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Ma Hualong (simplified Chinese:马化龙;traditional Chinese:馬化龍;pinyin:Mǎ Huàlóng;Wade–Giles:Ma Hua-lung) (died March 2, 1871), was the fifth leader (教主,jiaozhu) of theJahriyya, aSufi order (menhuan) in northwestern China.[1]From the beginning of the anti-QingMuslim Rebellion in 1862, and until his surrender and death in 1871, he was one of the main leaders of the rebellion.[2]
Ma Hualong became the leader of the Jahriyya ca. 1849,[1] succeeding themenhuan's fourthshaykh,Ma Yide (late 1770s – 1849[3]). Although the Jahriyya had been originally created byMa Mingxin in the centralGansu, by the time of Ma Hualong's succession to the leadership position the order was centered in the northernNingxia (which in the 19th century was also part of Gansu Province), its headquarters being located inJinjipu (金积堡),[4] a few kilometers south from today'sWuzhong City.[1][5] The town of Jinjipu became an important religious and commercial center, and themenhuan's leaders grew wealthy thanks to the order's profitable participation in thecaravan trade acrossInner Mongolia, betweenBaotou,Huhhot andBeijing.[1]
Since the beginning of the Muslim Rebellion in 1862, Ma Hualong was based at the Jahriyya headquarters inJinjipu.[5] The area of his direct influence included the Jahriyya-heavy eastern parts of the 19th-century Gansu Province,[6] i.e. today'sNingxia and easternmost sections of today's Gansu.[2]While the rebels elsewhere within the 19th-century borders of Gansu had their own leaders – notably,Ma Zhan'ao inHezhou (now Linxia),Ma Guiyuan inXining, andMa Wenlu inSuzhou (Jiuquan), – who, in the view of modern historians, were acting essentially independent from each other, there were Jahriyya members (all owing allegiance to the Ma Hualong) participating in the rebellion throughout the region.[7] Ma Guiyuan'ssons were castrated after he was executed.
At some points during the rebellion Ma Hualong negotiated with the authorities, and at least once he even surrendered, taking a new name, "Ma Chaoqing" ("one who attends on theQing").[8] However, instead of disbanding his militias, he continued fortifying Jinjipu, and collaborating with the rebels who had retreated to Gansu fromShaanxi.[5]
Ma was besieged in Jinjipu in July 1869 by theQing forces led by GeneralZuo Zongtang.[9] After fortifications outside of the town itself had been captured by the government troops, and starvation started inside the walls, Ma Hualong surrendered in January 1871, hoping to spare the lives of his people. However, once Zuo's troops entered Jinjipu, a massacre followed, with over a thousand people losing their lives. and the town being destroyed.[2]
Existing accounts on Ma Hualong's death differ. It is likely that he was executed on Zuo's orders on March 2, 1871, along with his son Ma Yaobang and over eighty rebel officials[1] (supposedly, Zuo sentenced them todeath by slicing[citation needed]), although it was said by some that he had been murdered by a traitor from within his own ranks.[1]
Few of Ma Hualong's family survived the massacre at Jinjipu. Two his grandsons, Ma Jincheng andMa Jinxi, were sentenced tocastration upon reaching the age of 12. Ma Jincheng ended his days as aeunuch slave inKaifeng in 1890, although the new Jahriyya leader,Ma Yuanzhang (the 1850s–1920), managed to secretly provide him with some support until his death. The younger grandson, Ma Jinxi, was spirited away, intact, from hisXi'an confinement by Ma Yuanzhang, and was hidden at aHui household inHangzhou.[10]
Zuo executed a lot of Ma's relatives, except his daughter and grandson, who was sent to Yunnan. The grandson's name was Ma Tsen-wu.[11]
Many years later, Ma Yuanzhang managed to obtain a pardon for Ma Jinxi, and Ma Hualong's grandson returned to Ningxia. A split within the Jahriyya followed, with some members becoming followers of Ma Jinxi, and others holding for Ma Yuanzhang (who claimed descent from the order's founderMa Mingxin, and was also related to Ma Hualong's family through his marriage).[10]
According to Jahriyya adherents in Ningxia, Ma Hualong's grave is in Dongta Town, which now is a suburb ofWuzhong City. Accordingly, a tomb shrine called Siqiliangzigongbei (四旗梁子拱北) has been established there. More than 10,000 people from all over China attended a commemoration ceremony (ermaili) at that site in 1985.[12]
Adherents of a rival tradition within Jahriyya, however, believe that Ma Hualong's true tomb is in Xuanhuagang, in Gansu'sZhangjiachuan County,[13] which, coincidentally, was the base of Ma Hualong's successor,Ma Yuanzhang.
Some authors try to reconcile the two traditions, by saying that Ma Hualong's body is in Dongta, and the head is in Zhangjiachuan.[14]
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