Ma Shaowu | |
|---|---|
馬紹武 | |
 Gen. Ma Shaowu | |
| Tao-yin ofKashgar | |
| In office 1924–1933 | |
| Preceded by | Ma Fuxing |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c.1874 Yunnan,Qing China |
| Died | 1937 (age 62–63) Xinjiang,Republic of China |
| Political party | Xinjiang clique,Kuomintang |
| Spouse | Single unknown wife |
| Children | Ma Cho-ya |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg) Qing Dynasty Republic of China |
| Years of service | 1912-1937 |
| Rank | Military commander |
| Unit | Kashgar Garrison |
| Commands | Military commander atKucha and Tao-yin ofKashgar |
| Battles/wars | |
| Ma Shaowu | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 馬紹武 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 马绍武 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Ma Shaowu (1874–1937;Xiao'erjing:ﻣَﺎ ﺷَﻮْ ءُ) was a Chinesewarlord and military commander who was a member of theXinjiang clique during China'sWarlord Era and theXinjiang Wars.
TheJahriyya Sufi leaderMa Yuanzhang was related to the leader of theDungan revolt,Ma Hualong, which made him related to Ma Shaowu, who was also related to Ma Hualong.
Ten thousand li to pay his respects at the isolated tomb and satisfy the wish of the founding ancestor,
Those that satisfy the wishes of their ancestors are trulyfilial.
In the home province he built up the embankment in honour of the departed sage,
Not only by showing respect for the departed but in his countenance he is a true worthy descendant.
万里祭孤坟而绍祖志，能绍先志方称孝子
原籍修河堤而祭前圣，亦能继前亦象乃为贤孙.
He took themilitary exams.[2]
He became a military commander in the Qing Dynasty army and that of theRepublic of China. He served as amandarin official. DuringYang Zengxin's reign inXinjiang, Ma was appointed military commander ofKucha and then Daotai ofKashgar. His authority extended over all of southern Xinjiang and he commanded several hundred Hui andHan Chinese soldiers. Brig. Gen. Yang and Col. Chin served under him. He was loyal to the Chinese government and a Muslim.
Ma Shaowu had replaced fellow HuiMa Fuxing as Daotai, after shooting him onYang Zengxin's orders.[3][4][5]
Ma enforced anti-Soviet measures and preserved Chinese sovereignty in Xinjiang when theSoviet Union tried to encroach on Chinese territory.[6] He jailed aUighur called Akbar Ali, who was employed by the Sovietconsulate, for setting off a Uighur riot.[7] The Uighurs were suppressed by 400Hui troops.[8]
In 1932, Ma crushed aKirghiz revolt led byId Mirab and jailed several Kirghiz fighters including Osman Ali.[9]
WhenMa Zhongying invaded the province in 1932, Ma Shaowu—himself a Hui Muslim—commanded predominantly Han Chinese troops against the anti-provincial Uighur and Hui forces. He steadily lost control over southern Xinjiang, despiteJin Shuren appointing him as Commander in Chief of all Chinese forces in the area, and was panicking. He sent Han Chinese troops to Khotan and Maral Bashi to fight against the anti-provincial forces, withdrew Chinese troops from Sarikol to Kashgar to reinforce the garrison and raised levies of Kirghiz.[10][11]
Ma faced an army of Uighurs and Hui fromGansu under the command ofTimur Beg andMa Zhancang, when Ma Zhancang defected to Ma Shaowu after conducting negotiations and shot and beheaded Timur Beg.[12] Ma Shaowu commanded aHan Chinese garrison; his subordinates included Brig. Gen. Yang and Col. Chin. Then all of the Hui Muslims and Han Chinese gathered together and holed up in theyamen, while the Turkic Muslims, the Kirghiz and Uighurs besieged them. At theBattle of Kashgar (1933) the Turkic armies were defeated. During this time Ma Shaowu resigned as Tao-yin of Kashgar. When the independence of theFirst East Turkestan Republic was declared the following year, at theBattle of Kashgar (1934) Ma Zhancang andMa Fuyuan destroyed the Turkic army, massacring over 2,000 Uighurs and attacking the British consulate.[13] Ma Fuyuan and Ma Zhancang then reinstated Ma Shaowu as Tao-yin of Kashgar. In 1934 Ma Shaowu was seriously injured in an assassination attempt ordered bySheng Shicai. Ma was sent to the Soviet Union for treatment, and recovered but oncrutches.[14]
He was walking with his son and wife when the assassination attempt happened. The child was unhurt, the wife slightly wounded and, even though Ma was shot in the legs, he dragged himself into a maize field. He got home on a donkey, a doctor was summoned and by the end of summer he was convalescing. Nobody was apprehended by the police for the attack. Two of his fingers were lost.
Ma was interviewed by travelerPeter Fleming in 1936, shortly after the assassination attempt. Fleming also visited the site of the assassination, where bloodstains were still present. He wore a long beige silk robe, had aspittoon and spoke in precisePeking speech. His son's name was Cho-ya. He was then sent to Moscow in the Soviet Union to complete medical treatment. He did not give direct answers, replying through a translator that "I lost my post when, as a result of the troubles, China lost her authority in Kashgar", referring to when he had to resign as taotai.[15] After being sent to Moscow by train, he returned toÜrümqi in 1936. In 1937, during theXinjiang War (1937), Ma Shaowu was accused by Soviet puppetSheng Shicai of being part of a "Fascist-Trotskyite" network, includingKhoja Niyas Hajji,Ma Hushan, along with other claims, which Sheng Shicai used as an excuse to conduct his own purge in Xinjiang along withJoseph Stalin'sGreat Purge.
Ma Shaowu was killed onSheng Shicai's orders.[16]
In 2006, Anthony Garnaut was told by Ma Shaowu's son that Ma Shaowu's biography was being written in Kashgar, and the son and his wife live in Ürümqi.
