Yunnan's Muslims
Unlike Muslims in other parts of China, who generally formed settlements at the terminus of trade routes used by Ara traders, Yunnan's sizable Muslim population dated back to the 13th century, when Mongol forces swooped into the province to outflank the Song dynasty troops. They were followed by Muslim traders, builders and craftsmen. Yunnan was the only region to have been put under a Muslim leader immediately after Kublai Khan's armies arrived, with Sayyid Ajiall named governor in 1274.
All over China mosques were simultaneously raised with the news Yuan dynasty banner. A Muslim was entrusted to build the first Mongol palace in Beijing. An observatory base on Persian modernism was constructed in Beijing and later copied by the Ming emperor. Dozens of Arabic texts were translated and consulted by Chinese scientists, influencing Chinese mathematics more than any other source. The most famous Yunnan Muslim was Cheng Ho, the famed eunuch admiral who opened up the Chinese sea lanes to the Middle East.
The Muslims made Dali the centre of their operations and laid siege to Kunming, overrunning the city briefly in 1863. Du Wenxiu, the Muslim leader, proclaimed his newly established kingdom Nanping Guo, or the Kingdome of the pacified South, and he took the name Sultan Suleyman. But the Muslim successes were short-lived. In 1873 Dali was taken by Qing forces and Du Wenxiu was captured and executed, having failed in a suicide attempt. Up to a million people died in Yunnan alone, the death toll rising to 18 million including Gansu and Qinghai provinces. The uprisings were quelled, but they also had the lasting effect of eliciting sympathy from Burma and fomenting a passion for culture among many of South-West China's ethnic minorities, most of whom had supported the Hui.
