Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958)
Encyclopedia
The Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China refers to a continuation of the Chinese Civil War
by Muslim Kuomintang
National Revolutionary Army
forces in Northwest China, in the provinces of Gansu
, Qinghai
, Ningxia
, Xinjiang
, and another insurgency in Yunnan
.
's army of the National Revolutionary Army. Several of them were prominent Generals, such as Ma Hushan
, who had earlier fought against the Soviets in Xinjiang.
Ma Bufang, Ma Hushan, and the other leaders who led the revolt were all former National Revolutionary Army
soldiers and Kuomintang
members. Many of the Chinese Muslim insurgents were veterans of the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang
, Sino-Tibetan War
, the Second Sino-Japanese War
, Ili Rebellion, and the Chinese Civil War
. The Muslim insurgents were all Hui people
, Salar people, or Dongxiang people
.
When Ma Bufang fled after the Ningxia Campaign
, he took over $50,000 in military funds and fled to Hong Kong
.
Some Hui Muslim Generals and units from Ningxia
, like Ma Hongbin
, his son Ma Dunjing and the 81st Muslim Corps defected to the Communist People's Liberation Army
and joined them. Many Muslim units in Xinjiang
also defected to the Communists.
Han Youwen
, an ethnic Salar muslim defected to the Communists and joined the People's Liberation Army
.
Ma Zhanshan
, another Muslim General, defected to the Communists.
Most former Kuomintang Muslim Generals, like Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui
, his son Ma Dunjing, Bai Chongxi
, Ma Jiyuan
, Ma Chengxiang
and their families fled to Taiwan
along with the Republic of China
government or to other places like Egypt
and the United States of America when the Communists defeated them.
However for those who stayed, the Muslims of Qinghai
had other ideas, and decided to revolt against the PLA.
The Communist Party of China mistakenly assumed that the Tibetans would welcome the CPC after it had defeated Ma Bufang. (Ma Bufang, an anti-communist, had undertook a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tibetans in the eastern fringes of Qinghai). However, after the CPC brought in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the east, and embarked on a policy of "rural socialization", it would encounter opposition from the Tibetans too. By 1958, the Salar and the Tibetans had joined forces in revolt to the Communist policies.
announced the start of the Kuomintang
Islamic Insurgency in China, on January 9, 1950, when he was in Cairo
, Egypt
, saying that Chinese Muslims would never surrender to Communism and would fight a guerrilla war
against the Communists. In 1951, Bai Chongxi made a speech to the entire Muslim world calling for a war against Russia, and Bai also called upon Muslims to avoid the Indian leader Nehru, accusing him of being blind to Soviet imperialism. Bai also called Stalin an ogre and claimed he and Mao were engineering World War Three. Ma Bufang continued to exert "influence" on the insurgent KMT Muslim leaders.
President Chiang Kai-Shek
continued to make contact with and support the Muslim insurgents in northwest China. Kuomintang planes dropped supplies and arms to the Muslims; there were 14,000 former Muslim troops of Kuomintang Muslim Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui
who were supplied by the Kuomintang, and with CIA support. They operated in the Amdo
region of Tibet in 1952.
General Ma Hushan
, a Kuomintang member and a Muslim, led an insurgency against the PLA from 1950–1954 using guerrilla tactics. Prior to this, he had earlier fought against the Soviet Red Army. He was against the Marxist-Leninist indoctrination of the Communist Party, and he killed hundreds of PLA soldiers in guerrilla ambushes in valleys and mountains. He was captured in 1954 and executed at Lanzhou
.
Ospan Batyr, a Turkic Kazakh who was on the Kuomintang payroll, fought for the Republic of China government against the Mongols, then against the Communist PLA invasion of Xinjiang. He was captured and executed in 1951.
Yulbars Khan
, a Uyghur
who worked for the Kuomintang, led a Chinese Hui Muslim cavalry against CPC forces taking over Xinjiang. In 1951, after most of his troops deserted and defected to the PLA, he fled to Calcutta in India via Tibet, where his men were attacked by the Dalai Lama
's Tibetan forces. He managed to escape from the Dalai Lama's grip, and subsequently took a steamer to Taiwan
. The Kuomintang government then appointed him Governor of Xinjiang, a title which he held to until he died in the mid-1970s in Taiwan. His memoirs were published in 1969.
General Ma Liang, who was related to Ma Bufang, had 2,000 Chinese Muslim troops under his command around Gansu/Qinghai. Chiang Kai-shek sent agents in May 1952 to communicate with him, and Chiang offered him the post of Commander-in-chief of the 103rd Route of the Kuomintang army, which was accepted by Ma. The CIA dropped supplies such as ammunition, radios, and gold at Nagchuka to Ma Liang. Ma Yuanxiang
was another Chinese Muslim General related to the Ma family. Ma Yuanxiang and Ma Liang wreaked havoc on the Communist forces. In 1953, Mao Zedong
was compelled to take radical action against them. Ma Yuanxiang was then killed by the Communist forces in 1953.
insurgents were in Burma. Many of them were Hui Muslims, like the insurgents in the northwest, but they did not coordinate their attacks with them.
After losing mainland China, a group of approximately 12,000 KMT soldiers escaped to Burma and continued launching guerrilla attacks into southern China. Their leader, General Li Mi
, was paid a salary by the ROC government and given the nominal title of Governor of Yunnan. After the Burmese government appealed to the United Nations in 1953, the U.S. began pressuring the ROC to withdraw its loyalists. By the end of 1954, nearly 6,000 soldiers had left Burma and Li Mi declared his army disbanded. However, thousands remained, and the ROC continued to supply and command them, even secretly supplying reinforcements at times.
Since the 1980s, thousands of Muslims from Myanmar
and Thailand
have migrated to Taiwan in search of a better life. They are descendants of nationalist
soldiers that fled Yunnan
when the communists took over mainland China.
soldiers, who formerly had served under Ma Bufang
to crush the Tibetan revolt in Amdo.
, Ma Tingxian, who was executed by the People's Court in 1962 for his resistance.
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
by Muslim Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
forces in Northwest China, in the provinces of Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
, Ningxia
Ningxia
Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary...
, Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, and another insurgency in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
.
Origin
The majority of the insurgents were formal members of Ma BufangMa Bufang
Ma Bufang was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general...
's army of the National Revolutionary Army. Several of them were prominent Generals, such as Ma Hushan
Ma Hushan
Ma Hu-shan was the half-brother and follower of Ma Chung-ying, a Ma Clique warlord. He ruled over an area of southern Xinjiang, nicknamed Tunganistan by westerners from 1934 to 1937.-Tunganistan:...
, who had earlier fought against the Soviets in Xinjiang.
Ma Bufang, Ma Hushan, and the other leaders who led the revolt were all former National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
soldiers and Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
members. Many of the Chinese Muslim insurgents were veterans of the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang
Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang
The Soviet invasion of Xinjiang was a military campaign in the Chinese northwestern region of Xinjiang in 1934. White Russian forces assisted the Soviet Red Army.- Background :...
, Sino-Tibetan War
Sino-Tibetan War
The Sino–Tibetan War occurred in 1930–1932 when the Tibetan army under the 13th Dalai Lama invaded Xikang and Yushu in Qinghai in a dispute over monasteries. The Ma clique warlord Ma Bufang secretly sent a telegram to the Sichuan warlord Liu Wenhui, and the leader of the Republic of China, Chiang...
, the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, Ili Rebellion, and the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
. The Muslim insurgents were all Hui people
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
, Salar people, or Dongxiang people
Dongxiang people
The Dongxiang people are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
.
When Ma Bufang fled after the Ningxia Campaign
Ningxia Campaign
The Ningxia Campaign was a series of battles fought between the nationalists and the communists during Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era, and resulted in the communist victory.-Order of battle:Nationalist order of battle:...
, he took over $50,000 in military funds and fled to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Some Hui Muslim Generals and units from Ningxia
Ningxia
Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary...
, like Ma Hongbin
Ma Hongbin
Ma Hongbin , was a prominent muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era. He was the acting Chairman of Gansu and Ningxia Provinces for a short period.- Life :...
, his son Ma Dunjing and the 81st Muslim Corps defected to the Communist People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
and joined them. Many Muslim units in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
also defected to the Communists.
Han Youwen
Han Youwen
Han Youwen was an ethnic Salar Muslim General in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. He was born in Hualong Hui Autonomous County in Qinghai province.-Career:...
, an ethnic Salar muslim defected to the Communists and joined the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
.
Ma Zhanshan
Ma Zhanshan
Ma Zhanshan or Ma Chan-san , was a Chinese Muslim general who initially opposed the Imperial Japanese Army in the invasion of Manchuria, briefly defected to Manchukuo, and then rebelled, and fought against the Japanese in Manchuria and in other parts of China.-Early life:Ma was born...
, another Muslim General, defected to the Communists.
Most former Kuomintang Muslim Generals, like Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui
Ma Hongkui
Ma Hongkui , was a prominent warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Ningxia. His rank was Lieutenant-general. His courtesy name was Shao-yun .- Life :...
, his son Ma Dunjing, Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi , , also spelled Pai Chung-hsi, was a Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and a prominent Chinese Nationalist Muslim leader. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Muslim faith...
, Ma Jiyuan
Ma Jiyuan
Ma Jiyuan , was a Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. He was the son and only child of general Ma Bufang and commanded nationalist forces against the communists at the Heshui Campaign, Meridian Ridge Campaign, and the Lanzhou...
, Ma Chengxiang
Ma Chengxiang
Ma Chengxiang was a Chinese Muslim general in the National Revolutionary Army. He was the son of general Ma Buqing, and nephew of general Ma Bufang. He commanded Hui cavalry in Xinjiang, the 5th cavalry army. Ma was a member of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang party and a hardliner...
and their families fled to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
along with the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
government or to other places like Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and the United States of America when the Communists defeated them.
However for those who stayed, the Muslims of Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
had other ideas, and decided to revolt against the PLA.
The Communist Party of China mistakenly assumed that the Tibetans would welcome the CPC after it had defeated Ma Bufang. (Ma Bufang, an anti-communist, had undertook a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tibetans in the eastern fringes of Qinghai). However, after the CPC brought in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the east, and embarked on a policy of "rural socialization", it would encounter opposition from the Tibetans too. By 1958, the Salar and the Tibetans had joined forces in revolt to the Communist policies.
Conflict
General Ma BufangMa Bufang
Ma Bufang was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general...
announced the start of the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
Islamic Insurgency in China, on January 9, 1950, when he was in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, saying that Chinese Muslims would never surrender to Communism and would fight a guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
against the Communists. In 1951, Bai Chongxi made a speech to the entire Muslim world calling for a war against Russia, and Bai also called upon Muslims to avoid the Indian leader Nehru, accusing him of being blind to Soviet imperialism. Bai also called Stalin an ogre and claimed he and Mao were engineering World War Three. Ma Bufang continued to exert "influence" on the insurgent KMT Muslim leaders.
President Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
continued to make contact with and support the Muslim insurgents in northwest China. Kuomintang planes dropped supplies and arms to the Muslims; there were 14,000 former Muslim troops of Kuomintang Muslim Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui
Ma Hongkui
Ma Hongkui , was a prominent warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Ningxia. His rank was Lieutenant-general. His courtesy name was Shao-yun .- Life :...
who were supplied by the Kuomintang, and with CIA support. They operated in the Amdo
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
region of Tibet in 1952.
General Ma Hushan
Ma Hushan
Ma Hu-shan was the half-brother and follower of Ma Chung-ying, a Ma Clique warlord. He ruled over an area of southern Xinjiang, nicknamed Tunganistan by westerners from 1934 to 1937.-Tunganistan:...
, a Kuomintang member and a Muslim, led an insurgency against the PLA from 1950–1954 using guerrilla tactics. Prior to this, he had earlier fought against the Soviet Red Army. He was against the Marxist-Leninist indoctrination of the Communist Party, and he killed hundreds of PLA soldiers in guerrilla ambushes in valleys and mountains. He was captured in 1954 and executed at Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
.
Ospan Batyr, a Turkic Kazakh who was on the Kuomintang payroll, fought for the Republic of China government against the Mongols, then against the Communist PLA invasion of Xinjiang. He was captured and executed in 1951.
Yulbars Khan
Yulbars Khan
Yulbars Khan , courtesy name Jingfu , was a Uighur born in Yangi Hissar in 1888. He entered the service in the Kumul Khanate of Muhammad Khan of Kumul and later his son Maksud Shah. He served as an advisor at the court, until when Maksud died in March 1930, governor Jin Shuren abolished the khanate...
, a Uyghur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
who worked for the Kuomintang, led a Chinese Hui Muslim cavalry against CPC forces taking over Xinjiang. In 1951, after most of his troops deserted and defected to the PLA, he fled to Calcutta in India via Tibet, where his men were attacked by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
's Tibetan forces. He managed to escape from the Dalai Lama's grip, and subsequently took a steamer to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The Kuomintang government then appointed him Governor of Xinjiang, a title which he held to until he died in the mid-1970s in Taiwan. His memoirs were published in 1969.
General Ma Liang, who was related to Ma Bufang, had 2,000 Chinese Muslim troops under his command around Gansu/Qinghai. Chiang Kai-shek sent agents in May 1952 to communicate with him, and Chiang offered him the post of Commander-in-chief of the 103rd Route of the Kuomintang army, which was accepted by Ma. The CIA dropped supplies such as ammunition, radios, and gold at Nagchuka to Ma Liang. Ma Yuanxiang
Ma Yuanxiang
Ma Yuanxiang was a Chinese Muslim General and a member of the Ma Clique.He was related to the Ma family clique. He served for many years in Qinghai in the National Revolutionary Army. After pretending to surrender to the People's Liberation Army in 1949, he broke loose in 1950 and started the...
was another Chinese Muslim General related to the Ma family. Ma Yuanxiang and Ma Liang wreaked havoc on the Communist forces. In 1953, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
was compelled to take radical action against them. Ma Yuanxiang was then killed by the Communist forces in 1953.
Burma
Another group of KuomintangKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
insurgents were in Burma. Many of them were Hui Muslims, like the insurgents in the northwest, but they did not coordinate their attacks with them.
After losing mainland China, a group of approximately 12,000 KMT soldiers escaped to Burma and continued launching guerrilla attacks into southern China. Their leader, General Li Mi
Li Mi (ROC general)
Li Mi , was a high-ranking Nationalist general who participated in the anti-Communist Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War. He was one of the few Kuomintang commanders to achieve notable victories against both Chinese Communist forces and the Imperial Japanese Army...
, was paid a salary by the ROC government and given the nominal title of Governor of Yunnan. After the Burmese government appealed to the United Nations in 1953, the U.S. began pressuring the ROC to withdraw its loyalists. By the end of 1954, nearly 6,000 soldiers had left Burma and Li Mi declared his army disbanded. However, thousands remained, and the ROC continued to supply and command them, even secretly supplying reinforcements at times.
Since the 1980s, thousands of Muslims from Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
have migrated to Taiwan in search of a better life. They are descendants of nationalist
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
soldiers that fled Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
when the communists took over mainland China.
Tibet
After the insurgency was finished off, the PLA used HuiHui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
soldiers, who formerly had served under Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general...
to crush the Tibetan revolt in Amdo.
Individuals
Some Kuomintang Muslims continued to resist the CPC, such the well known son of Ma AnliangMa Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
, Ma Tingxian, who was executed by the People's Court in 1962 for his resistance.