Ma Hongbin (Chinese: 马鸿宾, Xiao'erjing: مَا خٌبٍ, September 14, 1884 – October 21, 1960), was a prominent Chinese Muslimwarlord active mainly during the Republican era, and was part of the Ma clique. He was the acting Chairman of Gansu and Ningxia Provinces for a short period.[3]
Life
Chiang Kai-shek, leader of China, in the middle, meets with the Muslim Generals Ma Hongbin (second from left), and Ma Hongkui(second from right) at Ningxia August 1942.1939, Northwest China, Chinese Muslim fighters gather to fight against the Japanese[4][5]
Upon his cooperation with Chiang Kai-shek, he was named commander of the 22nd Division, 24th Army, within the National Revolutionary Army. He was governor of Ningxia from 1921 to 1928 and chairman of the government of Ningxia in 1930. However, Ma Hongbin caused and consequently lost a power struggle with his cousin Ma Hongkui, a fact that was exploited by Chiang Kai-shek to his own advantage by preventing Hongbin's total defeat. In 1930, Chiang named Ma Hongbin as the Chairman of the Provincial Council of Gansu, a post he held until 1931; Hongbin's control over Gansu remained very limited, however, as the province was mostly ruled by his rival Ma Zhongying. Even after Zhongying's departure to the Soviet Union in July 1934, Gansu's armies and civilian population was still loyal to Zhongying.[citation needed] Hongbin helped Ma Hongkui to fight off an invasion of Ningxia by fellow warlord Sun Dianying in early 1934.[13]
The Japanese planned to invade Ningxia from Suiyuan in 1939 and create a Hui Muslim puppet state. The next year in 1940, the Japanese were defeated militarily by Ma Hongbin, who caused the plan to collapse. Ma Hongbin's Hui Muslim troops launched further attacks against Japan in the Battle of West Suiyuan.[14][15]
He became the commander of the 81st Corps during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.[16] In 1940 Ma Hongbin's Muslim troops took part in the Battle of West Suiyuan against Japan and their Mongol puppet state Mengjiang.[17] In the same year at the Battle of Wuyuan, Ma Hongbin led the 81st Corps against the Japanese. The Japanese were defeated by the Chinese Muslim forces and Wuyuan was retaken. Japan used poison gas against the Chinese Muslim armies at the Battle of Wuyuan and Battle of West Suiyuan. Throughout the war, Ma Hongbin continued military operations against the Japanese and their Mongolian allies.
Ma Hongbin's army was clan centered and feudal. In his 81st corps, his chief of staff was his brother in law, Ma Chiang-liang.[18]
The American Asiatic Association reported that he commanded the eighty fourth Army corps.[19]
After the war, he became a senior adviser within the Northwestern Army Headquarters. When his cousin Ma Hongkui resigned from his positions and fled to Taiwan, those positions where transferred to Ma Hongbin. In 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, when the People's Liberation Army was approaching the northwest, Ma Hongbin and his son Ma Dunjing led his 81st Corps to cross over to the communist side.[20] He was named vice-chairman (later restyled vice-governor) of Gansu province. He was also vice-director of the Commission of Ethnic Affairs as well as a member of the National Defense Commission of the People's Republic of China. He died in Lanzhou in 1960.
Ma Hongbin's son was General Ma Dunjing (1906–1972), three of his nephews were Generals Ma Dunhou (Ma Tun-hou, misspelled as Ma Tung-hou) 馬敦厚, Ma Dunjing (1910–2003), and Ma Dunren (Ma Tun-jen) 馬敦仁.[23]
^Lin, Hsiao-ting (September 13, 2010). "4 War and new frontier designs". Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West. Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia. Routledge. p. 137. ISBN978-1-136-92392-0.
^George Barry O'Toole; Jên-yü Tsʻai (1941). The China monthly, Volumes 3–5. The China monthly incorporated. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
^Aleksandr I͡Akovlevich Kali͡agin, Aleksandr I︠A︡kovlevich Kali︠a︡gin (1983). Along alien roads. East Asian Institute, Columbia University. p. 29. ISBN0-913418-03-X. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
