Ma Hushan fought against the Russian
Red Army and
White Russian forces during the
Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang and defeated them in battle. “
The Russ brought the fiji (airplane)
and bombed and gassed us“ he said about the war. He also took part in the war to destroy the
First East Turkestan Republic, commanding the new 36th division at the
Battle of Kashgar and
Battle of Khotan. Ma's 36th Division crushed the
Charkhlik Revolt by the
Uighurs in the
Charkhlik oasis. It controlled southern Xinjiang's oasis and the area was nicknamed "Tunganistan" by
Peter Fleming. Ma Hushan and the new 36th Division declared their loyalty to the
Kuomintang government in Nanjing and sent emissaries there requesting aid to fight against
Sheng Shicai's provincial forces and the Soviet Union.
Khotan was the base of Ma Hushan during his rule over the southern oases. His troops were said to be "strongly anti-Japanese", and the territory they ruled was covered with "most of the stock anti-Japanese slogans from
China proper," and Ma made "Resistance to Japanese Imperialism" part of his governing doctrine. Ma Hushan himself was described by
Ella Maillart as a "well-set-up long-legged man".
Carpet Factory Ma's regime forced the switch from the old, internationally renowned style to the manufacture of Chinese-style carpets, of which were of poorer quality and made from more unstable dyes, by the government-owned factory. He ordered the creation of "small blue carpets", "woven in Khotan". They were of Chinese design, with Chinese writing on them.
Peter Birchler mistakenly said that Ma Hushan's brother-in-law
Ma Zhongying was the client of the carpet factory.
Xinjiang War (1937) Ma Hushan formulated a plan for an anti-Soviet "
jihad" to conquer the Kremlin, Russian Turkestan and Siberia. He promised a devastated Europe and the conquering of Russia and India. The anti-Soviet client uprising by Ma Hsi Jung (Ma Ho San) was reported by United Press International (UPI) 3 June 1937. Ma's troops were defeated by
Sheng Shicai and the Soviets, and many of them deserted or defected. Ma fled to British India. He brought with him thousands of ounces of gold, which was confiscated by the British. The British kept that money to pay for the alleged "looting" of British property in
Kashgar by Ma's troops, but eventually sent the money "back" to
Sheng Shicai's regime. He was briefly detained by the British, then took a steamer from
Calcutta back to China—specifically
Qinghai province—in 1938. British telegrams from India in 1937 said that Tungans like
Ma Zhongying and Ma Hushan had reached an agreement with the Soviets, whom they had previously fought, that since the
Japanese had begun full-scale warfare with China, that Tungans led by Ma Hushan would help Chinese forces battle Japan, and that he would return to
Gansu.
Sven Hedin reported that a telegram from the diplomatic office in India stated Ma Hushan would "certainly obey the summons" to join the Chinese side in the war against Japan. ==Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–58)==