Yulbars Khan

Yulbars Khan
يۇلبارس خان
Governor of Xinjiang
(Claimed by the Republic of China) in exile in Taiwan
In office
1951–1971
Preceded byBurhan Shahidi
Succeeded by(position vacant)
Chancellor of the Kumul Khanate (The Head of the Council of 12 Begs)
In office
1922–1930
Personal details
Born(1889-08-13)13 August 1889
Yangi Hissar, Xinjiang, Qing China
Died27 July 1971(1971-07-27) (aged 81)
Taipei, Taiwan
NationalityUyghur
Political partyKuomintang
Spouse2 Wives
ChildrenYaqub Beg
Niyas[1]
Nickname"Tiger Prince" of Hami[2][3]
Military service
Allegiance Republic of China
Branch/service National Revolutionary Army
Years of service1944–1951
RankGeneral
Battles/warsChinese Civil War

Yulbars Khan (Uyghur: يۇلبارس خان, Uyghur: يۇلۋاس خان (يولبارس خان), 'Tiger'; Chinese: 堯樂博斯; pinyin: Yáolèbósī or Chinese: 堯樂博士; pinyin: Yáolèbóshì; 13 August 1889 – 27 July 1971), courtesy name Jingfu (景福), was a Uyghur chieftain and Kuomintang general during the Chinese Civil War. He entered the service in the Kumul Khanate of Muhammad Khan of Kumul and later his son Maksud Shah.[4][5] He served as an advisor at the court, until when Maksud died in March 1930, governor Jin Shuren abolished the khanate.[6] Yulbars then conspired with Khoja Niyaz and Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin in the Kumul Rebellion.[2][7] According to some people, Ma restrained Yulbars from traveling to Nanking to ask the Kuomintang for help, Ma earlier had an agreement with the Kuomintang that if he seized Xinjiang, he would be recognized by the Kuomintang as its leader.[citation needed]

Jin was eventually ousted by Sheng Shicai on April 12, 1933, who seized control of the province during 1934–1937. On June 4, 1933 Khoja Niyaz concluded Peace Agreement with Sheng Shicai in Jimsar under mediation of newly appointed Soviet Consul-General in Urumchi Garegin Apressof, close associate of Joseph Stalin, and agreed to turn his Uyghur forces against general Ma Zhongying in exchange for granting control over Southern Xinjiang (Kashgaria or Tarim Basin), which already was lost by Chinese and where bloody struggle for power between different rebel forces was being developed, also over Turpan Basin and Kumul Region, which currently were occupied by Ma Zhongying's forces.

All territory south of Tengritagh Mountains was granted the " autonomous status " inside of Xinjiang Province, Chinese promised in Agreement not to cross Tengritagh. Yulbars Khan not followed Khoja Niyaz in this decision and remained to be ally of Ma Zhongying, who appointed him to be the Chief of Procurement Department of Kuomintang (KMT) 36th Division. In summer 1934, after retreating of Ma to the Southern Xinjiang and his following interning on Soviet territory on July 7, 1934, Yulbars Khan managed to conclude peace agreement with Sheng Shicai and was left as commander of Uyghur regiment in Kumul and also given high post of Commissioner for Reconstruction Affairs in Xinjiang Provincial Government. In May 1937, after 6th Uyghur Division and 36th Tungan Division mutinied against Xinjiang Provincial Government in Southern Xinjiang, rebels in Kashgaria appealed to Yulbars Khan to cut off communications between Xinjiang and China from his base in Kumul. During suppression of rebellion by Sheng Shicai with Soviet military support (which included 5,000 Soviet intervention troops, airplanes and tanks BT-7) in summer 1937 he fled to Nanjing and returned to Kumul in 1946.

He led Chinese Muslim cavalry and White Russians against People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces taking over Xinjiang in 1949. He fought at the Battle of Yiwu. In 1951, after most of his troops deserted, he fled to Calcutta in India via Tibet, where his men were attacked by the Dalai Lama's forces. He then took a steamer to Taiwan.[8] The KMT government then appointed him Governor of Xinjiang in absentia, which he held until he died in 1971 in Taiwan.[9] He was also the last person to officially hold that title. In 1969, his memoirs (Chinese: 堯樂博士回憶錄; pinyin: Yáolè bóshì huíyìlù) were released.[10][11]

Yulbars Khan was declared a traitor by Uyghur figures in the East Turkestan Independence Movement like Muhammad Amin Bughra and Isa Yusuf Alptekin for siding with Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang, who continued to claim Xinjiang as a part of the Republic of China.[12]

  1. ^ Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 254. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b Sven Anders Hedin (1938). The Silk road. E. P. Dutton & company, inc. pp. 1, 214. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  3. ^ Kate James (2006). Women of the Gobi: Journeys on the Silk Road. North Melbourne Victoria: Pluto Press Australia. p. 178. ISBN 1-86403-329-0. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  4. ^ Christian Tyler (2004). Wild West China: the taming of Xinjiang. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-8135-3533-6. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  5. ^ Edward H. Kaplan; Donald W. Whisenhunt; Henry G. Schwarz (1994). Opuscula Altaica: essays presented in honor of Henry Schwarz. Western Washington. p. 127. ISBN 0-914584-19-7. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  6. ^ Alexandra Allen (1980). Travelling ladies. Jupiter. p. 213. ISBN 9780906379165. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  7. ^ Christian Tyler (2004). Wild West China: the taming of Xinjiang. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-8135-3533-6. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  8. ^ Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 225. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  9. ^ Potter, Philip B. K.; Wang, Chen (15 December 2022). Zero Tolerance. Cambridge University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-009-10038-0.
  10. ^ Andrew D. W. Forbes (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive. p. 279. ISBN 0-521-25514-7. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  11. ^ Ondřej Klimeš (8 January 2015). Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949. BRILL. pp. 20–. ISBN 978-90-04-28809-6.
  12. ^ Page 52, Ismail, Mohammed Sa'id, and Mohammed Aziz Ismail. Moslems in the Soviet Union and China. Translated by U.S. Government, Joint Publications Service. Tehran, Iran: Privately printed pamphlet, published as vol. 1, 1960 (Hejira 1380); translation printed in Washington: JPRS 3936, September 19, 1960. Linda Benson (1990). The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944-1949. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 246–. ISBN 978-0-87332-509-7.Linda Benson; Ingvar Svanberg (11 March 1998). China's Last Nomads: The History and Culture of China's Kazaks. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 231–. ISBN 978-0-7656-4059-8.