Refuting the propaganda of Chinese Han nationalist and their demonization of innocent muslims in quora,reddit part 1

1.Truth about Tongzhi Hui rebellion:- Ma Hualong belonged to the New Teaching school of thought, and Zuo executed him, while Hui generals belonging to the Old Teaching clique such as Ma Qianling, Ma Zhan'ao and Ma Anliang were granted amnesty and even promoted in the Qing military. Moreover, an army of Han Chinese rebels led by Dong Fuxiang surrendered and joined Zuo Zongtang. General Zuo accepted the surrender of Hui people belonging to the Old Teaching school, provided they surrendered large amounts of military equipment and supplies, and accepted relocation. He refused to accept the surrender of New Teaching Muslims who still believed in its tenets, since the Qing classified them as a dangerous heterodox cult, similar to the White Lotus Buddhists. Zuo said, "The only distinction is between the innocent and rebellious, there is none between Han and Hui". The Qing authorities decreed that the Hui rebels who had taken part in violent attacks were merely heretics and not representative of the entire Hui population, just as the heretical White Lotus did not represent all Buddhists. Qing authorities decreed that there were two different Muslim sects, the "old" religion and "new" religion. The new were heretics and deviated from Islam in the same way that the White Lotus deviated from Buddhism and Daoism, and stated its intention to inform the Hui community that it was aware that the original Islamic religion was one united sect before the advent of new "heretics", saying they would separate Muslim rebels by which sect they belonged to 2.During the revolt, some Hui people fought for the Qing against the rebels from the beginning. A reward was bestowed upon Wang Dagui, a pro-Qing Muslim Hui leader who fought against Hui rebels. The relatives of Wang Dagui and Wang himself were then slaughtered by other anti-Qing Hui rebels In addition, the Hui Chinese rebel leaders never called for Jihad, and never claimed that they wanted to establish an Islamic state. This stood in contrast to the Xinjiang Turki Muslims who called for Jihad. Instead of overthrowing the government, the rebels wanted to exact revenge from local corrupt officials and others who had done them injustices. 3. According to research by modern historians, at least 4 million Hui were in Shaanxi before the revolt, but only 20,000 remained in the province afterwards, with most of the Hui either killed in massacres and reprisals by government and militia forces, or deported out of the province. For example, on one occasion where 700,000 to 800,000 Hui from Shaanxi were deported to Gansu, most were killed along the way from thirst, starvation, and massacres by the militia escorting them, with only a few thousand surviving. Large numbers of Han people were also relocated to Inner Mongolia after the war. Modern Ningxia and eastern Qinghai regions such as Xining, Hualong and Xunhua used to be a part of Gansu province before the 20th century.

Harsh punishments were meted out against Hui in Shaanxi by Manchus over communal disputes at this time since they regarded Hui as the aggressors. The Qing governor of Shaanxi put all the blame of the rebellion on the Shaanxi Hui and said the Gansu Hui were not to blame and were forced to join the rebellion and that they had good relations with Han unlike Shaanxi Hui who he accused of committing massacres so he told Gansu officials Shaanxi would not let deported Shaanxi Hui in Gansu back in. Officials in Shaanxi wanted military force to be used against Hui rebels while officials in Gansu wanted leniency for Hui rebels. Han Nian rebels worked with the Shaanxi Hui rebels until general Zuo Zongtang defeated the Nian in the province by 1868 and the Hui rebels in Shaanxi fled to Gansu in 1869. The Hunan Army was extensively infiltrated by the anti Qing, Han Gelaohui secret society, who started several mutinies during the Dungan Revolt, delaying crucial offensives. Zuo put down the mutinies and executed those involved. Hubei Gelaohui soldiers mutinied in Suide in Zuo Zongtang's army in 1867. The Han Gelaohui had infiltrated the Qing military in Xinjiang during the Dungan Revolt (1895–1896) and allegedly planned to help the Hui rebels before the Hui rebels were crushed.

The conflict initially erupted on the western bank of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, excluding Xinjiang Province. A chaotic affair, it often involved diverse warring bands and military leaders with no common cause or a single specific goal. A common misconception is that the revolt was directed against the Qing dynasty, but evidence does not show that the rebels intended to overthrow the Qing government or attack the capital of Beijing. Instead it indicates that the rebels wished to exact revenge on personal enemies for injustices. In the aftermath of the conflict, mass emigration of the Dungan people from Ili to Imperial Russia ensued. 4.Course of the rebellion

As the Taiping troops approached south-eastern Shaanxi in the spring of 1862, the local Han Chinese, encouraged by the Qing government, formed tuanlian (trad. 團練, simplified 团练) militias to defend the region against the Taipings. Afraid of the armed Han, the Muslims formed their own militia units.

According to modern researchers,[3] the Muslim rebellion began in 1862 not as a planned uprising, but as a coalescence of many local brawls and riots triggered by trivial causes. Among these were false rumours spread that the Hui Muslims were aiding the Taiping Rebellion. However, the Hui Ma Hsiao-shih claimed that the Shaanxi Muslim rebellion was connected to the Taiping.[4]

Many Green Standard troops of the Imperial army were Hui. One of these brawls and riots was initiated when a fight was triggered over the price of bamboo poles a Han was selling to Hui. This led to a massacre of Hui in multiple villages when they refused to agree to the price of the poles, including innocent people. Hui responded by attacking Han and other Hui who did not join them in revolt. It was this pricing dispute over bamboo poles which set off the full scale revolt. A Manchu noted that there were many non rebellious Muslims who were loyal citizens, and warned the Qing court that exterminating all Muslims would force them to support the rebels and make the situation even worse. He said, "Among the Muslims, there are certainly evil ones, but doubtless there are also numerous peaceful, law-abiding people. If we decide to destroy them all, we are driving the good ones to join the rebels, and create for ourselves, and awesome, endless job of killing the Muslims. 3. (THE REAL CASUALITIES OF ISLAMIC REBELLION IN EAST TURKESTAN):- 1.Zero involvement of uyghurs and Kazakhs,and also most of the casualties were of soviet soldiers:- Ma Hushan was paranoid about a Soviet attack and controlled the Kashgar-Khotan area because it offered him a safe escape to British India, where he could take a steamer from Calcutta safely back to Chinese seaports and then to Gansu and Qinghai. He and his officers repeatedly had vowed to attack the Soviets in conversations with Peter Fleming and sought to procure gas masks and airplanes to help them fight. Ma Hushan was paranoid about a Soviet attack and controlled the Kashgar-Khotan area because it offered him a safe escape to British India, where he could take a steamer from Calcutta safely back to Chinese seaports and then to Gansu and Qinghai. He and his officers repeatedly had vowed to attack the Soviets in conversations with Peter Fleming and sought to procure gas masks and airplanes to help them fight. In August 1937, 5,000 Soviet Red Army troops, backed by an air unit and an armored regiment, moved into Xinjiang at the request of Sheng Shicai, whose provincial troops were defeated by Muslim rebels in July 1937 at a battle near Karashar and could not continue their advance on the south. In late August, provincial forces, including White Russians, Red Army, and NKVD units, decisively defeated Kichik Akhund's troops at Aksu, with most of his troops being annihilated after they were machine-gunned and bombed in air attacks by a squadron of 24 Soviet airplanes in an open field near Aksu. As a result, Kichik Akhund and Abdul Niyaz escaped to Kashgar with only 200 men. After that battle, Ma Sheng-kuei was bribed by Sheng Shicai to defect and to turn against Ma Hushan. Ma Sheng-kuei marched on Kashgar on September 1, 1937, only to find that Ma Hushan, Ma Ju-lung, and Pai Tzu-li had withdrawn toward Karghalik with the 1st Brigade. On 7 September, Ma Hushan and his officers deserted their troops and fled to India with gold. Ma brought along with him 1000 ounces in gold, which was confiscated by the British.[11] General Chiang Yu-fen, a provincial commander, dispatched his men after Ma Hushan's 1st Brigade, and other provincial forces drove Abdu Niyaz and Kichik Akhund towards Yarkand. Red Army aircraft assisted the provincial forces by dropping bombs, including some containing mustard gas. These airplanes first flew from an airbase in Karakol, Soviet Union, and then from captured airfields in Uchturpan and Kucha.[13] On 9 September, Yarkand fell to Sheng, and on 15 September, Abdul Niyaz was executed. On October 15 the Soviets bombed the city of Khotan, which resulted in 2,000 casualties.[14] The remnants of the 36th division melted away through Kunlun Mountains in Qinghai and northern Chinese General Ma Zhanshan, a Muslim, was allegedly one of the Soviet Army commanders during the invasion. It was reported that he had led Soviet troops disguised in Chinese uniforms along with bombers during the attack, which had been requested by Sheng Shicai.[12]h. 3. Was tongzhi hui rebellion and east turkestan rebellion islamic:- During the revolt, some Hui people fought for the Qing against the rebels from the beginning. A reward was bestowed upon Wang Dagui, a pro-Qing Muslim Hui leader who fought against Hui rebels. The relatives of Wang Dagui and Wang himself were then slaughtered by other anti-Qing Hui rebels In addition, the Hui Chinese rebel leaders never called for Jihad, and never claimed that they wanted to establish an Islamic state. This stood in contrast to the Xinjiang Turki Muslims who called for Jihad. Instead of overthrowing the government, the rebels wanted to exact revenge from local corrupt officials and others who had done them injustices. 2. Displeasure with the presence of soviet and anti stalinism:- 

Sheng Shicai had moved against Divisional General Mahmut Muhiti, commander-in-chief of 6th Uyghur Division and deputy chief of the Kashgar Military Region. Muhiti resented the increased Russian influence and formed a secret group around himself. Sheng feared Muhiti may have allied with the Chinese Muslim general Ma Hu-shan. However, the Uighurs of Kashgar heard hostile reports on Ma Hu-shan from Uighur refugees from Khotan suffering under Ma.

Muhiti fled Kashgar on April 2, 1937 with a small number of his subordinates and some amount of gold to India via Yengi Hissar and Yarkand. Shortly before his departure he sent message to Ma Hu-Shan about his proposed arrival at Khotan. In response, Ma Hu-Shan ordered his troops to prepare a parade and feast to honour General Muhiti. This preparation pulled troops who guarded both mountain Passes to Kashmir, which allowed Muhiti the opportunity to change his route and slip through into Kashmir. Muhiti's flight resulted in Uighur troops rising in revolt in Yengi Hissar, Yarkand, and Artush, resulting in the execution of all pro-Soviet officials and a number of Soviet advisers. An independent Turkic administration was set up by two of his officers, Kichik Akhund Sijiang, who commanded troops in Artush, and Abdul Niyaz Sijiang, who commanded troops in Yarkand and Yengi Hissar.

Liu Pin, a provincial commander in Kashgar Region with 700 troops at his command, responded to the rebellion by launching a squadron of nine Soviet planes to bomb Yangi Hissar and Yarkand.[3] After Muhiti reached Srinagar in India, the following year, he went on pilgrimage to Mecca.[4] A buildup of Soviet military assets occurred in Xinjiang before the outbreak of war. Around Kasghar, the Soviets sent AA guns, fighter planes, and soldiers of Russian and Kyrgyz origin in great amounts.[5]

The start of the rebellion in Southern Xinjiang had immediate and tragic impact on the fate of about 400 Uyghur students, who had been sent by the Xinjiang government to the USSR (1935–37) to study in the University of Tashkent. They were all arrested during one night in May 1937 by the NKVD and executed without trials, allegedly by order of Joseph Stalin. Soviet diplomatic staff were also purged throughout the province in Soviet consulates in Urumchi, Karashar, Ghulja, Chuguchak and Altai. Soviet Consul-General in Urumchi Garegin Apresoff (former Soviet consul in Mashhad, Iran and the main architect of Soviet policies in Central Asia and the Middle East) was recalled to Moscow and shot by firing squad for allegedly participating in the so-called Fascist-Trotskyite Plot against Stalin and attempting to overthrow Sheng Shicai's regime on April 12, 1937, on commemoration day of April Uprising four years earlier.

The rebellion is also viewed by some historians as a plot by Mahmut Muhiti and Ma Hu-shan to convert Xinjiang into a base for fighting against Stalinists. Now let's understand about shengshan bamboo incident:- There were numerous incidents that sprung the Dungan revolt, but one in particular involved of all things the price of bamboo poles. Some Han merchants were overcharging Hui and this led to a major fight. Bamboo poles were traditionally used to make spears. During a time of major conflict and open rebellion suddenly the Hui communities began to buy large quantities of bamboo poles and this led to the belief they were planning to set up an Islamic state in northwestern China. Organized mosques run by popular mullahs in Shaanxi were purchasing more and more bamboo poles, which they were indeed making into spears. The Hui communities were worried about their safety, seeing all these local militias pop up meant there would be fighting over resources and such. Well the non muslim merchants, mostly Han saw the paint on the wall and were obviously worried about selling bamboo poles to people who might attack them, or better said might defend themselves. Thus many merchants began to increase the prices on bamboo poles and this led to a major uprising known as the Shengshan bamboo incident.