Ma Lin ( Xiao'erjing: , ; 1873 – 26 January 1945) was the governor of

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

1931–38 and the brother of Ma Qi. A Muslim born in 1873, Linxia County,

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...

, he mainly acceded to the posts of his brother, being general of southeastern Gansu province, as well as councillor of the Qinghai provincial government and acting head of the Construction Bureau of Qinghai province. His father was Ma Haiyan.

Career

Ma Lin's father Ma Haiyan fought in the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

at the Battle of Langfang and died of natural causes in 1900. Ma Lin assisted the

Xidaotang Xidaotang (, "Hall of the Western ''Dao''," i.e. Islam)--originally called Jinxingtang , the "Gold Star Hall"; also called the ''Hanxue pai'' , the "Han Studies Sect" —is a Sino-Islamic religious body / special economic community centered in Gans ...

in filing a lawsuit against Ma Anliang after his death in 1919, to gain recognition for them as a legitimate Muslim sect. His great-nephew Ma Zhongying seized the city of Hezhou in the 1920s in a battle during the

Muslim conflict in Gansu (1927–1930) Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham ...

, and vanquished Ma Lin's army, which was sent to retake the city. Ma Lin defeated Ma Ting-hsiang (Ma Tingxiang). Ma Lin succeeded his brother Ma Qi as Governor of Qinghai following his death in 1931, but real military power remained in the hands of his nephew, Gen.

Ma Bufang Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general. General Ma started an industrialization pro ...

, who succeeded his father Ma Qi as military commander. In 1932, during his administration of Qinghai, the

Sino–Tibetan War Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

broke out. Ma Lin's personal representative was Chao Pei-lei. Ma Lin held the position of Civil Governor, while

was Military Governor. They feuded with and disliked each other. People did not admire Ma Bufang as much as his uncle Ma Lin, who was adored by the people. Ma Lin worked in the governor's yamen during his reign. His secretary was named Feng. In autumn of 1936 Ma Bufang made his move to expel his uncle from power and replace him. Ma Bufang made his position unstable and unbearable until Ma Lin resigned from power by making the

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried o ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

. Ma Lin's next position was to be part of the National Government Committee. In an interview he was described as having "high admiration and unwavering loyalty to

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

", and was interested in the progress of the

Anti-Japanese war The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese ...

. He was reported to be pious and his family mosque was in good shape. The new Yihewani (Ikhwan) sect was patronized and backed by Ma Lin and Ma Bufang to help modernize society, education, and reform old traditions. In 1942 Ma Lin was serving on the 36-seat State Council; the only other Muslim member was the Uyghur

Masud Sabri Masud Sabri, also known as Masʿūd Ṣabrī ( ug, مەسئۇت سابرى, مسعود صبري; zh, s=麦斯武德·沙比尔, t=麥斯武德·沙比爾, p=Màisīwǔdé·Shābì'ěr; 1886–1952), was an ethnic Uyghur politician of the Republi ...

. He went on a

. Approximately 123 persons accompanied him, including the Imams Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing, who brought

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three genera ...

/Wahhabi ideology back to China, which the Yihewani Imams promptly rejected as heretical. Ma Lin's nephew,

, the governor of Qinghai, persecuted the new Salafi Wahhabis. He died on 26 January 1945. Ma Lin's eldest son Ma Burong (Ma Pu-jung) 馬步榮 defected to the Communists after 1949 and donated 10,000 Yuan to support Chinese troops in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. He had another son, Ma Buyuan (Ma Pu-yüan) 馬步援.甘、寧、青三馬家族世系簡表
/ref>

References

External links

Rulers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma Lin 1873 births 1945 deaths Hui people Chinese Muslim generals Qing dynasty generals National Revolutionary Army generals from Gansu Republic of China warlords from Gansu Chinese Nationalist military figures Members of the Kuomintang Governors of Qinghai People from Linxia

Career

See also

References

External links