THE MOHAMMEDAN REBELLION IN CHINA, 1895–6.

While all Europe was busily engaged watching the progress of the war between China and Japan, and speculating as to what its ultimate result would be, the Province of Kansu was passing through a time of war and murder, fire and pillage, such as has rarely been known, and the severity of which can scarcely be realized, except by those who have visited the scene of it.

So scanty were the reports which appeared in the English or Indian papers, that Malcolm and I were little prepared for the scenes of devastation we passed through, or for the stories we heard from the missionaries, who spoke only from their own experiences.

The first signs of disturbance occurred in March, 1895, arising out of a quarrel between the two sects of Mohammedans—the "Salars" or "white-capped" sect, and the "black-capped" Mohammedans. The former came into China about 400 years ago. They are far more devout and far more fanatical than the "black caps," and to this day they preserve very many traces of their western origin. They live in eighteen villages, or "kung," on the south side of the Yellow River, and number nearly 20,000 souls.

The Tao T'ai of Sining, a high district official, went to Hsiun-Hua-Ting, about eighty miles from Sining, the scene of the disturbance, with a view to inquiring into and settling it. In a moment of indiscretion he seized and put to death an important Salar chief; this was the signal for an outbreak. The Salars rose en masse, the Tao T'ai was imprisoned, and the rebellion, which was to last for more than a year, had begun. Towards the end of March a body of soldiers, under a Major Uang, was treacherously attacked by Salars; twenty-four were killed and many wounded.

The outcome of this attack was a proclamation by the governor-general of the province of Kansu, to the effect that all Salars were to be killed without mercy. This was a hasty and ill-advised step, as its immediate result was to cause great excitement and disaffection among all Mohammedans of both sects—a very serious matter—comprising as they did about one quarter of the whole population of the province, while in wealth and enterprise they represented an even larger proportion. A second proclamation to the effect that there were good and bad Salars, and that only the latter were to be destroyed, did nothing to allay the feeling of uneasiness.

During April people from the villages crowded into Sining, bringing in what grain and family belongings they could carry. Meanwhile all available soldiers from Lancheo, the capital of the province, Liang-Cheo, and other towns to the east, were sent up to Sining; but they were sadly insufficient to cope with the work there was before them. A reward of Ts.10 for every living Salar, and Ts.5 for every dead one was offered, and Tibetan soldiers were induced to help the Chinese by promises of Salar territory.

By the end of April three Salar villages had been taken, but the Tao T'ai was still a prisoner, and the rising was undoubtedly on the increase. Luckily for Kansu, there was one man in Sining at this time who was thoroughly able to cope with the difficulties which arose. This was General Teng, the general in command at Sining. Throughout the rebellion he behaved in a truly heroic manner, and succeeded in winning the entire confidence and affection of the people, a bright contrast to most Chinese officials, whose only idea is self. He was also an able commander; his troops followed him as they followed no one else, with the natural result that when led by him they were almost invariably victorious.

General Teng left Sining for the disturbed district about the end of April, and was absent about two months, defeating the rebels in two battles, and taking the city of Hsiun-Hua-Ting. Soon after his return, however, disquieting rumours were heard of further risings at Ho-Cheo and other places.

Ho-Cheo is the principal Mohammedan city in Kansu. Their chief colleges are there, and it is one of the few places where Arabic is well known. An outbreak there was almost certain to ensure the rebellion becoming general, and no longer remaining confined to the "white-capped" sect.

Since the last rebellion, which ended some twenty-three years ago, no Mohammedans have been allowed to reside inside the cities, but have been compelled to reside in the suburbs, and seeing that in 1895 nearly every town of importance in Kansu had a Mohammedan suburb, the seriousness of a general outbreak can be imagined.

On the 11th July, General Teng again left Sining for the seat of war, and in a very few days he inflicted a severe defeat on the rebels, killing 700, with but slight loss to his own side; but the tide of rebellion was now too strong to be checked, and the death of a few hundreds made no appreciable difference. Sining was gradually being closed in, and was now almost shut off from the seat of war. To add to the trouble, a rumour got about that 10,000 Mohammedans in the east suburb of Sining itself were on the eve of rebelling, a danger which would be rendered even more serious by the absence of the general with every available soldier from the garrison.

Towards the end of July the enemy gradually closed in on the city, burning villages, and murdering men, women, and children; in Sin-Tien-Pu, a city to the west, about 2,000 people were killed. To-Pa, a walled town, was able to hold its own, but in most places the inhabitants were powerless to defend themselves, greatly owing to want of able and determined leaders. Sining itself was little better, but happily for all within the walls General Teng suddenly returned.

Shortly after his arrival it became known that certain influential people in the city had made a plot, which would, they hoped, result in his degradation, thereby removing the greatest obstacle in the way of Mohammedan success. A certain gentleman of the name of Chu, backed up by three other men of position, had drawn up a petition, which he had presented to the Taitai general, with a request that it might be forwarded to Lancheo. The petition was to the effect that after his last big fight, General Teng had ruthlessly butchered 700 harmless individuals, and that he ought to be disgraced. It seems incredible that even Chinamen could be so lost to any sense of patriotism, that they could accept Mohammedan silver as a reward for bringing about the downfall of the one man on whom the safety of their fellow-countrymen depended. The news of this plot soon spread among the people, and retribution swiftly followed. Mr. Chu was caught in the streets, and paid the penalty for his treachery with his life, while his three colleagues narrowly escaped. Their houses were wrecked, and every stick of property was destroyed by the infuriated mob.

The villages in the immediate vicinity of Sining were the next to suffer, and on the 26th July a large number of wounded people, mostly women and children, arrived in the city. The Temple of the God of Literature was turned into a temporary hospital, and the missionaries were begged to go and see what they could do for the sufferers. Needless to say, they lost not a moment in answering this appeal, and from that time on their hands were full, from early morning to late at night.

How some of the wounded ever managed to struggle as far as the city is more than the missionaries could tell us. One old woman, sixty-four years of age, had fourteen lance thrusts and a sword cut on her body, while a six-months-old child had three sword cuts on its face alone, and yet both these and many others in similar cases had travelled a distance of seventeen English miles before they could get any aid. So badly wounded were some of them, that they had taken three and four days on the road, and yet they had lived through it all.

All August the enemy ravaged the country, burning and pillaging, and a few small engagements took place. On the 16th August two rebels were caught and brought into the city. They said that there were 9,000 rebels in the valley to the north of Sining, that they were going to block the road from Lancheo, under Han-Uen-Sheo, the chief insurrectionary leader, and that Sining itself was to be surrounded on the 15th of the seventh moon—i.e., on the 3rd September.

A curious story came in about this time from Sin Ch'eng, whether true or not I cannot say; but the story goes that the rebels had succeeded in cutting the people off from the river, their only water supply. Death stared them in the face, for to surrender meant death without mercy; but Providence was on their side, for the rats in the town had worked a way to the river bed, and through this the water trickled into the city, slowly at first, but gradually increasing in volume until the supply was sufficient for man and beast.

At last the event which had been feared so long occurred; the rebels in the east suburb of Sining broke out on the 1st September, and the inhabitants had to make up their minds to withstand a prolonged siege with all its attendant horrors. Several times the general had applied to Lancheo for reinforcements, but had been met with the reply that these Mohammedans were good people, and that there was no fear of their not remaining loyal. The Tao T'ai had also been of the same opinion, or said he was, with the result that they now had to pay dearly for their undue confidence. On the news of this fresh outbreak the city was thrown into a state of wild confusion. Common people and soldiers rushed promiscuously on to the walls, while those on guard hastened to the city gate. In the suburb the Mohammedans set fire to all the Chinese houses, and piled up furniture in the streets to act as a protection against an attack from the city, while above all the noise and confusion was the firing of guns and cannon from the city walls.

The 3rd September was a day of heavy fighting; a number of rebels came down from the north valley, and the men of the garrison went out to meet them. Fighting went on all day, decidedly in favour of the Chinese; but late in the day an attack on the suburb, made through a mistaken order, ended most disastrously, so that what should have been a very successful day ended as the reverse. Han-Uen-Sheo himself arrived in the suburb a few days later. Prices began to rise in Sining, oil being sold at three times its usual cost. Distrust of the officials was again excited by a statement being made that the Tao T'ai had received Ts.5,000 from the Mohammedans to promise that their submission would be accepted, should they wish it. This report was undoubtedly believed by many of the people, though on what grounds is hard to say.

The 21st September was another day of hard fighting, ending in favour of the Chinese, although the enemy managed to fire some temples and grain outside the city. The Chinese had a great advantage in arms, the horse soldiers being armed with European rifles, while the infantry and Tibetans all had guns of native manufacture; the rebels, on the other hand, having very few of any kind. Seventy of them were killed or wounded in this day's fighting.

Towards the end of this month the garrison was increased by 130 soldiers and 300 faithful Salars and Tibetans, a welcome addition, as they are both far bolder men than the average Chinaman. About the middle of October news reached the besieged city that eleven battalions had reached Ping-Chong-i, about sixty li only from Sining, but that the rebels were holding the narrow gorges of Siao Hsia in force, and blocking their further progress.

In one engagement, some rebels, disguised as Chinese soldiers, met these relieving battalions on the march. The latter took the rebels for troops from Sining, and were preparing to greet them, when suddenly the disguise was thrown off, and the Chinese, being caught at a disadvantage, suffered severely, over a hundred of them being killed, and a number of rifles with a large amount of ammunition being lost. Every day the Mohammedans gave proofs of their individual courage, showing that had they been anything like as well armed as the Chinese, they would in all probability have got into Sining.

In the same way another month passed, the wretched inhabitants of Sining anxiously awaiting news and relief from the east, while every few days fighting took place outside the walls. Diphtheria added to the trials of the defenders, and the missionaries were all more or less worn out with their labours. One can scarcely picture to oneself the horror of Mrs. Ridley's position at this time. She, the only white lady in the city, had to face the daily uncertainty as to whether the enemy would succeed in getting in or not, and the possibility (always present in China) of the populace turning against her as well, actuated by the wild idea that their troubles were all caused by the "foreign devils" in their midst.

On the 16th of November, a fresh rumour arrived to the effect that reinforcements had not yet reached Lancheo, but the resulting disappointment was somewhat alleviated by the arrival of two men who had been sent down to Niempe, a walled town, 120 li from Sining, to try and find out the truth about a supply of guns and ammunition reported to have arrived there. These men each brought back a specimen of the rifles, which proved to be Remingtons, and which so delighted the General that he sent off eighty men through the hills to bring back as many rifles and as much ammunition as they could manage. These men got safely through, and returned a week later with a number of Remingtons and some French repeating rifles and ammunition.

On the 30th November, the news arrived of another fight at Ping-Chong-i, resulting in a decisive victory for the rebels, who captured all the arms from the Chinese troops. A few days later 200 people were killed in the south valley, and rumours of relief were very conflicting. At one time the reliefs were expected in a few days, at another they had not yet left Lancheo; but at last what seemed to be reliable information was received that thirteen battalions of veteran soldiers had arrived at Ping Fang, 120 miles from Sining.

A day or two afterwards the besieged were further encouraged by the safe arrival of a large convoy with oil, grain, and other useful articles, including a large quantity of pipe-lighters.

Every one was greatly delighted, especially at the news of the reinforcement, coming, as it did, so close on the news of the defeat at Ping-Chong-i, and when all hope of relief for some time had apparently vanished. The escort with the convoy got into the city unmolested, but about a thousand men belonging to it made two unsuccessful attempts to leave, being driven back on both occasions. But the end was soon to come now, and the rebels seemed to have heard the news of the large bodies of men coming up to the relief of the beleaguered city, for numbers of them began to offer their submission, which, needless to say, was not accepted, partly through mistrust, and partly from a desire on the part of the Chinese to avenge the deaths of those who had fallen, and the destruction of their property.

On the 2nd of January, 1896, about twelve horse soldiers arrived and demanded admission to the city, saying that they had come from Lancheo, that General Li, Commander-in-Chief of the Kansu forces, was a few miles behind, and that a Colonel T'ang, from Lancheo, was also following. However, they had no official documents, and admission was refused until the Commander-in-Chief himself should arrive. Meanwhile the excitement in the city at the prospect of the siege shortly coming to an end was intense, an excitement which was increased by the non-arrival of the Commander-in-Chief, and by a very large body of men, apparently soldiers, being seen to pass into the rebel quarters in the suburb. Next day the excitement increased, if possible. Colonel T'ang arrived, and was admitted; but it was reported that General Li was afraid to come into the city, lest the people should attack him. However, the next day he arrived, the rebels apparently making no efforts to prevent his entry.

As soon as the Commander-in-Chief had been received officially by the city dignitaries, he was intercepted by a deputation of the gentry, who presented him with a memorandum they had prepared, showing the places which had been destroyed, and a list of the 40,000 people slain. The General then explained that the rebels had submitted to him at Ping-Chong-i, and that through want of ammunition, and having already suffered two defeats, he had been compelled to accept their submission, instead of being able to punish them.[12] The procession then wound its way to the principal yamen. The streets were crowded with people, all begging and beseeching the Commander-in-Chief on no account to make terms with the enemy, but to avenge the deaths of those they had lost. This must have been a most affecting sight, especially when one remembers that there can have been few, if any, in all that crowd, who had not lost a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, or some other near relative, in those terrible months of civil war. But there were not yet sufficient troops in Sining to enable the Chinese to take the offensive.

On the 7th of January the first news of the outer world since the 24th of July reached the missionaries in Sining, as a small party of soldiers brought them up a quantity of letters from Lancheo. All danger was now at an end; there were plenty of troops near at hand, and communication with the east had been established. The final relief was effected on the 14th of the same month, when the first batch of troops, 2,000 in number, arrived amid general rejoicing, especially as their leader was General Ho, a native of the district, in whom the people had far greater confidence than they had in the Commander-in-Chief.

The work of retribution now began. The submission accepted by Commander-in-Chief Li was set aside, and the Chinese gave full play to their lust for vengeance. First the south suburb was absolutely wrecked, the rebels' houses were gutted, and their mosque razed to the ground. About thirty of them who were hiding in cupboards and other places were promptly killed. Some notices were put up in the city the same evening, saying that, as the people had submitted to the Commander-in-Chief their property was to be respected. The only answer from the infuriated mob was to tear down the notices, smash up the notice boards, and drag the responsible officials from their houses into the streets, where they were mercilessly beaten, and but for the prompt action of General Teng, to whom alone the people looked for orders, they would certainly have been killed. Had the Commander-in-Chief been in the city at the time he would have fared no better, and possibly worse.

For the next month Generals Ho and Teng were occupied driving the rebels out of the villages and strongholds they had captured, and restoring order in the district, the method employed being the somewhat drastic one of putting to death without question every Mohammedan who fell into their hands; thus at Shen-Chong, a village twenty miles up the south valley, 600 to 700 were slaughtered, while many set fire to their houses and were burnt to death.

This cleared the south valley and opened the road to T'ah-rÏ-sÏ, where the festival of the Chinese New Year was held as usual, on the 12th February. The north valley and the east suburb still had to be dealt with.

On the 15th February a number of Chinese went up the north valley to worship at the graves of their ancestors, some soldiers having preceded them the day before. While engaged in their devotions, and thinking little of danger, 200 rebels wearing Chinese uniforms suddenly swept down upon them from the west, and finding them defenceless, cut them down right and left; fortunately, some cavalry from the city came to the rescue promptly and so saved many lives, but fifty had already been killed and numbers wounded. One boy was brought into Sining with twenty-four wounds, another with seventeen, and a third with sixteen. How these ever recovered is a marvel, but recover they did, thanks to the missionaries. Can one wonder after this that the Chinese soldiers refused to spare any, even when ordered to do so by their officers.

Village after village now fell into the hands of the two generals, who, on the 19th February, were reinforced by ten battalions (5000 men) from the south, under General Uei-Kuang-Tao, commander-in-chief of the Hunan troops. These troops were quartered in the east suburb, and on their arrival Commander-in-Chief Li took the earliest opportunity to leave a city where he was so cordially disliked, and where his safety was very doubtful. With a view to getting away, he summoned those leaders who had tendered their submission at Ping Chong Island, handed them and their affairs over to General Teng, and left for Lancheo with thirty or forty followers.

Commander-in-Chief Li's departure was the signal for a general slaughter to commence, and the quicker we pass over this painful subject the better. Suffice it to say that the name of every rebel of any importance was extracted from these leaders, those in the suburb were called out, any refusing to come were killed on the spot, and the remainder murdered after a semblance of a trial; the only thing we can say is that torture, so common a feature of Chinese justice, was never resorted to—retribution was sure and swift. For many days this continued, as rebels were brought in from the villages to be dealt with in the city, the heads of important men being hung up in cages just inside the west gate.

Meanwhile the Hunan soldiers under General Uei were not distinguishing themselves; they were worsted in nearly every engagement, and Generals Ho and Teng constantly had to come to their assistance. One little incident rather tended to dim their fame in the eyes of those who had been so long besieged. Eight battalions went to retake a small village called Su-kia-pu. For four days they bombarded it steadily without a shot being fired in reply, but fearing some deep-laid plot, they dared not attempt an assault; on the fourth day General Ho came to their assistance. Encouraged by these reinforcements, the Hunan troops rushed to take the stronghold by storm. They had just got to the gate when they were met by an old woman, who meekly inquired why they had been firing so long, for besides herself there were only two old women in the village; she herself was lame and the other two blind, for which reasons they had stayed when every one else had run away.

By the middle of March the last places in the north valley had been relieved, but the rebels still held the fortress of To-Pa, the honour of reducing which was left to General Uei, a task he and his soldiers (15,000) proved quite unable to accomplish. He was at length superseded by General Teng, who was ordered back to Sining from the district where he had been very successful. His return was followed by many of the worst of the rebels leaving the country, and by the fall of To-Pa, when the execution of ringleaders was recommenced, and went on without cessation for many days, about sixteen being brought in daily for justice.

After this, there was one more outbreak in the south-east; about 400 rebels were killed in a fight, the Chinese losing about a hundred. This was on the 10th of June, some fifteen months after the disturbance at Hsiun-Hua-Ting, and was the last of the regular fighting that occurred.

Law and order was gradually restored; business became brisk, but for a long time disease, especially diphtheria, was rampant, and the stench in the streets was appalling. By the time we passed through Sining, towards the end of October, all signs of the rebellion had passed away from within the city walls, but outside was ample testimony to the severity of the struggle, nor could it be otherwise when one reflects that 10,000 rebels were reported to have fled to the north-west, 10,000 more, chiefly old men, women, and children, to have died of cold and starvation on the mountains, and 18,000, almost entirely women and children, to have submitted. Excepting the 10,000 who got away to the north-west, all the able-bodied young men had been simply wiped out.

Such bloody disturbances affected the homes of other people as well, for the rebels who fled north-west over the districts in the neighbourhood of the Koko Nor, spread a feeling of the greatest consternation amongst the inhabitants through whose land they passed. The Mohammedans were fleeing for their lives, and being without the necessaries of life hesitated at no deeds of plunder whenever a chance occurred. On the other hand, the poor Mongols, being of a more peaceful nature, and possessing but inferior arms, had no resource left but abandoning their homes to seek safety in flight until the hungry wave had rolled on.

These cruel acts of devastation naturally caused some anxiety to the Chinese officials residing in Chinese Turkistan, so much so, that they deemed it expedient to make appeals to the Russians for help in case it might be required. It must not be lost sight of that the Mohammedans of Chinese Turkistan might have become contaminated and followed the example of their co-religionists in the east. Had that been the case, the results might have been extremely serious.

As soon as the rebellion had been completely quelled, there remained in the recently disturbed districts thousands of idle soldiers who had received their arms for the occasion. These men, although they had been marched up from Shantong and other provinces, were disbanded in Kansu, many hundreds of miles away from their homes, and, having spent all the pay they had received, they started a system of highway robbery, and in other ways became a source of danger to all. This was to some extent carried on with impunity, as there was a scarcity of men of the district, for in addition to the 40,000 Chinese who had been slain, there were some 5,000 more who had died from diseases contracted through the overcrowding and filthiness of the streets.

Before the soldiers had squandered their money, trade, in spite of the high prices demanded, was brisk.

The difference in the prices of food before and after the rebellion, will give some idea of the privations undergone by the poorer classes, more especially by the women and children:—

Winter pears from 6 to 15 to 25 to 50 cash each; vegetables in the same proportion.