Ma Qi (,
Xiao'erjing
Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...
: ; 23 September 1869 – 5 August 1931) was a Chinese Muslim General in early 20th-century China.
Early life
A
Hui, Ma was born on 23 September 1869 in Daohe, now part of
Linxia,
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 ...
, China. His father was
Ma Haiyan and his brother was
Ma Lin. He was a senior commander in the
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 ...
-Gansu region during the late
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. Ma Sala was said to be his father. Ma Qi led loyalist Muslim troops to crush Muslim rebels during the
Dungan Revolt (1895).
During 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 ...
Ma Qi served with his father Ma Haiyan in Gen.
Dong Fuxiang's
Kansu Braves
The Gansu Braves or Gansu Army was a unit of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from the northwestern province of Kansu ( Gansu) in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Loyal to the Qing, the Braves were recruited in 1895 to suppres ...
against the invading Eight Nation Alliance in Beijing. Ma Haiyan defeated the foreign army at the
Battle of Langfang in 1900, and died while protecting the Imperial Family from the western forces. Ma Qi succeeded him in all his posts and capacities. Ma Qi was tall and maintained the mintuan militia in Xining as his personal army, called the
Ninghaijun
The Ninghai Army, later the 26th Division (National Revolutionary Army) was a Muslim Hui army of the Republic of China commanded by General Ma Qi, who controlled the Xining area of Qinghai, then a special region of Gansu province. It was founded ...
.
He also directly defied his commanding officer, Muslim Gen.
Ma Anliang, when
Ma Wanfu, the Muslim brotherhood leader, was being shipped to Gansu from Xinjiang by
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin (; March 6, 1864 – July 7, 1928) was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.
Life
Yang Zengxin was born in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, in 1864. Though a Han Chinese, he had c ...
to Ma Anliang, so Ma Anliang could execute Ma Wanfu. Ma Qi rescued Ma Wanfu by attacking the escort and brought him to Qinghai. Ma Anliang hated the
Muslim brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( '), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic studies, Islamic scholar and scho ...
, which he banned earlier, and sentenced all its members to death and wanted to personally execute Ma Wanfu because he was its leader.
During the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of ...
, Ma Qi easily defeated
Gelaohui
The Gelaohui (; Pinyin: Gēlǎohuì), usually translated as Elder Brothers Society, was a secret society and underground resistance movement against the Qing Dynasty. Although it was not associated with Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui, they both partic ...
revolutionaries in Ningxia, sending their heads rolling, but when the Emperor abdicated Ma Qi declared support for the Republic of China.
Unlike the Mongols and Tibetans, the Muslims refused to secede from the Republic, and Ma Qi quickly used his diplomatic and military powers to make the Tibetan and Mongol nobles recognize the Republic of China government as their overlord, and sent a message to President
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...
reaffirming that
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 ...
was securely in the Republic. He replaced "Long, Long, Long, Live the reigning Emperor", with "Long live the Republic of China" on inscriptions.
Ma Qi developed relations with
Wu Peifu, who tried to turn Gansu military leaders against
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. He wa ...
. Feng's subordinate Liu Yufen expelled all the Han generals who opposed him, which resulted in Hui Generals Ma Hongbin, Ma Lin, Ma Tingxiang, and Han Gen. Bei Jianzhang, the commander of a Hui army, to stop fighting against Feng and seek an agreement.
Republican times
In 1913 a Qinghai wool and hide bureau was established by Ma Qi. It put an export tax on the wool trade with foreigners.
In 1917
Ma Anliang ordered his younger brother
Ma Guoliang to suppress a rebellion of Tibetans in
Xunhua who rebelled because of taxes Ma Anliang imposed on them. Ma Anliang did not report it to the central government in Beijing and was reprimanded for it, and Ma Qi was sent by the government to investigate the case and suppress the rebellion.
[赵颂尧,马安良其人与民初的甘肃政争,西北民族大学学报(哲学社会科学版) 1989年第02期]
Ma Qi formed the
Ninghai Army
The Ninghai Army, later the 26th Division (National Revolutionary Army) was a Muslim Hui army of the Republic of China commanded by General Ma Qi, who controlled the Xining area of Qinghai, then a special region of Gansu province. It was foun ...
in
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 ...
in 1915. He occupied Labrang monastery in 1917, the first time non-Tibetans had seized it.
After ethnic rioting between Muslims and Tibetans broke out in 1918, Ma Qi defeated the Tibetans. He heavily taxed the town for eight years. In 1921 he and his Muslim army decisively crushed the Tibetan monks of Labrang monastery when they tried to oppose him. In 1925 a Tibetan rebellion broke out, with thousands of rebels driving out the Muslims. Ma Qi responded with 3,000 Chinese Muslim troops, who retook Labrang and machine-gunned thousands of Tibetan monks as they tried to flee. Ma Qi besieged Labrang numerous times and the Tibetans and Mongols fought against his Muslim forces for control of Labrang, until he gave it up in 1927.
Ma Qi defeated the Tibetan forces with his Muslim troops. His forces were praised by foreigners who traveled through Qinghai for their fighting abilities.
After the founding of the Republic he was governor of Qinghai from 1915 to 1928 and the first chairman of the government of Qinghai from 1929 to 1931. After
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 ...
gained control nationwide, he became a brigade commander and then was promoted to commander of the 26th Division of the
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...
in the northwestern region. His civil posts also included director of the Gansu Bureau of Construction. Ma Qi's eldest son was
Ma Buqing and another son was
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 ...
. Ma Qi was the uncle of
Ma Zhongying. He died on 5 August 1931 in
Xining
Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau.
The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and w ...
,
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 ...
, China.
See also
*
Ma clique
The Ma clique or Ma family warlords is a collective name for a group of Hui (Muslim Chinese) warlords in Northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia for 10 years from 1919 until 1928. Following the collapse ...
References
External links
Rulers* 民国军阀派系谈 (The Republic of China warlord cliques discussed) http://www.2499cn.com/junfamulu.htm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma Qi
1869 births
1931 deaths
Republic of China warlords from Gansu
Hui people
Chinese Muslim generals
Qing dynasty generals
National Revolutionary Army generals from Gansu
Members of the Kuomintang
Governors of Qinghai
People from Linxia