page_title: Sheng Shicai
section_title: Consolidation
hierarchical_section_title: Sheng Shicai / Rule / Consolidation
context_page_description: Sheng Shicai was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944. Sheng's rise to power started with a coup d'état in 1933 when he was appointed the duban or Military Governor of Xinjiang. His rule over Xinjiang is marked by close cooperation with the Soviet Union, allowing the Soviets trade monopoly and exploitation of resources, which effectively made a small part of Xinjiang a Soviet puppet state. The Soviet era ended in 1942, when Sheng approached the Nationalist Chinese government, but still retained much power over the province. He was dismissed from post in 1944 and named Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Growing animosity against him led the government to dismiss him again and appoint to a military post. At the end of the Chinese Civil War, Sheng fled mainland China to Taiwan with the rest of Kuomintang.
  Sheng Shicai was a Manchurian-born Han Chinese, educated in Tokyo, Japan, where he studied political economy and later attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. Having become a Marxist in his youth, Sheng participated in the anti-imperialist May Fourth Movement in 1919.
context_section_description: On the anniversary of the 12 April coup in 1934, the Xinjiang provincial government published an administrative plan called the "Great Eight-Point Manifesto" or "Eight Great Proclamations". These included: the establishment of racial equality, guaranty of religious freedom, equitable distribution of agricultural and rural relief, reform of government finance, the cleaning up of government administration, the expansion of education, the promotion of self-government and the improvement of the judiciary. The program was practicable since each point represented a grievance that one nationality had against the previous government, which enabled Sheng to enact the reforms. The first two points which dealt with "the realisation of equality for all nationalities" and "the protection of the rights of believers" advanced the national and religious rights of the Xinjiang nationalities.
  Sheng sent a letter to Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov and Kliment Voroshilov in June 1934. In the letter, Sheng expressed his belief in the victory of Communism and referred to himself as "convinced supporter of Communism". He called for the "fastest possible implementation of Communism in Xinjiang". Sheng also not only denounced the Chinese government, but expressed his aim in overthrowing it, suggesting support for the Chinese Soviet Republic and joint offensive against the Chinese government. Sheng also expressed his wish to join the Communist Party of Soviet Union. In a letter sent to the Soviet General Consul Garegin Apresov in Ürümqi, Stalin commented that the Sheng's letter made a "depressing impression on our comrades". The content of Sheng's letter led Stalin to refer him as "a provocateur or a hopeless "leftist" having no idea about Marxism". In a reply to Sheng, Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov refused all of his proposals.
  In August 1934, Sheng affirmed that the nine duties of his government are to eradicate corruption, to develop economy and culture, to maintain peace by avoiding war, to mobilise all manpower for the cultivation of land, to improve communication facilities, to keep Xinjiang permanently a Chinese province, to fight against imperialism and Fascism and to sustain a close relationship with Soviet Russia, to reconstruct a "New Xinjiang", and to protect the positions and privileges of religious leaders.
  The dependency of the Sheng regime on the Soviet Union was further highlighted with the publication of the "Six Great Policies" in December 1934. The Policies guaranteed his previously enacted "Great Eight-Point Manifesto" and included "anti-imperialism, friendship with the Soviet Union, racial and national equality, clean government, peace and reconstruction". Sheng referred to them as "a skillful, vital application of Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism in the conditions of the feudal society of economically and culturally backward Xinjiang". They served as the ideological basis of Sheng's rule. With the proclamation of the Six Great Policies, Sheng adopted a new flag with a six-pointed star to represent these policies.
  On 1 August 1935, Sheng founded the People's Anti-Imperialist Association in Ürümqi. Garegin Apresov submitted a presentation to the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which accepted the creation of the association on 5 August. The association had to be composed of representatives of the Soviet special services' bodies. As the leader of the association, Sheng became one of the main figures of the Soviet regional policy. The creation of the association strengthened the Soviet position in Xinjiang.
  The propaganda of the association was the Anti-Imperialist War Front. The Xinjiang's Youth and the Xinjiang's Women served as the association's youth and women's wing respectively. In 1935, the association had 2,489 members, and in 1939, the Association's membership rose to 10,000. The membership was nationally diverse, and included Han, Hui and various Turkic peoples.
  In 1935 the British consul in Kashgar sent a report to the Foreign Office which stated that the influence of the Soviet Union on Xinjia
caption: Flag of Xinjiang, based on the flag of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1934