Panthay Rebellion was a revolt by Hui people and other ethnic minorities against the ruling Chinese government from 1856 to 1873. The rebellion took place in China’s south-central Yunnan Province. At that time, the Qing dynasty, the members of which were ethnic Manchus, ruled China. Tensions often ran high between Manchu, Han, Hui, and other ethnic groups in the region. Imperial troops eventually crushed the rebellion, which cost the lives of some 1 million people. In China, the conflict is known as the Rebellion of Du Wenxiu or the Muslim uprising. Du Wenxiu was the main Hui leader. Most Hui were Muslims—that is, followers of the religion of Islam. The term Panthay is used to describe the rebellion outside China. The origin of the term is uncertain, but it may come from a Burmese word for Muslim.
Yunnan is a rugged, mountainous area that borders what are now Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and Vietnam. Yunnan became part of China during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). For centuries, its distance from the eastern Chinese heartland left it largely independent. From about 1700 to 1850, millions of Han Chinese moved to Yunnan, creating competition over land and resources and increasing tensions with the existing Hui population. Unrest mounted in Yunnan in the 1840’s as Han Chinese—with the support of provincial government officials—increasingly suppressed the Hui and the province’s other ethnic minorities.
Unofficial Han militias, with support from local officials, massacred thousands of Hui in the city of Baoshan in 1845. In the early 1850’s, disputes over mining rights led to more killings. Some Yunnan Hui appealed to the imperial Qing government for help, but received no protection. In 1856, local Manchu and Han forces massacred thousands of Hui in the provincial capital of Kunming. The massacres spurred the Hui to a large, organized revolt against the Qing government. Over the next several years, the two sides fought for control of the Hui capital of Dali, Kunming, and nearby towns and trade routes.
The conflict was not strictly one that involved Hui against Manchu. Many Han and some Hui and other groups fought for both sides. The conflict was not strictly a religious one, either. Cultural, economic, and social differences spurred loyalties to one side or the other. The Qing government’s goals included keeping control of the province’s copper mines, as well as preventing unrest from spreading to neighboring provinces.
For years, the rebels held out against Qing government forces, which were dealing with conflict in other parts of China as well. Du Wenxiu declared an independent Muslim sultanate and sought the support of other countries. In the late 1860’s, as conflict lessened in other Chinese provinces, Manchu forces began to concentrate on the rebellious Hui forces. Using modern weapons, the Manchu troops gained the upper hand. In December 1872, Du Wenxiu surrendered Dali and took his own life. The death of Du Wenxiu ended the main conflict, but not the bloodshed. Over the following months, Manchu forces executed many thousands of Hui suspected of taking part in the rebellion.
