Essays on Writing and Language in Honor - Sino-Platonic Papers

Schnfjcestschn~: <strong>Essays</strong> in Honor of John DeFrancis
By the middle of the 18th century, control of the Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) in China was in rapid decline. In Central
Asia, new sectarian religious movements developed within the
Muslim. communities and challenged Qing supremacy. The conflicts
created by these new sects, combined with Muslim repression by
the Qing government, culminated in uprisings against Qing
authorities in several provinces. Also during this time a new
leader, Yacob Beg, rose to power in Central Asia. He took
control of Kucha (1864), Urumqi (1865), and the Ili area of
northwestern china (1866), and established the region as an
independent state, the Moslem Emirate of Kashgaria.
Russia, taking advantage of the political unrest in China,
moved into Ili in 1871. Using the Muslim disorders in China as
an excuse for their occupation, the Russians claimed that they
were protecting their own citizens from Muslim raids, and would
withdraw from Ili when China succeeded in re-establishing order
in the region. Ultimate suppression of the Muslim uprisings was
the achievement of the military commander Zuo Zongtang (11).
After crushing the rebellion in Gansu and Shaanxi by 1873, Zuo
Zongtang began to move against Yacob Beg. Less than four years
later, the whole region northward to the Tian Shan range (except
for the Kuldja area in Ili) had been secured. By late 1877, Zuo
Zongtang's campaigns had brought Yacob Beg's rule to an end.
One result of Zuo Zongtangls campaigns was the displacement
of a large number of Hui refugees who fled with Bai Yanhu (6 &lf,)
from northwestern China to the Russian Semirechle in 1877-1888
(12). Another important outcome of the re-establishment of Qing
control in the region was that the Russian premise for occupying
Ili was invalidated. In 1879, China sent a delegation to St.
Petersburg to ask the Russians to evacuate the territory. After
failure of this first meeting, a second delegation was sent which
culminated in the signing of the Treaty of St. Petersburg in
1881. Under this treaty, almost all of Ili was returned to China
(13). As control of the land switched hands, the Hui population
of Ili feared further persecution from the Qing, and again large
numbers crossed the border into Russia.
These two migrations are the source of the Dungan
nationality living in the USSR today: the main wave coming in
1877-1878 after the fall of Yacob Beg, and smaller groups coming
between 1881-1884 after the signing of the treaty of St,
Petersburg. The majority of Dungans that migrated to Russia were
poor, illiterate peasants. They brought with them to Russia their
Chinese and Muslim cultures, agricultural techniques (including
cultivation of rice, opium poppies, and new vegetable types), as
well as their spoken dialects of northwestern Mandarin (Dyer
1979:l). Even today, the Dungans continue to live in
Chinese-style houses, sleep on \kangl (t);?) -style beds, eat