Ma clique
The Ma clique or Ma family warlords is a collective name for a group of Hui (Muslim Chinese) warlords in Northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia for 10 years from 1919 until 1928. Following the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the region came under Chinese Muslim warlord Ma Qi's control until the Northern Expedition by the Republic of China consolidated central control in 1928. There were three families in the Ma clique ("Ma" 馬/马, meaning "horse," being a common Hui rendering of the common Muslim name "Muhammad"), each  of them respectively controlled 3 areas, Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia. The three most prominent members of the clique were Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui, and Ma Hongbin, collectively known as the Xibei San Ma (, "Three horses of the Northwest"). Some contemporary accounts, such as Edgar Snow's, described the clique as the "Four Ma" (rather than Three), adding Ma Bufang's brother Ma Buqing to the list of the top warlords. Other prominent Mas included Ma Anliang, Ma Qi, Ma Lin, Ma Hu-shan, and Ma Zhongying. Ma Clique. The Ma Clique warlords were all Generals in the military of the  Republic of China, who controlled all of Mainland China until it was overtaken by the communist People's Liberation Army. The clique was begun by Muslim generals who served in the military of the Qing dynasty, most notably in the Kansu Braves army, who fought in the Boxer Rebellion against invading foreign forces. It was continued by two generations of their descendants. After the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing, the Ma Clique Generals declared their allegiance to the Republic of China. Unlike the Mongols, Hui Muslims refused to secede from the Republic, and Ma Qi quickly used his diplomatic and  military powers to make the Tibetan and Mongol nobles recognize the Republic of China government as their overlord, and sent a message to President Yuan Shikai reaffirming that Qinghai was securely in the Republic. He replaced "Long, Long, Long, Live the reigning Emperor", with "Long live the Republic of China" on inscriptions. Ma Anliang also agreed to join the new Republic of China government. When the Kuomintang seized power in the Northern Expedition, the Ma Clique warlords became members of the Kuomintang party, and their armies were renamed as divisions of the National Revolutionary Army. The Ma Clique Ninghai Army  under General Ma Qi was renamed the National Revolutionary Army 26th Division. Ma Zhongying led the KMT 36th Division to fight against the pro-Soviet governor of Xinjiang, Jin Shuren during the Kumul Rebellion, and the Soviets themselves during the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang. The 36th Division also crushed the First East Turkestan Republic at the Battle of Kashgar (1934). In the Sino-Tibetan War, Ma Clique forces led by Ma Bufang defeated the Tibetan Army. Also during the Kuomintang Pacification of Qinghai Ma Bufang waged war against Tibetan tribes in Qinghai to bring them under his control. During the  Second Sino-Japanese War, Ma Clique forces fought against the Japanese, Ma Hongbin led his 81st corps to defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Wuyuan. Ma Bufang sent Ma Biao to attack the Japanese army. 40 years before, Ma Biao had fought in the Boxer Rebellion against the Eight Nation Alliance. Ma Bufang was ordered by the Kuomintang to invade Xinjiang in the 1940s to intimidate and help oust the forces of the pro Soviet Governor Sheng Shicai. The Ma Clique forces also clashed with the forces of the Second East Turkestan Republic during the Ili Rebellion. History. The  Ma clique traces its origins to the officers of Qing dynasty General Dong Fuxiang. General Ma Anliang was the de facto leader of the Muslims of northwest China. The Three (or Five) Ma took control of the region during the Warlord Era, siding first with the Guominjun and then the Kuomintang; they fought against the Red Army during the Long March and the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Ma Clique controlled vast amounts of land in the northwest, including Xining and Hezhou. The Qing dynasty had granted Ma Bufang's family a yellow standard which had his  family name "Ma" on it. Ma Bufang continued to use this standard in battle. Ma Bufang recruited many Salar officers from Xunhua County into his army like Han Yimu and General Han Youwen. During one campaign against the Communists in the Civil War, in Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia, Muslim soldiers numbered 31,000. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, the Ma fought for the Kuomintang side in defiance until the communists wiped out his cavalry and took Gansu in August 1949, just months before the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Upon the arrival of communist  forces, Ma Hongbin had little possibility of winning and joined to communists' side. He was appointed vice-chairman (later restyled vice-governor) of Gansu province. He later died in Lanzhou in 1960. Ma Hongkui fled with the Kuomintang to Taiwan. He was indicted by Republic of China Control Yuan as a scapegoat. He later migrated to the United States, where he died on January 14, 1970. Ma Bufang with his son Ma Jiyuan fled by an airplane from Qinghai to Chongqing, then Hong Kong. In October 1949, Chiang Kai-shek urged him to return to the Northwest to resist the  PLA, but he chose to migrate to Saudi Arabia with more than 200 relatives and subordinates, in the name of hajj. He later worked as the first ambassador to Saudi Arabia for the Republic of China. Ma Lin's eldest son Ma Burong defected to the Communists after 1949 and donated 10,000 Yuan to support Chinese troops in the Korean War. One of Ma Chengxiang's Hui officers, Ma Fuchen 馬輔臣, defected to the Communists. Ma Guoliang's son Ma Tingbin became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference after defecting to the Communists. Family trees. Below  are the family trees of the Ma Clique. These trees are not exhaustive.