Ma Chengxiang

Ma Chengxiang (1914 – 15 April 1991) (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">simplified Chinese</a>: 马呈祥; <a href="/facts/Traditional_Chinese_characters/bBFLkuz7">traditional Chinese</a>: 馬呈祥; <a href="/facts/Pinyin/pUwjfMXg">pinyin</a>: Mǎ Chéngxiáng; <a href="/facts/Wade%25E2%2580%2593Giles/CD1F1u4t">Wade–Giles</a>: Ma Chêng-hsiang, <a href="/facts/Xiao%2527erjing/u07nTbQM">Xiao'erjing</a>: ﻣَﺎ ﭼْﻊ ﺷِﯿْﺎ) was a <a href="/facts/Hui_people/pYP5gCEX">Chinese Muslim</a> general in the National Revolutionary Army. He was the son of Ma Qing (馬慶) and nephew of generals <a href="/facts/Ma_Buqing/ox2IwcYT">Ma Buqing</a> and <a href="/facts/Ma_Bufang/AXje63RA">Ma Bufang</a>. A daughter of Ma Buqing was married to him. He commanded Hui cavalry in <a href="/facts/Xinjiang/f3jxW5Sq">Xinjiang</a>, the 5th cavalry army. Ma was a member of the Chinese Nationalist <a href="/facts/Kuomintang/jxHMXkAo">Kuomintang</a> party and a hardliner. Ma Chengxiang commanded the Xinjiang First Cavalry Division, which was formerly stationed in Gansu where it was known as the Fifth Cavalry Army.
He commanded Chinese Muslim troops against the <a href="/facts/Uyghur_people/SUNJlkjn">Uighur</a> armies of the <a href="/facts/Second_East_Turkestan_Republic/8PyNuCg2">Second East Turkestan Republic</a> during the <a href="/facts/Ili_Rebellion/2knj7j33">Ili Rebellion</a> and the <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Liberation_Army/nr4YlS9J">People's Liberation Army</a> in <a href="/facts/Xinjiang/f3jxW5Sq">Xinjiang</a>, <a href="/facts/Ningxia/LqnNPNIU">Ningxia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Gansu/Uo1Sop7n">Gansu</a>. His cavalry was deployed during the <a href="/facts/Ningxia_Campaign_(1949)/J0C5nN6q">Ningxia Campaign</a>. Ma Chengxiang, the nationalist cavalry commander in Xinjiang, led 200-300 civilians and military men such as officers and soldiers and their families fleeing China to settle in Saudi Arabia, with his uncle, Ma Bufang. His family fled <a href="/facts/Qinghai/g8DljGNf">Qinghai</a> to go to Hong Kong as a stopover, then fled to Egypt.
According to Jack Chen, Ma Chengxiang used his Chinese Muslim cavalry to put down a revolt of <a href="/facts/Uyghurs/SUNJlkjn">Uyghurs</a> during an uprising in 1948 in Turfan.
Elite <a href="/facts/Qinghai/g8DljGNf">Qinghai</a> <a href="/facts/Hui_people/pYP5gCEX">Chinese Muslim</a> cavalry were sent by the Chinese <a href="/facts/Kuomintang/jxHMXkAo">Kuomintang</a> to destroy the Mongols and the Russians in 1947 during the <a href="/facts/Pei-ta-shan_Incident/L1MT2mNr">Pei-ta-shan Incident</a>.
Ma was appointed as the commander of all the cavalry forces of the Kuomintang in Xinjiang. When the Communists invaded Xinjiang, Ma fled via the Pamirs in 1950 through India, then reached Egypt. Later, Ma Chengxiang returned to <a href="/facts/Taiwan/VcJoUD8w">Taiwan</a>, <a href="/facts/Republic_of_China/VcJoUD8w">the Republic of China</a> in 1950, where his father Ma Qing had fled. Ma Bufang stayed in <a href="/facts/Egypt/8Ttg0JwB">Egypt</a>. He resumed his job as a General and was elected to the Seventh Central Committee of the <a href="/facts/Kuomintang/jxHMXkAo">Kuomintang</a>. He also became the Deputy General Officer Commanding Penghu Defense Command in 1956 and was appointed to the Planning Commission for the Recovery of the Mainland.
While Ma had fled to Taiwan, Han Youwen defected to the Communists. One of Ma Chengxiang's Hui officers, Ma Fuchen 馬輔臣, defected to the Communists.
<a href="/facts/Han_Youwen/hUKL59gs">Han Youwen</a> wrote a letter to Ma Chengxiang after nearly 40 years of no contact. Ma Chengxiang met Han Youwen in Hong Kong.

Ma Chengxiang open-in-new

Ma Chengxiang