The rise of the Qingma ethnic minority warlords in modern China s northwest Ma Haiyan Ma Qi

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-03-07

Text Editor: Nirvana Says History.

* Period, a group of Hui military and political figures appeared on the stage of northwest Chinese history, and they were the warlords of the Ma family. These warlords arose in the late Qing Dynasty during the Tongzhi period after Ma Zhanao was appeased by the Qing Dynasty and became an official and became a knight, and developed through the anti-Qing uprisings of the northwest ethnic minorities and the "Gengzi Change" during the Tongzhi period.

After the Xinhai Revolution, the three forces were basically settled, and they divided Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai respectively, namely "Ganma", "Ningma", and "Qingma".

Since then, the "Ganma" forces have declined due to their detachment from their ethnic groups and regions, as well as the blows of Feng Yuxiang's Nationalist Army. The other two have achieved relatively stable development, separating Ningxia and Qinghai for a long time.

The two people mentioned today are the founders of the "Qingma" regime in Qinghai -- Ma Haiyan and Ma Qi father and son.

On the one hand, during his reign in Qinghai, he carried out a series of military and political reforms, which brought about a certain development and promotion of the cultural and economic aspects of Qinghai, and he took a firm stand and a clear attitude in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, but on the other hand, he also had a brutal and brutal side in handling ethnic relations.

If you want to talk about Ma Qi, you must start with his father Ma Haiyan and the anti-Qing uprising of the ethnic minorities in the northwest during the Tongzhi period.

Old photos of Hezhou, Gansu.

Ma Haiyan, born in the ninth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1829) in Manigou, Hezhou, Gansu Province, has been farming for generations, and his family is in an average situation, and he can barely solve the problem of food and clothing in that era.

Therefore, when Ma Haiyan was just an adult, he began to be a "packer", and he transported goods to people from Lanzhou to Hezhou for many years, but it is precisely because of this that Ma Haiyan also began to have a lot of knowledge and broaden his horizons.

Old photo of the city wall of Hezhou.

As he slowly gained some savings, he began to sell goods in the areas of Long and Shaanxi, and started long-distance transportation.

At that time, in the Shaanxi and Gansu areas, the ground was not very flat, and there were often bandits in the mountains and valleys.

Ma Haiyan can go back and forth safely every time, precisely because he has practiced martial arts since he was a child and has strong kung fu, especially what he is best at is the meteor hammer, you must know that the most difficult weapon to practice in soft weapons is the meteor hammer, so his strength can be seen.

But it was too hard to engage in logistics all year round, so when he earned the first pot of gold, he no longer went out, and after returning to his hometown, he went to Ma Zhanao, the great imam of Hezhou, to do some religious affairs in the temple, and gradually became famous.

In the sixth year of Tongzhi, Ma Haiyan and Min Dianchen, the leader of Nanxiang, met with fate, joined forces to oppose the Qing Dynasty, and pushed Ma Zhanao as the commander and occupied Hezhou. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had died, the Northern Twist Army was still there, and the anti-Qing forces in Shaanxi and Gansu were rising one after another, especially Ma Hualong in Jinjibao in Ningxia had the strongest armed strength.

So, Ma Zhanao and Ma Haiyan and others in order to respond to Ma Hualong, they opened up the Hehuang channel, connected Ganning, and let Ma Haiyan garrison Hezhou, Ma Zhanao personally went to capture Yongdeng Fengle Fort in Gansu, who knew that in the battle, he was shot in the left eye by He Debiao, the commander of the Fengle Fort Regiment, and had to lead the army to retreat.

In October of the following year, Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, commanded the Hunan army to attack Jinjibao, and finally laid down Ma Hualong in 1871, and then, Zuo Zongtang's army marched to Hezhou one after another.

In the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Ma Haiyan, a 33-year-old martial arts master who was the main battle faction, led 500 daredevils to fight bravely, and the two sides fought fiercely in the area of Taizi Temple, and the Hunan army lost the initial battle and retreated in the area of Tao River.

Ma Haiyan saw that the morale was high and wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue, but Ma Zhanao had a relatively clear understanding of his own strength, and now the main force of the Qing army has not yet been assembled.

So, in March of the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), Ma Zhanao asked his eldest son Ma Qiwu to come to the Hunan army camp to ask for surrender.

Soon, Zuo Zongtang reorganized Ma Zhanao's department as the three banners of the horse team, Ma Zhanao as the superintendent, Ma Haiyan, Ma Anliang, Ma Yongrui and others as the flag officials, and returned to Hezhou Town to control them.

In October of this year, Ma Zhanao and Ma Haiyan, in order to convey their sincerity to Zuo Zongtang, captured Ma Yanlong, Ma Deaf and others who had an incident that year, and handed them over to Zuo Zongtang to be killed.

In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the Boxer Rebellion rose, the Eight-Nation Coalition attacked Beijing, and the Qing court sent Dong Fuxiang's Gan army into Beijing.

On June 12 of the same year, Feng was dispatched to attack the Xishiku Catholic Church and the embassy area, but because the Qing court used the method of "open attack and covert protection", it did not dare to storm it, and the church and embassy area could not be breached.

Tianjin fell, and the Qing court ordered a halt to the attack on the embassy, blocked the invading army invading Beijing, and defended Beijing with all its might. After receiving the order, Ma Haiyan led his troops to fortify in Tongzhou, Yangcun, and Langfang, and responded to the bloody battle, which was particularly tragic in the Langfang blockade, which made the invading army frightened and discouraged.

On July 21, Cixi fled from Beijing with Emperor Guangxu, and urgently ordered the ministries to follow the escort, Ma Haiyan chased after the starry night, and caught up with the palace car in Xuanhua on August 15, the 74-year-old Ma Haiyan died in Xuanhua after running around overnight and overworked. Cixi remembered Ma Haiyan's loyalty and meritorious service, and posthumously presented the registered general soldier, and the eldest son of the 31-year-old Ma Qi, who was serving as a colonel in the army, took over as the flag officer.

Circularize old photos. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu, under the sponsorship of Ma Anliang, Ma Qi was promoted from the flag officer to the rank of deputy general of Hualing and the rank of general of the Xunhua battalion, stationed in Bayanrong Gezashiba Banner, and began to start.

Because of the rebellion in Qinzhou and other places in Gansu at that time, and later Ningxia also participated in the rebellion, Ma Anliang sent Ma Qi to lead the army to suppress it.

On October 23, 1911, thirteen days after the Xinhai Uprising, the Xi'an Uprising in Shaanxi Province was successful, and then Liu Huatang, the leader of the Ningxia Elders' Association, also rebelled in Ningxia and established the Ningxia Revolutionary Army.

In this Ningxia uprising, it was mainly the Brotherhood that responded to the revolution. At this time, Ma Anliang sent Ma Qi to lead 7 battalions of cavalry and infantry to Ningxia to relieve the siege of Fucheng.

On the second day, when they entered the city, there were many leaders of the ** Hui Party and the masses, and the people of Ningxia City suffered a serious catastrophe. After Ma Qi captured Ningxia City, he continued to pursue the rebel army, chased it all the way to Pingluo, purged the Hui Party, and killed many innocent civilians, in this way, the Western Army led by Ma Qi brutally suppressed the uprising of the Ningxia Hui Party and the People's Army in order to be loyal to the Qing **.

After the Shaanxi rebellion, Shaanxi Governor Shengyun and Shaanxi and Gansu Governor Chang Gung dispatched the Gansu army to rescue Shaanxi, Chang Gung in the reorganization of the Gansu army, Ma Anliang's western army was reorganized into an elite army, and ordered Ma Anliang to command the Gansu army to rush to Shaanxi to rescue, in an attempt to extinguish the Shaanxi People's Army.

Ma Anliang took the opportunity of expanding the army to recruit more than 6,000 Hui soldiers in Hezhou, Didao, Xunhua, Pingfan and other places, and organized the Western Army into five armies: center, front, left, right, and rear, with Ma Anliang as the leader and Ma Qi as the gang commander.

On February 13, 1912, Sun Yat-sen resigned from the post of big **, Yuan Shikai appointed Zhao Weixi as the temporary governor of Gansu, in April, Yuan Shikai appointed Ma Anliang as the governor of Ganzhou, Ma Qi also led the main force of the Western Army to the Gannan area, and Ma Lin began to have part of his own power.

Soon after Ma Anliang was stationed in Lanzhou, he appointed Ma Qi as the assistant deputy general of the Taomin region, and his younger brother Ma Lin was promoted from the former battalion infantry to the commander of the Western Army, stationed in Hezhou and Taomin areas, and ordered his younger brother Ma Guoliang to enter Longnan, thus completely controlling Gansu.

At this time, the two Ma Qi brothers were in charge of Minzhou, Lintao, Jiezhou, Wenxian, Xigu five battalions and Chengxian, Xihe, and Li counties, with a total of 2,390 horse infantry.

Subsequently, Ma Qi promoted his relatives, sons, cousins, etc. to the Western Military Camp Officer, and gradually formed his own system. Next, in order to maintain the power connection on Ma Anliang's side, Ma Qi let his eldest son Ma Buqing marry Ma Anliang's daughter, and the two sides formed an in-law relationship.

Li Jingqing. At this time, Li Jingqing, speaker of the Gansu Provincial Provisional Assembly, demanded that Gan Du investigate the responsibility of Ma Qi and others for suppressing the revolutionary army during the period of the Northwest Rebellion, and proposed to "prevent military personnel from interfering in government affairs and reducing military salaries", which was hated by Ma Qi and others.

Gansu political envoy Peng Yingjia and other mediation was ineffective, Li Jingqing took refuge in Lintao's hometown, Ma Qi wrote to Ma Anliang and said: "Although Li is gone, his ambition is not dead, and there are many henchmen, if this person is not removed, our army will have unforeseen disasters." ”

With Ma Anliang's consent, on the night of July 17, Ma Qi secretly sent assassins to assassinate Li Jingqing at home.

In order to calm down the contradictions, Ma Qi bribed Zhao Weixi, the governor of Gansu, to report to Beiyang for approval, and transferred Ma Fuxiang, the chief soldier of Xining Town and the chief of Qinghai office, to serve as the chief soldier of Ningxia Town, and Ma Qi to serve as the chief soldier of Xining Town.

After Ma Qi became the commander-in-chief of Xining Town, he began to set up his own door and parted ways with the Western Army.

Xining old **.

* At the beginning, the local system was still inherited from the Qing system, and Xining at that time was still controlled by the Xining town, the government, and the ministers, each issuing government decrees, so Ma Qi's first step was to find a bigger backer, he first switched to Zhang Guangjian, the governor of Gansu, and lost his sincerity to Yuan Shikai through Zhang.

Later, Ma Qi asked his younger brother Ma Lin to go to Tibetan areas to lobby and win over local real power figures, and then instigated them to accuse Lian Xing, the chief of the Qinghai office.

In this way, Ma Qi concentrated the military and political power in Qinghai into his own hands, ending the situation of the separation of powers and the inconsistency of government decrees in Qinghai for hundreds of years.

Next, Ma Qi began to actively seek to establish an armed force under his control. At the beginning of 1915, Ma Qi submitted to the Governor of Gansu and the Ministry of War for approval, and organized the various armies in Xining into the Xining Qinghai Patrol Mabu Army, referred to as the Ning Navy, imitating the method of supervising and training the new army of the Beiyang Army, and trained a new army.

However, the establishment of this army completely relies on the Ma Qi family as the core, and the whole army from the ** Ma Qi, the gang commander Ma Lin brothers and below, to the battalion commander of the 46 people, family members account for 32 people.

After gradually realizing the unification of the military and the government and establishing an independent armed force, Ma Qi began to prepare for the establishment of Qinghai as an independent province in order to seek opportunities for independent development.

But at that time, the middle ** valve was in full swing, and there was no time to look west, so no one paid attention to the matter of establishing a province in the border areas. Ma Qi also knew that he did not have the strength to compete with the armed forces of the neighboring areas, so he used the excuse of recuperation, sat on his own strength, and waited for the opportunity.

During this period, Ma Qi pragmatically implemented a series of policies to develop local social economy, establish education, and revitalize industry. In particular, during the more than 20 years from his appointment in 1912 to the construction of Qinghai, the greatest significance of his education was to realize the transition of education in Qinghai from religious education to ordinary secular education.

*Period: A primary school in Xining.

In 1910, there were only 28 primary schools with 184 students, and by 1928, the number of primary school students in Qinghai had increased to 9,887, and the number of schools had increased by about nine times.

At this time, it was the beginning of the Simla Conference, because the various issues in the meeting were inseparable from Qinghai, so that Ma Qi, who had just entered Qinghai, was inevitably involved in the disputes caused by the Shimla Conference.

Because at that time, Ma Qi's jurisdiction included the entire territory of Qinghai Province, but Qinghai had not yet been established as a province at that time, Ma Qi actually belonged to the subordinates of the governor of Gansu.

Later, according to the boundary survey report of Beiyang**, the 25 tribes of Yushu were still under the jurisdiction of Gansu, and the Sichuan army immediately retreated, thus quelling the dispute over the Sichuan-Gansu border and clarifying the scope of the southern jurisdiction of Qinghai in terms of administrative division.

Yushu. After Ma Qi became the supreme military and political governor of Qinghai after he became the envoy of Ninghai Town in Ganbian and the envoy of Mengfan, he had a clearer understanding of the important political significance of Yushu as the throat of Tibet.

In March 1917, he set up a council member in Jiegu Town, Yushu, to be in charge of civil and criminal affairs in the Yushu area, and set up a defense area and led troops to garrison it. He set up traffic stations along the route from Xining to Yushu to strengthen the connection between Yushu and Xining.

Ma Qi initially achieved effective control over the Yushu region, stabilized his rule in southern Qinghai, objectively stabilized the social order of the Mongolian and Tibetan tribes in Qinghai, and dealt a blow to the British conspiracy to instigate independence.

He also set up a board of directors in Dulan. The council is equivalent to the establishment of a governance bureau, which is equivalent to the establishment of political power at the county level. The establishment of the council system marked the change of the administrative system in Qinghai, Mongolia and Tibet, and began to gradually implement the administrative divisions and establishment that were common throughout the country and the eastern part of Qinghai at that time in the southern part of Qinghai and along the Qinghai Lake.

Subsequently, through resettlement to pastoral areas and the organization of reclamation affairs, administrative units were successively set up in pastoral areas, and unified government decrees were implemented to devote themselves to the unified jurisdiction and governance of Qinghai's agricultural and pastoral areas.

In his practice of safeguarding territorial integrity, Ma Qi still has one thing that is very commendable, that is, what he did during the Simla Conference.

In 1913, the Simla Conference was held, which was a major event in the negotiation between China, Britain and the local government, when the British side put forward a series of unreasonable demands and put forward a proposal to divide the so-called internal and external Tibet, which caused an uproar in the country.

After the First World War, Britain had no time to take care of the East, and after the end of the war, Britain again put forward the so-called division of Tibet into two in 1919, and wanted to divide the west of Derg into **.

Ma Qi. At this time, Ma Qi stepped forward and waged a resolute struggle against imperialism and domestic forces trying to seek profit for the country's honor and local tranquility in the troubled times.

Ma Qi hit the nail on the head and pointed out that Britain was making a big fuss in the area north of Kunlun and Dangla Ridge, and was vague. He severely denounced Britain's shameless deeds because its "glamorous electricity" was supported by facts and geographical divisions, and its wording was reasonable and very convincing, and it aroused great concern from all social strata at that time. Therefore, at that time, Ma Qi's Yandian was called "the most valuable voice".

Immediately, after obtaining the consent of Zhang Guangjian, the governor of Gansu, Ma Qi sent a delegation to the upper echelons of ** and ** to communicate, especially to send his own military counselor, Zhu Xiu, who is most familiar with Tibetan conditions, as the main representative.

The successful visit of the Gansu delegation to Tibet was the first time that an official representative had entered Tibet since the "expulsion of Han" incident occurred during the first period, which laid the foundation for the peace talks between the local government and the country, and played a role in clearing the clouds and seeing the sky.

If "Yandian" is Ma Qi's highlight moment, then next, especially after 1918, Ma Qi has consolidated his rule, and the suppression of ethnic minority tribes in the Ganqing area is a big stain in his life.

From 1920 to 1922, Ma Qi sent troops to suppress the Tibetan tribes in Hainan, Guoluo and other places, and burned down the Selik Monastery and the Laga Monastery, causing serious damage to the lives and property of the Tibetan monks and lay people in these tribes and monasteries.

Lu Hongtao (word Xiancha).

In 1920, with the forced resignation of Zhang Guangjian, the overseer of Gansu Province, Lu Hongtao won the competition with Ma Fuxiang, Ma Fuxiang went away to Suiyuan to serve as the commander, and the contradiction between Lu Hongtao and Ma Qi gradually increased, and later Ma Qi simply intercepted the taxes in Xining, broke away from Lu Hongtao's control, and added a large number of guns to expand the army.

It was not until 1925 that Feng Yuxiang, the Northwest Frontier Governor, sent Liu Yufen to lead the Northwest Army into Gansu, and Ma Qi was attached to the Northwest Army.

In April 1927, the Ning Navy was reorganized into the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army and participated in the Northern Expedition in the Ganqing area. However, Ma Qi stepped on two boats and secretly sent Ma Fuchen to Beijing to collude with Zhang Zuolin's army to prepare for the attack on Feng Yuxiang's national army.

Beiyang ** promised to give light and heavy **, and also allowed Ma Qi to be "military affairs supervision".

Due to the rapid development of the situation, Ma Qi stepped into the air. So he turned around and sent people to Nanjing, Lanzhou and other places to support the National Army, so he won the title of Gansu Provincial Committee member.

The guard envoy of Ganbian Ninghai Town was changed to the guard envoy of Ganbian Ning, and Ma Qi still served as the envoy.

In March 1928, he was appointed as a member of the Nanjing National Military Commission, and Feng Yuxiang appointed Ma Qi as the commander of the 23rd Division of the Second Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

Sun Lianzhong. Soon, Sun Lianzhong led his troops into Xining, and Ma Qi had no choice but to hand over power, his status was shaky, and he couldn't live in fear.

He was unwilling to lose power, so he inspired his nephew Ma Zhongying to launch the "Hehuang Incident", and secretly sent the cavalry green horse team and the dark horse team to pretend to mutiny and go to Hezhou to help.

In the incident, Liu Yufen, Sun Lianzhong and others adopted a policy of appeasement, appointed Ma Qi as a consolation envoy in Hezhou, and also said: "There are still a lot of things to deal with the aftermath, and more help is needed." So the Ma Qi brothers participated in the operation to eliminate Ma Zhongying, and the military strength was preserved.

In January 1929, Qinghai Province was established, and Ma Qi was appointed as the first member and director of the Construction Department.

Jiang Feng fought against each other, and the Central Plains War broke out. Sun Lianzhong, chairman of Qinghai Province, was transferred to the east to participate in the war, and recommended Ma Qi as the first chairman of Qinghai Province before leaving, which made the Ma family desperate.

Taking advantage of the emptiness in the rear of the Northwest Army, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Ma Qi as chairman of Qinghai Province and commander of the 1st Division of the National Revolutionary Army, and awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Old photos of Xining. In the war, Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan failed, and the Ma family immediately changed their banners in Qinghai to support Chiang, and in January 1930, Nanjing appointed Ma Qi as the chairman of Qinghai Province, and the Ma warlords completed the history of complete rule of Qinghai.

In the winter of this year, Ma Qi was still ambitious and ready to do a big job next year, but his leg disease became more and more serious, and he could only moan in bed every day, and in the spring of the following year, although his condition improved, in the summer he went to Huangzhong Water Gorge to escape the heat, who knew that he soon appeared in a coma, and was sent back to Xining overnight, and died at dawn the next day at the age of 62, after which his position was inherited by his brother Ma Lin.

Throughout the life of Ma Haiyan and his son, especially Ma Qi, the modern history of Northwest China can be described as complex and unpredictable, and his identity is also unpredictable, and his purpose through a series of actions and military confrontations is to protect the interests of himself and his family, maintain his rule, and in the final analysis, it should be summarized as pragmatism.

His life was sometimes in front of the stage, sometimes behind the scenes, with the help of various forces that could be used to eliminate dissidents, pave the way for his own development, and expand his military power.

Ma Qi's younger brother Ma Lin.

As a key figure in the rise of Tsing Ma, his life played an important role in the development of Tsing Ma warlords. Compared with the latter two Qingma leaders, in the context of the times at that time, Ma Qi had a greater impact on the society in Qinghai and the northwest.

On the one hand, it is the brutality of dealing with dissidents that he has shown in order to maintain and consolidate his rule, and on the other hand, he has shown his responsibility and sense of responsibility as a local powerful faction in his weakness and concession on the issue of Beiyang's treatment of the Beiyang and the betrayal of sovereignty, and has made positive efforts and contributions to maintaining national unity and stability.

Through the review of Ma Haiyan and Ma Qi, we want to construct the pattern differentiation of modern China through the "pluralistic and integrated pattern of the Chinese nation" mentioned by Mr. Fei Xiaotong.

From the history of the rise of ethnic minority warlords in modern Northwest China, we can get a glimpse of the national and local governments, as well as the internal ecology of Northwest society and the interaction of various ethnic groups, and sort out the continuation of national power in the border areas in the great changes of the times, as well as how the elites of ethnic minorities in modern Northwest China can take into account the local needs and the overall needs of the great unification of the Chinese nation in the context of Chinese historical and cultural identity.

References:

Wang Yasen, Yao Xiuzhou: Qinghai Sanma.

Liu Shijun: Research on Ma Qi's life and deeds.

Linxia Character Chronicles: Ma Qi.

Tian Shenglan: Ma Fuxiang and Lu Hongtao fought for Ma Qi in the Gansu overseer incident.

Zhao Chun'e and Bai Xuemei: A Brief Introduction to Ethnic Education in Qinghai during Ma Qi's Reign.

Kan Zhixiang: Ma Qi's Identity Transformation and Political Choice: The National Consciousness of Local Separatist Forces in the ** Period.

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