Ma Zhan'ao

Ma Zhan'ao (1830–1886) was a Chinese Muslim general of Hezhou in Gansu, founder of the Ma family's military power in the northwest, and father of General Ma Anliang. Trained as an ahong (mosque teacher) and a member of the Huasi menhuan, a Sufi order, he became a leader of the Hezhou rebels in the Dungan revolt, defeated Zuo Zongtang's army at the Taizi temple in 1871, and then defected to the Qing in 1872, sending his son Ma Anliang to negotiate. He helped the Qing end the rebellion, expelling the last holdouts from the hills around Hezhou in 1877, and retired to Dahejia, where he served again as an ahong. ^{1 2}

He was born at Hejia village in Monigou township, Linxia County; his family were hereditary Islamic religious leaders. At twenty he went to Xi'an to study at the Great Mosque of Daxuexiang, and at about twenty-four, having "received the vestment" — graduated as an ahong — he returned to Hezhou and served as ahong at the Monigou mosque and the Dahejia mosque, belonging to the Huasi menhuan, the Khufiyya branch of the Naqshbandiyya. The Hui called him "the Ahong of Monigou". ²

When the Hezhou rising came, the rebel leaders asked Ma Zhan'ao to come out of retirement and lead them, and he became the central figure of the Hezhou revolt, styling himself commander-in-chief. In 1871 his forces won a major victory at the Taizi temple, killing the Qing commander Fu Guangzong. Yet, persuaded by Ma Qianling and attracted by the Qing policy of distinguishing "the good from the bad, without regard to Hui or Han", he decided to surrender: he handed over the rebel leader Min Dianchen and his son, sent Ma Jun and others to the Qing camp to ask for terms, and — as a pledge of sincerity — sent his own son Ma Qiwu, the future Ma Anliang, with the sons of nine other leaders to Zuo Zongtang's camp at Anding to surrender in person. In June 1872 the court formally accepted the surrender; his troops were reorganised as three cavalry banners under Dong Fuxiang, with Ma Zhan'ao as their commander — the foundation of the Ma family's power in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. ^{2 1}

After his defection he campaigned with Dong Fuxiang against the remaining rebel forces, and in 1877, with Ma Qianling, expelled the Muslim rebels who refused to give up from the hills surrounding Hezhou. The English article also records that the escape of Han people from Hezhou during the rebellion was assisted by him. The Qing gave him a sixth-rank military cap and the baturu title Le'erjin. He then retired from the army to Dahejia in Jishishan, where he served as ahong again, and died in 1886. He had three sons: Ma Anliang, Ma Guoliang and Ma Suiliang. ^{1 2}

His faith is recorded as sufi, documented. Two independent texts name his personal membership of the Huasi menhuan, the Khufiyya Naqshbandi Sufi order: the English article on his son Ma Anliang, citing Dillon (1999), states that the Hezhou leaders who defected in 1872 — Ma Zhan'ao named among them — "belonged to the Huasi menhuan, of the Khafiya Naqshbandi Sufi order"; and the Chinese article on Ma Zhan'ao himself states that he served as ahong at the Monigou and Dahejia mosques "belonging to the Huasi menhuan". The category filings of the two articles — the Chinese article even files him under the Jahriyya, the Huasi's rival, against its own text — are not evidence and are not counted. ^{3 2 4}

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