Battle of Ürümqi (1870)

The Battle of Ürümqi was a battle waged by Yaqub Beg's Turkic kingdom of Kashgaria against Chinese Muslim

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

 rebels in Ürümqi

Ürümqi

Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....

 in a bid to conquer all of Xinjiang

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 and subjugated Chinese Muslims under his control.

Battle

Yaqub Beg's Uyghur forces declared a Jihad against Chinese Muslims

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

 (Dungans) under T'o Ming (Tuo Ming a.k.a. Daud Khalifa) during the Dungan revolt. The Uyghurs thought that the Chinese Muslims were Shafi`i, and since the Uyghurs were Hanafi that they should wage war against them. Yaqub Beg enlisted non Muslim Han Chinese militia under Xu Xuegong(Hsu Hsuehkung) in order to fight against the Chinese Muslims. Yaqub Beg had 1,500 Han Chinese militia with his Turkic forces attacking Dungans in Urumchi. The following year, in 1871, the Han Chinese militia switched sides and then joined the Dungans in a revolt against the Turkic forces. T'o Ming's forces were defeated by Yaqub, who planned to conquer Dzungharia. Yaqub intended to seize all Dungan territory.