Chinese Muslims in the Second Sino - Japanese War Chinese Muslims in the Second Sino - Japanese War were courted by both Chinese and Japanese generals , but tended to fight against the Japanese , with or without the support of higher echelons of other Chinese factions . Japan attempted to reach out to ethnic minorities to rally to their side during the Second Sino - Japanese War , but only succeeded with certain Manchu , Mongol , Tibetan , and Uyghur elements . Muslim Jihad against Japan . Their attempt to get the Muslim Hui people on their side failed , as many Chinese generals such as Bai Chongxi , Ma Hongbin , Ma Hongkui , and Ma Bufang were Hui and fought against the Japanese army . The Japanese attempted to approach Ma Bufang but were unsuccessful in making any agreement with him . Ma Bufang ended up supporting the anti - Japanese Imam Hu Songshan , who prayed for the destruction of the Japanese . Ma became chairman ( governor ) of Qinghai in 1938 and commanded a group army . He was appointed because of his anti - Japanese inclinations , and was such an obstruction to Japanese agents trying to contact the Tibetans that he was called an " adversary " by a Japanese agent . Even before the war began , the Chinese Muslim General Ma Zhanshan was fighting and severely mauling the Japanese army in Manchuria . The Japanese officer Doihara Kenji approached him in an attempt to persuade him to defect . He pretended to defect to the Japanese , then used the money they gave him to rebuild his army and fought them again , leading a guerilla campaign in Suiyuan . The Japanese themselves noted that Chiang Kai - shek relied upon Muslim generals like Ma Zhanshan and Bai Chongxi during the war . British telegrams from British India in 1937 said that Tungans ( Hui people , a . k . a . Chinese speaking Muslims ) like Ma Zhongying and Ma Hushan had reached an agreement with the Soviets whom they had fought before ; as the Japanese had begun full scale warfare with China , the Tungans , led by Ma Zhongying and Ma Hushan would help Chinese forces battle Japan . The Soviets would release Ma Zhongying , and he and Ma Hushan would return to Gansu . Sven Hedin wrote that Ma Hushan would " certainly obey the summons " to join the Chinese side against Japan in the war . In 1937 the Chinese government picked up intelligence that the Japanese planned a puppet Hui Muslim country around Suiyuan and Ningxia , and had sent agents to the region . The Japanese planned to invade Ningxia from Suiyuan in 1939 and create a Hui puppet state . The next year , the Japanese were defeated by the Kuomintang Muslim General Ma Hongbin , which caused the plan to collapse . Ma Hongbin ' s Hui Muslim troops launched further attacks against Japan in the Battle of West Suiyuan . Muslim Generals Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin defended west Suiyuan , especially in the Battle of Wuyuan in 1940 . Ma Hongbin commanded the 81st Corps and suffered heavy casualties , but eventually repulsed the Japanese and defeated them . The Japanese attempted to justify their invasion to the Muslim Chinese with promises of liberation and self - determination . Chinese Muslims rejected this , and " Jihad " ( Islamic word for struggle ) was declared to be obligatory and sacred for all Chinese Muslims against Japan . The " Yuehua " , a Chinese Muslim publication , quoted the Qur ' an and Hadith to justify submitting to Chiang Kai - Shek as the leader of China , and as justification for Jihad in the war against Japan . Xue Wenbo , a Muslim Hui Chengda School member wrote the : " Song of the Hui with an anti - Japanese determination " . A Chinese Muslim Imam , Hu Songshan , was instrumental in his support of the war . When Japan invaded China in 1937 , Hu Songshan ordered that the Chinese Flag be saluted during morning prayer , along with an exhortation to nationalism . He invoked Qur ' anic authority to urge sacrifice against Japan . A prayer was written by him in Arabic and Chinese which prayed for the defeat of the Japanese and support of the Kuomintang Chinese government . Hu Songshan also ordered that all Imams in Ningxia preach Chinese nationalism . The Muslim General Ma Hongkui assisted him in this order , making nationalism required at every mosque . Hu Songshan led the Ikhwan , the Chinese Muslim Brotherhood , which became a Chinese nationalist , patriotic organization , stressing education and independence of the individual . Ma Hushan , a Chinese Muslim General of the 36th Division ( National Revolutionary Army ) , spread anti - Japanese propaganda in Xinjiang and pledged his support to the Kuomintang . Westerners reported that the Tungans ( Chinese Muslims ) were anti - Japanese , and under their rule , areas were covered with " most of the stock anti - Japanese slogans from China proper " , while Ma made " Resistance to Japanese Imperialism " part of his governing doctrine . The China Islamic Association issued " A message to all Muslims in China from the Chinese Islamic Association for National Salvation " during Ramadan 1940 . We have to implement the teaching " the love of the fatherland is an article of faith " by Muhammad and to inherit the Hui ' s glorious history in China . In addition , let us reinforce our unity and participate in the twice more difficult taks of supporting a defensive war and promoting religion . . . We hope that ahongs [ imams ] and the elite will initiate a movement of prayer during Ramadan and implement group prayer to support our intimate feeling toward Islam . A sincere unity of Muslims should be developed to contribute power towards the expulsion of Japan . During the war against Japan , the Imams supported Muslim resistance in battle , calling for Muslims to participate in the Jihad against Japan , and becoming a shaheed ( Islamic term for martyr ) . Later in the war , Ma Bufang sent cavalry divisions composed of Hui , Dongxiang Mongols , Salars , all of them Muslims , and Tibetans ( Buddhists ) , to fight Japan . Ma Hongkui seized the city of Dingyuanying in Suiyuan and arrested the Mongol prince Darijaya in 1938 , because Doihara Kenji , a Japanese officer of the Kwantung Army , visited the prince . Darijaya was exiled to Lanzhou until 1944 . At the Battle of Wuyuan , the Hui Muslim cavalry led by Ma Hongbin and Ma Buqing defeated the Japanese troops . Ma Hongbin was also involved in the offensive against the Japanese at the Battle of West Suiyuan . The Muslim Generals Ma Hongkui and Ma Bufang protected Lanzhou with their cavalry troops , and put up resistance , the Japanese never captured Lanzhou during the war . Ma Bufang sent the Muslim Brigade commander Major General Ma Buluan ( 马步銮 ) , who led the 1st Regiment of the nationalist Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade ( originally known as the 1st Cavalry Division and later renamed the 8th Cavalry Division during the war ) . The brigade was stationed in eastern Henan , and fought a number of battles against the Japanese invaders who grew to fear the nationalist cavalry unit , calling it " Ma ' s Islamic Division " . The Qinghai Chinese , Salar , Chinese Muslim , Dongxiang , and Tibetan troops that Ma Bufang sent fought to the death against the Imperial Japanese Army , or committed suicide instead of surrendering . When they defeated the Japanese , the Muslim troops killed all except for a few prisoners to send back to Qinghai to prove that they were victorious . In September 1940 , when the Japanese made an offensive against the Muslim Qinghai troops , the Muslims ambushed them , forcing the Japanese to retreat . After World War II , the unit returned to Qinghai and was subsequently reorganized as the 1st Regiment of the Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade of the nationalist Reorganized 82nd Division . Chiang Kai - Shek also suspected that the Tibetans were collaborating with the Japanese . Under orders from the Kuomintang government , Ma Bufang repaired the Yushu airport to prevent Tibetan separatists from seeking independence . Chiang also ordered Ma Bufang to put his Muslim soldiers on alert for entry into Tibet in 1942 . Ma Bufang complied , and moved several thousand troops to the border with Tibet . Chiang also threatened the Tibetans with bombing if they did not comply . Ma Bufang was openly hostile towards the Tibetans and Buddhist Mongols ( despite the Muslim Mongols in his army ) . His Muslim troops launched what David S . G . Goodman calls " a campaign of ethnic cleansing " in Tibetan and Mongol areas in Qinghai during the war , destroying Tibetan Buddhist temples . During the war , the American Asiatic Association published an entry in the text " Asia : journal of the American Asiatic Association " , Volume 40 , concerning the problem of whether Chinese Muslims were Chinese or a separate " ethnic minority " . It addressed the issue of whether all Muslims in China were united into one race . It came to the conclusion that the Japanese military spokesman was the only person who was propagating the false assertion that " Chinese Mohammedans " had " racial unity " . This was disproven when it became known that Muslims in China were composed of a multitude of races , separate from each other as were the " Germans and English " , such as the Mongol Hui of Hezhou , Salar Hui of Qinghai , Chan Tou Hui of Turkistan , and then Chinese Muslims . The Japanese were trying to spread the false claim that Chinese Muslims were one race , in order to propagate the claim that they should be separated from China into an " independent political organization " . The Chinese Kuomintang also sought the Khampas ' help in defending Sichuan from Japan , since the temporary capital was located there . A Khampa member of the Mongolian Tibetan Academy was Han Jiaxiang .