muslim faction,commanded by Ma Ju-lung (1832-91),whose forebears had been officers of the Green Standard Army and who was himself a military sheng-yuan,occupied much of southern and central Yunnan but surrendered to the Ch'ing in I862 and helped the latter to fight Tu Wen-hsiu. Ma Ju-lung's capitulation had the blessing of Ma Te-hsin(1794-1874),a respected religious leader,who had visited Mecca and Constantinople and who in his lifetime wrote more than thirty works in Chinese on Islam.In doctrine,Ma Te-hsin identified himself with the Fustis al-bieam of Abn al-'Arabt,a thirteenth-century classic of Sufism,which summarizes the teachings of the prophets culminating in Muhammad,and emphasizes the mystic approach to the Oneness of Being.Yet Ma also argued that the Islamic reverence for the lord (ch-isci)was entirely compatible with the Neo-Confucian concepts of liand c'.Ma Te-hsin served briefly as acting governor-general at Kunming in 1863 and helped to reconcile many Muslims to Ch'ing rule;nevertheless,he himself was to be assassinated at the instigation of Ch'ing officials at the end of the Yunnan Rebellion. Tu Wen-hsiu's 'Panthay Kingdom'aroused some interest on the part of the French and British,who had by the mid-186os established themselves in Cochin-China and in Lower Burma respectively.In 1867,when a French mission headed by a naval officer,Duart de Lagree,visited the turncoat Ma Ju-lung(who was serving as the brigade general in Kunming),he found that a French priest was already helping the Ch'ing to manufacture ammunition for the modern arms Ma had at his disposal.De Lagree's deputy,Francis Garnier,arrived at the rebel capital of Ta-li in February 1868,but was rudely refused an audience with Tu,the sultan.At that very a Ibid.136-84.Wellington K.K.Chan,'Ma Ju-lung:from rebel to turncoat in the Yunnan rebellion',Papers on China,20 (1966)86-118. Ma Te-hsin,Ta-bua fring-uei(Destiny of the universe),foreword,author's preface,1.15-24, 36-40;2.1-2.Wang Shu-huai,Hrien-T'ung,109-27. Cambridge Histories Online O Cambridge University Press,2008
MUSLIM REVOLTS 213 the control of a silver mine in central Yunnan. Armed feuds between the majority communities and the Muslim minorities began to spread. In 18 5 6, with the encouragement of a paranoid Manchu judicial commissioner, at least two or three thousand Muslims were massacred in Kunming, the provincial capital. In many counties of Yunnan, the Han gentry now organized military corps (t'uan-lieri) to 'exterminate' Muslims, while the Muslims also organized themselves and began to occupy cities and take the lives of officials. In the general upheaval, Tu Wen-hsiu (1828-73), a Muslim of Han background who had had literary training, established in 1856 in Ta-li, western Yunnan, the kingdom of P'ing-nan ('pacification of the south') with a military and civil bureaucracy composed of both Han and Muslim Chinese and with himself as commander-in-chief (ta yuanshuat) as well as sultan. A rival Muslim faction, commanded by Ma Ju-lung (1832-91), whose forebears had been officers of the Green Standard Army and who was himself a military sheng-yuan, occupied much of southern and central Yunnan but surrendered to the Ch'ing in 1862 and helped the latter to fight Tu Wen-hsiu. 3 > Ma Ju-lung's capitulation had the blessing of Ma Te-hsin (1794-1874), a respected religious leader, who had visited Mecca and Constantinople and who in his lifetime wrote more than thirty works in Chinese on Islam. In doctrine, Ma Te-hsin identified himself with the Fusils al-hikam of Abn al-'Arabt, a thirteenth-century classic of Sufism, which summarizes the teachings of the prophets culminating in Muhammad, and emphasizes the mystic approach to the Oneness of Being. Yet Ma also argued that the Islamic reverence for the lord {chu-tsai) was entirely compatible with the Neo-Confucian concepts of//and cb'i.32 Ma Te-hsin served briefly as acting governor-general at Kunming in 1863 and helped to reconcile many Muslims to Ch'ing rule; nevertheless, he himself was to be assassinated at the instigation of Ch'ing officials at the end of the Yunnan Rebellion. Tu Wen-hsiu's 'Panthay Kingdom' aroused some interest on the part of the French and British, who had by the mid-1860s established themselves in Cochin-China and in Lower Burma respectively. In 1867, when a French mission headed by a naval officer, Duart de Lagre'e, visited the turncoat Ma Ju-lung (who was serving as the brigade general in Kunming), he found that a French priest was already helping the Ch'ing to manufacture ammunition for the modern arms Ma had at his disposal. De Lagree's deputy, Francis Garnier, arrived at the rebel capital of Ta-li in February 1868, but was rudely refused an audience with Tu, the sultan. At that very " Ibid. 136-84. Wellington K. K. Chan, 'Ma Ju-lung: from rebel to turncoat in the Yunnan rebellion', Papers on China, 20 (1966) 86—118. 31 Ma Te-hsin, Ta-bua tsung-kuti (Destiny of the universe), foreword, author's preface, 1.15-24, 36-40; 2.1-2. Wang Shu-huai, Hsicn-T'ung, 109—27. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
2I4 THE MILITARY CHALLENGE moment,a delegation from British India,under Captain Edward B. Sladen,was at Bhamo,on the upper Irrawaddy,preparing for the overland journey to western Yunnan.A high Panthay official received Sladen very politely at a border town and talked about commerce with Burma.Yet Sladen's request for a visit to Ta-li was rejected. The extant documentation on Tu's administration shows that he was lording it over a Chinese-style bureaucracy,having declared that the three religions of Yunnan-Islam,Confucianism and the primitive cults of the Yunnanese tribes-were all to be honoured.Tu's forces dominated,at one time,nearly half of Yunnan's territory.He appointed Han Chinese to most civil offices and to at least one-third of the military positions.By 1871, however,his forces were pressed by the armies of the able new Chinese governor,Ts'en Yu-ying,who had modern weapons and even French drillmasters.In that year,Tu authorized a bizarre tribute mission to England.In April 1872,his envoy Liu Tao-heng offered to the Queen,in the name of the Panthay sultan,four large boxes containing pieces of Yunnan marble,symbolizing the land Tu ruled and his submission to Britain as a vassal.By then,Tu's cause was all but lost,and the Duke of Argyll,the secretary of state for India,could only suggest that the gift be deposited in a London museum,with a statement that it had no political significance.3 Shensi and Kansu In any overview of the Muslim revolts in the Ch'ing empire of this period, the rebellions in Shensi and Kansu must be regarded as of crucial impor- tance.For this mountainous loessland with its river valleys and caravan routes commanded Peking's principal gateway to Sinkiang,the frontier area which the Ch'ing emperors had worked so hard to win.Through the windblown Kansu corridor,moreover,the Chinese Muslims enjoyed com- paratively easy contact with the vast Islamic world beyond,and could especially have some influence on the events in Sinkiang.An excess of population over resources,high taxes and the transfer of many of the select Green Standard forces to meet urgent needs in eastern China,had all weakened the two provinces of Shensi and Kansu in the 186os as bastions of defence in China's north-west.Moreover,since the late eighteenth century Kansu had been the centre of a vigorous,activist Chinese school of 3 Huang Chia-mu,Tien-bsi bui-min cbeng-cb'iian fi lien-Ying wai-cbiao (The diplomacy of the Muslim regime in Yunnan towards a British alliance),25-37,88-113. 34 Pai Shou-i,ed.Hui-min cb'i-i(The Muslim uprisings;hereafter HMCI),1.8;2.106,111-31. Wang Shu-huai,Hrien-T'song,118,n.22.Huang Chia-mu,Tien-bsi,164-89,citing India Office archives.Cf.Tien Ju-k'ang,Yu-kuan Tu Wen-hsiu tui-wai kuan-hsi ti chi-ko wen-t'i' (A few problems regarding Tu Wen-hsiu's foreign relations),Li-sbib yen-cbin,1963.4,pp. i41-5o. Cambridge Histories Online O Cambridge University Press,2008
214 TH E MILITARY CHALLENGE moment, a delegation from British India, under Captain Edward B. Sladen, was at Bhamo, on the upper Irrawaddy, preparing for the overland journey to western Yunnan. A high Panthay official received Sladen very politely at a border town and talked about commerce with Burma. Yet Sladen's request for a visit to Ta-li was rejected.33 The extant documentation on Tu's administration shows that he was lording it over a Chinese-style bureaucracy, having declared that the three religions of Yunnan - Islam, Confucianism and the primitive cults of the Yunnanese tribes - were all to be honoured. Tu's forces dominated, at one time, nearly half of Yunnan's territory. He appointed Han Chinese to most civil offices and to at least one-third of the military positions. By 1871, however, his forces were pressed by the armies of the able new Chinese governor, Ts'en Yii-ying, who had modern weapons and even French drillmasters. In that year, Tu authori2ed a bizarre tribute mission to England. In April 1872, his envoy Liu Tao-heng offered to the Queen, in the name of the Panthay sultan, four large boxes containing pieces of Yunnan marble, symbolizing the land Tu ruled and his submission to Britain as a vassal. By then, Tu's cause was all but lost, and the Duke of Argyll, the secretary of state for India, could only suggest that the gift be deposited in a London museum, with a statement that it had no political significance.34 Shensi and Kansu In any overview of the Muslim revolts in the Ch'ing empire of this period, the rebellions in Shensi and Kansu must be regarded as of crucial importance. For this mountainous loessland with its river valleys and caravan routes commanded Peking's principal gateway to Sinkiang, the frontier area which the Ch'ing emperors had worked so hard to win. Through the windblown Kansu corridor, moreover, the Chinese Muslims enjoyed comparatively easy contact with the vast Islamic world beyond, and could especially have some influence on the events in Sinkiang. An excess of population over resources, high taxes and the transfer of many of the select Green Standard forces to meet urgent needs in eastern China, had all weakened the two provinces of Shensi and Kansu in the 1860s as bastions of defence in China's north-west. Moreover, since the late eighteenth century Kansu had been the centre of a vigorous, activist Chinese school of " Huang Chia-mu, Tien-hti bui-min cbeng-cb'iian ti litn-Ying wai-cbiao (The diplomacy of the Muslim regime in Yunnan towards a British alliance), 25-57, 88-: 1}. 34 Pai Shou-i, ed. Hui-min ch'i-i(The Muslim uprisings; hereafter HMCI), 1.8; 2.106, HI—JI. Wang Shu-huai, Hsien-T'ung, 118, n. 22. Huang Chia-mu, Tien-bsi, 164-89, citing India Office archives. Cf. T'ien Ju-k'ang, 'Yu-kuan Tu Wen-hsiu tui-wai kuan-hsi ti chi-ko wen-t'i' (A few problems regarding Tu Wen-hsiu's foreign relations), Li-sbibyen-cbiu, 196}. 4, pp. 141-50. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
MUSLIM REVOLTS 2I5 Sufism.This last factor,together with the sturdiness that resulted from horseback riding and the practice of related martial skills,made the Tungans(the Chinese Muslims of Shensi and Kansu,including those who migrated to Sinkiang)among the most stubborn rebels the Ch'ing ever encountered. Like the Yunnan Muslims,the Tungans were Chinese-speaking.Their original Central Asian blood had been diluted by the custom of allowing their men to marry non-Muslim women and the practice of expanding the Islamic community by adopting Han Chinese children.More so than in Yunnan,however,contacts with Central Asia constantly reinforced their religious faith,which was guarded by the akhunds in each of the auto- nomous mosque-centred communities.Sufi tarikats such as the Nagsh- bandiyya and Qadiriyya were introduced into North-West China from Central Asia.Claiming their special links to God,the shaykhs of these tarikats sometimes performed 'wonders'(kiramr)like curing illnesses, restoring fertility to people,and foretelling events.Once accepted by the people as a saint(w),the religious leader's authority became indisputable. Following his death,the tomb of such a saint would become a holy place. In the 187os,the British traveller,H.W.Bellew,visited the tomb near Kashgar of the saintly founder of the Afaqiyya,a branch of the Nagsh- bandiyya.After the Afaqi khojas were driven out of Sinkiang by the Ch'ing forces in the mid-eighteenth century,the tornb of the Afaqi founder continued to attract numerous pilgrims.3s From their haven in Kokand, the Afaqi khojas for three generations fomented unrest and waged holy wars to recover Altishahr(see volume ro,chapters 2 and 8).One of them was to do so again in the 186os. Meanwhile a Sufi practice known as the dhier-ijabri(vocal recollection) was introduced among the Naqshbandiyya of Kansu by Ma Ming-hsin,an eighteenth-century Chinese Muslim who had travelled to Bukhara and to the Arabian peninsula.Ma was converted to the vocal spiritual exercise, which was supposed to dispel all thoughts from the mind except the remembrance of God.After returning to his native Kansu,he began preaching in 1761-2 among the Salar Turks in Hsun-hua,in the extreme east of present-day Tsinghai,not far from the Kansu capital of Lanchow. His followers were identified by a phrase they used,Che-bo lei-yeb,almost certainly the transliteration of Jahriyya,the vocal'tarikat.Within two decades,this New Teaching(Hsin-cbiao)(in dispute with the Old Teaching of earlier Chinese Naqshbandiyya,which was for 'silent recollection'of 3s Sce Saguchi Toru,Jibacbi-jikyireiki Higarbi Torukimutan thakairbi kenkyi(A study of the social history of Eastern Turkestan in the 18th and I9th centuries),534-8.Henry Walter Bellew,Katbmir and Katbgar:a narrative of tbe journey of the embasty to Kasbgar in 1873-1874, 32【-7. Cambridge Histories Online O Cambridge University Press,2008
MUSLIM REVOLTS 215 Sufism. This last factor, together with the sturdiness that resulted from horseback riding and the practice of related martial skills, made the Tungans (the Chinese Muslims of Shensi and Kansu, including those who migrated to Sinkiang) among the most stubborn rebels the Ch'ing ever encountered. Like the Yunnan Muslims, the Tungans were Chinese-speaking. Their original Central Asian blood had been diluted by the custom of allowing their men to marry non-Muslim women and the practice of expanding the Islamic community by adopting Han Chinese children. More so than in Yunnan, however, contacts with Central Asia constantly reinforced their religious faith, which was guarded by the akhunds in each of the autonomous mosque-centred communities. Sufi tarikats such as the Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya were introduced into North-West China from Central Asia. Claiming their special links to God, the shaykhs of these tarikats sometimes performed 'wonders' {kirdmaf) like curing illnesses, restoring fertility to people, and foretelling events. Once accepted by the people as a saint (wali), the religious leader's authority became indisputable. Following his death, the tomb of such a saint would become a holy place. In the 1870s, the British traveller, H. W. Bellew, visited the tomb near Kashgar of the saintly founder of the Afaqiyya, a branch of the Naqshbandiyya. After the Afaqi khojas were driven out or Sinkiang by the Ch'ing forces in the mid-eighteenth century, the tomb of the Afaqi founder continued to attract numerous pilgrims.35 From their haven in Kokand, the Afaqi khojas for three generations fomented unrest and waged holy wars to recover Altishahr (see volume 10, chapters 2 and 8). One of them was to do so again in the 1860s. Meanwhile a Sufi practice known as the dhikr-ijahri (vocal recollection) was introduced among the Naqshbandiyya of Kansu by Ma Ming-hsin, an eighteenth-century Chinese Muslim who had travelled to Bukhara and to the Arabian peninsula. Ma was converted to the vocal spiritual exercise, which was supposed to dispel all thoughts from the mind except the remembrance of God. After returning to his native Kansu, he began preaching in 1761—2 among the Salar Turks in Hsun-hua, in the extreme east of present-day Tsinghai, not far from the Kansu capital of Lanchow. His followers were identified by a phrase they used, Che-ho lei-yeh, almost certainly the transliteration of Jahriyya, the 'vocal' tarikat. Within two decades, this New Teaching (Hsin-cbiao) (in dispute with the Old Teaching of earlier Chinese Naqshbandiyya, which was for 'silent recollection' of » See Saguchi Tom, Jubacbi-jUkyuseiki Higasbi Torukimtan ibakaiibi kcnkyii (A study of the social history of Eastern Turkestan in the 18th and 19th centuries), 534-8. Henry Walter Bellew, Kashmir and Kasbgar: a narrative of the journey of the embassy to Kashgar in ig/j-if/4, 321-7. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
.Hami MO NG O L I A SINKIANG .o-lun .An-hsi Pao-t'ou .Yu-men Yellow R Peking 40L Tun-huang Su-chou C H I H L I Ninghs Liang-chou. Wu-chung-pao Chin-chi-pac Sui-te TSINGHAI T IBE T Hsun-hua -chun 35 Ku-yuanug. Ho-chou P'ing-liang rvan 35 Z.Tung-chou Yellow R Chang-chia-chuan Ch'in-an. Feng-hsiang Hua-hsien n Wei R HONAN 0 300km 200 miles Land over 1500m(4920ft) S Z E C HW A N 100PE MAP.Io The Muslim Rebellion in Shensi and Kansu 1862-73 Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press,2008
- 200 miles i fv^' " V W ^ ^ « HMW^ N •J**^*" lO(oE?.:--,Q i i Land over 1500m(4920ft) MAP. IO The Muslim Rebellion in Shensi and Kansu 1862-73 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008