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First East Turkestan Republic
The Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET) was a breakaway state centered on the city of Kashgar, located in the far west of China's Xinjiang Province. It is often described as the First East Turkestan Republic to differentiate it from the Second East Turkestan Republic (1944–1946) established exactly a decade later.
It emerged from the Kumul Rebellion following the abolition of the semi-autonomous Kumul Khanate by Xinjiang Governor Jin Shuren. Lasting from 12 November 1933 to 16 April 1934, it was primarily the product of a pan-Turkic independence movement in the region, which consisted of Turkic, mostly Uyghur, intellectuals. With the sacking of Kashgar in 1934 by Hui warlords nominally allied with the Kuomintang-led nationalist government in Nanjing, the TIRET was effectively destroyed. Its example, however, served to some extent as inspiration for the founding of the Second East Turkestan Republic a decade later in north of the Xinjiang and continues to influence modern Uyghur nationalist support for the creation of an independent East Turkestan.
The beginnings of Uyghur independence during the early 20th century were greatly influenced by the Turkic jadidist movement, which spread as wealthier Uyghurs, inspired by notions of Pan-Turkism, traveled abroad to Turkey and Europe, and returned home determined to modernize and develop the educational system in Xinjiang. The first major school founded on the new model was located outside of Kashgar and, unlike the traditional curricula, focused on more technical areas of study such as science, mathematics, history, and language studies. Jadidism emphasized the power of education as a tool for personal and national self-advancement, a development sure to disturb the traditional status quo in Xinjiang. The ruler of Xinjiang, Governor Yang Zengxin, responded by closing down or interfering with the operations of several of the new schools.
The birth of the Soviet Union influenced the Uyghurs, increasing the popularity of nationalist independence movements and the spread of the communist message. A local Communist revolutionary organization was established in Xinjiang in 1921 (Revolutionary Uyghur Union, member of Comintern), the area also served as a refuge for many intellectuals fleeing the advent of Soviet Communism in Central Asia, which formed a division within the Xinjiang Turkic independence movement.
The situation in Xinjiang deteriorated with the assassination of Yang Zengxin in 1928 and the rise to power of his deputy, Jin Shuren, who declared himself governor after arresting and executing Yang's assassin, a rival official named Fan Yaonan (樊耀南) who had planned to assume the position for himself. Autocratic, corrupt, and ineffective at managing the province's development, Jin further antagonized the populace by reinstituting Sinicization policies, increasing taxes, prohibiting participation in the hajj and bringing in Han Chinese officials to replace local leaders.
The situation came to a head in March 1930, when Maqsud Shah, the Khan of Kumul Khanate in eastern Xinjiang, died, leading Jin to abolish its autonomy and permit waves of Han migration from the neighboring Gansu. Jin then proceeded to impose direct taxes on the Turkic population, expropriated their farmland, and distributed it among Han newcomers from Gansu, sometimes compensating Uyghurs on poorer-quality land. Additionally, Han were made exempt from taxation for two years, with one year's amount of tax being levied retroactively for the local Muslim population.
The new garrison stationed in Hami proved even more antagonizing, and by 1931, scattered revolts, mobs, and resistance movements were emerging throughout the area. According to British missionaries Mildred Cable and Francesca French, who were resident in the Kumul area during and shortly after Jin's annexation of the Kumul Khanate, a rising against Jin Shuren was being systematically planned by prominent Kumulliks. Camels and mules were requisitioned to transport weapons, ammunition and stocks of food over little-known tracks to two former summer Khan's palaces in Aratam on the foot of Karlik Tagh Mountains and one at the natural fortress of Bardash set high in Karlik Tagh. The final straw was in April 1931 when an ethnic Chinese officer and tax collector named Chang Mu wished to marry a Uyghur girl from a village Hsiao-Pu outside Hami. Uyghur accounts usually claim that the girl was raped or the family coerced, but as Islamic law forbids Muslim girls to marry non-Muslim men it was clearly offensive to the Uyghur community.[citation needed]
Rebellion broke out on the night of 4 April 1931, with a massacre of Chang and his 32 soldiers at the wedding ceremony; 100 Han Chinese families of refugees from Gansu also were killed, altogether with Chinese garrisons in outposts at villages Tu-lu-Hu and Lao-mao-hu near Kumul. It was not confined to the ethnic Uyghur population alone; Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Han and Hui commanders all joined in revolt against Jin's rule, though they would occasionally break to fight one another.[citation needed]
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First East Turkestan Republic
The Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET) was a breakaway state centered on the city of Kashgar, located in the far west of China's Xinjiang Province. It is often described as the First East Turkestan Republic to differentiate it from the Second East Turkestan Republic (1944–1946) established exactly a decade later.
It emerged from the Kumul Rebellion following the abolition of the semi-autonomous Kumul Khanate by Xinjiang Governor Jin Shuren. Lasting from 12 November 1933 to 16 April 1934, it was primarily the product of a pan-Turkic independence movement in the region, which consisted of Turkic, mostly Uyghur, intellectuals. With the sacking of Kashgar in 1934 by Hui warlords nominally allied with the Kuomintang-led nationalist government in Nanjing, the TIRET was effectively destroyed. Its example, however, served to some extent as inspiration for the founding of the Second East Turkestan Republic a decade later in north of the Xinjiang and continues to influence modern Uyghur nationalist support for the creation of an independent East Turkestan.
The beginnings of Uyghur independence during the early 20th century were greatly influenced by the Turkic jadidist movement, which spread as wealthier Uyghurs, inspired by notions of Pan-Turkism, traveled abroad to Turkey and Europe, and returned home determined to modernize and develop the educational system in Xinjiang. The first major school founded on the new model was located outside of Kashgar and, unlike the traditional curricula, focused on more technical areas of study such as science, mathematics, history, and language studies. Jadidism emphasized the power of education as a tool for personal and national self-advancement, a development sure to disturb the traditional status quo in Xinjiang. The ruler of Xinjiang, Governor Yang Zengxin, responded by closing down or interfering with the operations of several of the new schools.
The birth of the Soviet Union influenced the Uyghurs, increasing the popularity of nationalist independence movements and the spread of the communist message. A local Communist revolutionary organization was established in Xinjiang in 1921 (Revolutionary Uyghur Union, member of Comintern), the area also served as a refuge for many intellectuals fleeing the advent of Soviet Communism in Central Asia, which formed a division within the Xinjiang Turkic independence movement.
The situation in Xinjiang deteriorated with the assassination of Yang Zengxin in 1928 and the rise to power of his deputy, Jin Shuren, who declared himself governor after arresting and executing Yang's assassin, a rival official named Fan Yaonan (樊耀南) who had planned to assume the position for himself. Autocratic, corrupt, and ineffective at managing the province's development, Jin further antagonized the populace by reinstituting Sinicization policies, increasing taxes, prohibiting participation in the hajj and bringing in Han Chinese officials to replace local leaders.
The situation came to a head in March 1930, when Maqsud Shah, the Khan of Kumul Khanate in eastern Xinjiang, died, leading Jin to abolish its autonomy and permit waves of Han migration from the neighboring Gansu. Jin then proceeded to impose direct taxes on the Turkic population, expropriated their farmland, and distributed it among Han newcomers from Gansu, sometimes compensating Uyghurs on poorer-quality land. Additionally, Han were made exempt from taxation for two years, with one year's amount of tax being levied retroactively for the local Muslim population.
The new garrison stationed in Hami proved even more antagonizing, and by 1931, scattered revolts, mobs, and resistance movements were emerging throughout the area. According to British missionaries Mildred Cable and Francesca French, who were resident in the Kumul area during and shortly after Jin's annexation of the Kumul Khanate, a rising against Jin Shuren was being systematically planned by prominent Kumulliks. Camels and mules were requisitioned to transport weapons, ammunition and stocks of food over little-known tracks to two former summer Khan's palaces in Aratam on the foot of Karlik Tagh Mountains and one at the natural fortress of Bardash set high in Karlik Tagh. The final straw was in April 1931 when an ethnic Chinese officer and tax collector named Chang Mu wished to marry a Uyghur girl from a village Hsiao-Pu outside Hami. Uyghur accounts usually claim that the girl was raped or the family coerced, but as Islamic law forbids Muslim girls to marry non-Muslim men it was clearly offensive to the Uyghur community.[citation needed]
Rebellion broke out on the night of 4 April 1931, with a massacre of Chang and his 32 soldiers at the wedding ceremony; 100 Han Chinese families of refugees from Gansu also were killed, altogether with Chinese garrisons in outposts at villages Tu-lu-Hu and Lao-mao-hu near Kumul. It was not confined to the ethnic Uyghur population alone; Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Han and Hui commanders all joined in revolt against Jin's rule, though they would occasionally break to fight one another.[citation needed]