Hi, everyone.

Lossel Montgomery here with another China History Podcast episode.

To my very long-time listeners, today's episode might sound familiar.

See, back in March 2012, I covered this topic, but ended up removing this one from the

back catalog later on.

Long story behind that, sorry, I can't give you any details.

Interesting, though they are.

Everything in today's version has been refreshed and re-recorded and optimized for our modern

times, and I'm bringing this topic back to the permanent collection of CHP episodes.

So without further ado, let's get down on it.

The Ma's were several Muslim families of warlords and generals who got their start during

late Qing Dynasty, and then went on to play a co-starring role in China's Civil War that

ended in October 1949 when the PRC was established.

These Chinese Muslim warlords were able to build their respective military and economic

power bases thanks to the Qing Dynasty's reliance on them to hold down the fort in that

rugged and wild northwest part of the country.

As we saw from the series that covered the Typing Rebellion, the Qing army mainly consisted

of the eight Manchu banners or banners and the mostly Han Chinese green-standard army.

As a military force, you wouldn't want to mess with them during the 17th and 18th centuries,

but come the 19th century, their fearsomeness lost a lot of its edge.

When the country was beset by war and rebellion, the Qing military couldn't rise to the occasion

and this opened the door to local private militias out in the provinces to step up and do

...