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Sheng Shiqi

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Sheng Shiqi
Native name
盛世骐
Born1901
Kaiyuan, Manchuria, Qing Empire
Died19 March 1942
Ürümqi, Xinjiang
AllegianceXinjiang government
Years of service1932–1942
RankGeneral
CommandsXinjiang motorised brigade
Spouse(s)Chen Xiuying (1934–1942)
RelationsSheng Shicai (brother)

Sheng Shiqi (Chinese: 盛世骐; pinyin: Shèng Shìqí; Wade–Giles: Sheng Shih-ch'i; 1901 – 19 March 1942) was a Chinese brigade commander in Xinjiang, and the brother of the governor of that province, Sheng Shicai. His murder was a matter of dispute between the Soviet Union and the regional government in Xinjiang, with Sheng Shicai claiming his brother's murder was orchestrated by the Soviets in order to stage a coup, while the Soviets claimed Sheng ordered his brother's murder because of his close ties to Moscow.

Life

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The fourth younger brother of Sheng Shicai, a de facto independent ruler of the Chinese Xinjiang Province,[1] Sheng Shiqi graduated from the Cavalry Division of the NCO School in Tokyo, Japan, and was the instructor of the Nanjing Army Cavalry School.[2] His brother Sheng already served as a member of the Governor of Xinjiang Jin Shuren's staff[3] when in 1932 Shiqi became the chief of the security guards of the Xinjiang Border Defence Office.[2]

All this occurred within the frame of fierce fighting between the Hui forces of General Ma Zhongying, aligned with the Nationalist government and Xinjiang's provincial government. As Ma's forces were sieging Ürümqi between December 1932 and March 1933 and Jin started to lose the hold on the city, Sheng Shicai arrived to seize the power by himself,[4] with the support of the White Russians[5] and the provincial bureaucrats. The coup leaders appointed him the Commissioner of the Xinjiang Border Defence,[4] i. e., Military Governor or Duban on 14 April 1933.[6] During Sheng Shicai's rule, Xinjiang was effectively under the Soviet control,[7][8] largely independent from the Nationalist government.[9]

In 1934, Shiqi married Chen Xiuying, a daughter of a local magistrate.[10] He went to Moscow in May 1937[2] to study at the Moscow Military Academy "Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze".[11] His wife lived with him and was completely russified while in Moscow.[10] In the winter of 1941–42, after his studies, he returned to Xinjiang,[11] and was given command of a motorized brigade in Ürümqi.[1] According to his brother Sheng, Shiqi contributed greatly to the training of Xinjiang's motorized brigade, consolidating Xinjiang's administration and strengthening border defenses.[12] The position of the brigade commander gave Shiqi extensive military power.[13]

Murder

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With the German forces invading the Soviet Union, Sheng Shicai used the opportunity to end the Soviet influence by striking down the Chinese communists, who served as the Soviet proxies[14] and to approach the Central government.[15]

Shiqi was murdered on 19 March 1942.[16] His death is considered mysterious.[1] According to one version, the Soviets, fearing that Sheng Shicai might switch sides, attempted a coup, convincing Sheng Shiqi's wife to commit his murder.[17][18] Another version proposes that he was murdered by Sheng Shicai because of his close ties to Moscow.[1]

On March 19, 1942, Sheng Shiqi went back home with his younger brother Sheng Shiji. The two whispered in the living room for a long time, and then entered their mother's room where Sheng Shicai was also present. However, the conversation did not go well; Sheng Shiqi berated his wife for not taking good care of their daughter to vent his anger. Then his wife, Chen Xiuying, went to the kitchen to boil herbal medicine while Sheng Shiqi was talking to his daughter in the bedroom. Suddenly, Chen Xiuying heard the bang of a gun; when she rushed into the room, she saw Sheng Shiqi fall to the ground and was killed on the spot.[19]

In Sheng Shicai's opinion, his brother Sheng Shiqi was killed by his wife Chen Xiuying, who was arrested on 21 March. In Chen Xiuying's confession, she was convinced by her husband's friend, Ratov, who told her that Sheng Shiqi had an affair. Out of jealousy, she started seeing Ratov. However, this relationship was discovered by Xiao Zuoxin, who blackmailed Chen for sex and later forced her to murder Sheng Shiqi for her safety.[19]

However, Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Union's Foreign Minister rebutted Sheng Shicai's accusation and stated Bakulin, Ratov and other senior officials were reliable persons, who were dedicated to maintaining Soviet-Chinese friendship for a long time.[20] After learning about the incident, the Soviets believed that Shiqi's murder was part of the Sheng Shicai's preparation to rely on the Central government.[21]

Allen S. Whiting, who interviewed Sheng Shicai and coauthored a book with him, expressed an opinion that Shiqi might have been murdered on the orders of Sheng Shicai, because of his pro-Soviet stance and opposition to the rapprochement to the Central Government or opposition to the purge against the Chinese communists.[22] Andrew D. W. Forbes concurs with this opinion, stating that Shiqi was murdered because of his pro-Soviet views.[23] On the contrary, Sheng Shicai's biographer from mainland China Cai Jinsong,[24][25] who interviewed Sheng's sisters-in-law,[26] concluded that Shiqi's death was probably a homicide, perpetrated by the Soviets with the help of Chen, which they tried to cover up as a suicide.[24][25]

After Shiqi's death, Sheng Shicai continued to crack down on Chinese communists. In July 1942 he ordered their relocation in the Ürümqi outskirts for "protection".[17] As the Central government was gaining full control over Xinjiang, Sheng Shicai ordered the communists to be executed, among them Mao Zemin, Mao Zedong's brother, in September 1943.[27]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c d Forbes 1986, p. 250–251.
  2. ^ a b c Yangtian 2014, p. 45.
  3. ^ Forbes 1986, p. 99.
  4. ^ a b Lin 2010, p. 40.
  5. ^ Clarke 2011, p. 30-31.
  6. ^ Rahul 2000, p. 110.
  7. ^ Wang 1999, p. 53.
  8. ^ Li 2006, p. 161.
  9. ^ Jacobs 2011, p. 345.
  10. ^ a b Cai 2005, p. 282.
  11. ^ a b Gansali 2016, p. 250.
  12. ^ Whiting & Sheng 1958, p. 237–238.
  13. ^ Whiting & Sheng 1958, p. 86.
  14. ^ Jacobs 2011, p. 334.
  15. ^ Jacobs 2011, p. 346.
  16. ^ Heinzig 2015, p. 37.
  17. ^ a b Jacobs 2011, p. 335–336.
  18. ^ Whiting & Sheng 1958, p. 237.
  19. ^ a b Sheng 1942.
  20. ^ Molotov 1942.
  21. ^ Xiaomin 2017, p. 183.
  22. ^ Whiting & Sheng 1958, p. 85-56.
  23. ^ Forbes 1986, p. 159.
  24. ^ a b Jacobs 2011, p. 335.
  25. ^ a b Kinzley 2012, p. 238.
  26. ^ Jacobs 2011, p. 14.
  27. ^ Jacobs 2011, p. 336.

References

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Books

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  • Cai, Jinsong (2005). 盛世才外传 [The unofficial biography of Sheng Shicai]. Beijing: Communist Party History Press. ISBN 9787801991249.
  • Clarke, Michael E. (2011). Xinjiang and China's Rise in Central Asia - A History. Abingdon-on-Thames: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781136827068.
  • Forbes, Andrew D. W. (1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521255141.
  • Gansali, Jamil (2016). Синьцзян в орбите советской политики: Сталин и муслиманское движение в Восточном Туркестане 1931-1949 [Xinjiang in the orbit of Soviet politics: Stalin and the Muslim movement in East Turkestan 1931-1949] (in Russian). Moscow: Флинта. ISBN 9785976523791.
  • Heinzig, Dieter (2015). The Soviet Union and Communist China 1945-1950: The Arduous Road to the Alliance. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN 9781317454496.
  • Lin, Hsiao-ting (2010). Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN 9781136923920.
  • Jacobs, Justin Matthew (2011). Empire besieged: the preservation of Chinese rule in Xinjiang, 1884-1971. San Diego, CA: University of California, San Diego. ISBN 9781124814070.
  • Kinzley, Judd Creighton (2012). Staking claims to China's borderland: oil, ores and statebuilding in Xinjiang Province, 1893-1964. San Diego, CA: University of California, San Diego.
  • Li, Chang (2006). The modern history of China. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka. ISBN 9788371888779.
  • Rahul, Ram (2000). March of Central Asia. New Delhi: Indus Publishing. ISBN 9788173871092.
  • Wang, David (1999). Under the Soviet Shadow: The Yining Incident: Ethnic Conflicts and International Rivalry in Xinjiang, 1944-1949. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. ISBN 9789622018310.
  • Wang, Ke (2013). 東突厥斯坦獨立運動1930年代至1940年代 [East Turkistan independence movement from 1930s to 1940s] (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. ISBN 9789629965006.
  • Whiting, Allen Suess; Sheng, Shicai (1958). Sinkiang: pawn or pivot?. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.
  • Xiaomin, Zhi (2017). 百年旧梦 [Hundred-year-old dream]. Beijing: 1 Plus Publishing & Consulting. ISBN 9780998519906.
  • Yangtian, Shizhu (2014). 找寻真实的蒋介石：还原13个历史真相 [Looking for the real Chiang Kai-shek: revealing 13 historical facts]. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. ISBN 9787510829505.

Websites

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