Ili Rebellion The Ili Rebellion ( ) or ( ) was a Soviet - backed revolt by the Second East Turkestan Republic against the Kuomintang Government of the Republic of China from 1944 - 1949 . Fighting . Liu Bin - Di was a Hui Muslim Kuomintang officer and was sent by Urumchi to subdue the Hi area and crush the Turkic Muslims , who were prepared to overthrow Chinese rule . His mission failed due to being long overdue . Several Turkic cavalry armed by the Soviets crossed into China in the direction of Kuldja . In November 1944 Liu was killed by Turkic Uyghur and Kazakh rebels backed by the Soviet Union . This started the Ili rebellion , with the Uyghur Ili rebel army fighting against Republic of China forces . The Soviet Army assisted the Ili Uyghur army in capturing several towns and airbases . Thousands of Soviet troops assisted Turkic rebels in fighting the Chinese army . In October 1945 suspected Soviet planes attacked Chinese positions . Non communists Russians like White Russians and Russian settlers who had lived in Xinjiang since the 19th century also helped the Red Army and the Ili Army . They suffered heavy losses . As the Soviet Red Army and Turkic Uyghur Ili Army advanced with Soviet air support against poorly prepared Chinese forces , they almost succeeded in reaching Urumqi , however , the Chinese military threw up rings of defences around the area , sending Chinese Muslim cavalry to halt the advance of the Turkic Muslim rebels . Thousands of Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Bufang and his nephew General Ma Chengxiang poured into Xinjiang from Qinghai to combat the Soviet and Turkic Uyghur forces . Much of the Ili army and equipment originated from the Soviet Union . The Ili rebel army pushed the Chinese army across the plains , and reached Kashgar , Kaghlik , and Yarkand , however , the Uyghurs in the oaseses gave no support to the Soviet backed rebels . Due to this , the Chinese army expelled the rebels . The Ili rebels then butchered livestock belonging to Kirghiz and Tajiks of Xinjiang . The Soviet backed insurgents destroyed Tajik and Kirghiz crops and acted aggressively against the Tajiks and Kirghiz of China . The Chinese Muslim General Ma Bufang was sent with his Muslim Cavalry to Urumqi by the Kuomintang in 1945 to protect it from the Uyghur army from Hi . A cease - fire was declared in 1946 , with the Second East Turkestan Republic in control of Ili and the Chinese in control of the rest of Xinjiang , including Urumqi . 1947 unrest . The unpopular governor Wu Zhongxin was replaced with Zhang Zhizhong after the ceasefire , who implemented pro minority policies to placate the Uyghur population . Bai Chongxi , the Defence Minister of China , and a Muslim , was considered for being appointed Governor of Xinjiang . The position was then given to Masud Sabri in 1947 , a pro Kuomintang Uyghur who was anti - Soviet . Masud Sabri was close to conservatives in the CC Clique of the Kuomintang and undid all of Zhang Zhizhong ' s pro minority reforms , and his appointment set off revolts and riots among the Uyghurs in the oasises like Turfan . Mobs of Uyghur Muslims in Urumchi on July 11 attacked houses belonging to Han Chinese who married Uyghur Muslim women . The wives were abducted , some forcibly remarried to elderly Uyghur men . In response curfew placed at 11 p . m . to restore order . Ma Chengxiang , a Kuomintang Chinese Muslim General , and the nephew of Ma Bufang , allegedly used his Chinese Muslim cavalry to butcher Uyghurs during an uprising in 1948 in Turfan . Ma Chengxiang led the 5th cavalry army which was stationed in Xinjiang . Ehmetjan Qasim , the Uyghur Ili leader , repeatedly demanded that Masud Sabri be sacked as governor . All races in the Ili region , including White Russians and Tungans ( Chinese Muslims ) , even though some of them were hated by the Uyghurs , were forcibly conscripted into the Uyghur Ili army . The Uyghurs and Soviets massacred Han living in Ili and drove them from the region . The Salar Muslim General Han Youwen , who served under Ma Bufang , commanded the Pau - an - dui ( pacification soldiers ) , composed of 340 man battalions , of which he had three . They were made out of many troops , including Kazaks , Mongols , and White Russians serving the Chinese regime . He served with Osman Batur and his Kazakh forces in battling the ETR Ili Uyghur and Soviet forces . Riots against white Russians in the oaseses occurred , with Uyghurs calling for White Russians to be expelled along with Han Chinese . " Pei - ta - shan Incident " . The Mongolian People ' s Republic became involved in a border dispute with the Republic of China , and so a Chinese Muslim Hui cavalry regiment was sent in response by the Chinese government to attack Mongol and Soviet positions . As commander of the First Cavalry Division , Major - General Han Youwen was sent to Beitashan by the Kuomintang military command to reinforce Ma Xizhen with a company of troops , approximately three months before the fighting broke out . At Pei - ta - shan , Major General Han Youwen was in command of all the Muslim cavalry defending against Soviet and Mongol forces . Han Youwen ( Han Yu - wen ) said " that he believed the border should be about 40 miles to the north of the mountains " to A . Doak Barnett , an American reporter . Chinese Muslim and Turkic Kazakh forces working for the Chinese Kuomintang , battled Soviet Russian and Mongol troops . In June 1947 the Mongols and the Soviets launched an attack against the Kazakhs , driving them back to the Chinese side . However , fighting continued for another year , with 13 clashes taking place between 5 June 1947 and July 1948 . Elite Qinghai Chinese Muslim cavalry were sent by the Kuomintang to destroy the Mongols and the Russians in 1947 . Political accession of Xinjiang to Chinese Communist Rule . The conflict ended with the arrival of the Chinese Communists in the region in 1949 . On August 19 , 1949 , Mao Zedong , the leader of the Chinese Communists invited the leaders of the Three Districts to attend the Inaugural Chinese People ’ s Political Consultative Conference to be held in Beijing . On August 22 , five leaders of the Three Districts , Ehmetjan Qasimi , Abdulkerim Abbas , Ishaq Beg , Luo Zhi and Delilhan Sugurbayev boarded a Soviet plane in Almaty and were headed for Chita but were said to have perished in a mysterious plane accident near Lake Baikal . On September 3 , three other former ETR leaders including Saifuddin Azizi arrived in Beijing by train and agreed to join the People ’ s Republic of China , which was founded on October 1 . The deaths of the other former ETR leaders were not announced until December after the Chinese Communists ' People ' s Liberation Army ( PLA ) had control of northern Xinjiang and had reorganized the military forces of the Three Districts into the PLA . Several former ETR commanders joined the PLA . On September 25 , Nationalist leaders in Dihua , Tao Zhiyue and Burhan Shahidi , announced the formal surrender of the Nationalist forces in Xinjiang to the Chinese Communists . On October 12 , the Communist People ' s Liberation Army entered Xinjiang . Many other Kuomintang generals in Xinjiang like the Salar Muslim General Han Youwen joined in the defection to the Communist People ' s Liberation Army . They continued to serve in the PLA as officers in Xinjiang . Other Nationalist leaders who refused to submit fled to Taiwan or Turkey . Ma Chengxiang fled via India to Taiwan . Muhammad Amin Bughra and Isa Yusuf Alptekin fled to Turkey . Masud Sabri was arrested by the Chinese Communists and died in prison in 1952 . The only organized resistance the PLA encountered was from Osman Batur ' s Kazak milita and from Yulbars Khan ' s White Russian and Hui troops who served the Republic of China . Batur pledged his allegiance to the KMT and was killed in 1951 . Yulbars Khan battled PLA forces at the Battle of Yiwu , and fled through Tibet , evading the Dalai Lama ' s forces which harassed him , and escaped to Taiwan via India to join Republic of China , which appointed him the governor of Xinjiang Province in exile . The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the PRC was established on October 1 , 1955 , replacing the Xinjiang Province ( 1884 – 1955 ) . American telegrams . Multiple telegrams between the Chinese government , the Mongolians , the American government , the Uyghur Ili regime , and the Soviet Union were exchanged . There were preserved by the American agents and sent to Washington , D . C . They can be seen here :