Ma Hongkui - Life

Life

Born in March 14, 1892, in the village of Hanchiachi, in Linxia County (known as Hezhou), Gansu. The "Who's who in China" series of books says "Taoho Hsien" (Daohe Xian) is where he was born. His father was the General Ma Fuxiang. A Hui, he graduated from Lanzhou Military Academy (AKA Gansu Military Academy in 1909, and became commander of the Ningxia Modern Army and commander of the 7th Division after the founding of the republic. He was in Beijing until Cao Kun's presidency (1923–1924), even though he was the commander of the Ningxia Army.

He was at one point the Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Mongolia "Bandit Suppression Commander". Ma then became Commader of the Gansu "6th Mixed Brigade" in 1916.

During the Second Zhili-Fengtian War Ma Hongkui's army was reorganized into a branch of Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun forces; in 1926 Ma Hongkui was appointed as the commander of the Fourth Route Army of the Guominjun by Feng. Ma Hongkui's father was Ma Fuxiang. He was also a member of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.

In 1927, he and Feng Yuxiang led their troops to Tongguan, Shaanxi, and countered the Northern Expedition. However, he betrayed Feng and turned to Chiang Kai-shek. During the Central Plains War of 1930, Ma Hongkui fought for Chiang Kai-shek and was appointed commander of the 64th Division; upon capturing of Tai'an, Shandong he was promoted to commander of the 15th Army. It was in 1932 when Ma Hongkui was appointed Governor of Ningxia Province, and fought the communist forces in the Shaanxi-Ningxia area for the next several years up to the all-out Japanese invasion in 1937. During Ma Hongkui's rise to power, together with his cousin Ma Hongbin and warlords Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing, they were instrumental in helping another warlord, Ma Zhongying to prevail in Gansu, because they did not want Ma Zhongying to compete with them in their own turf, so they encouraged and supported Ma Zhongying to develop his own power base in other regions such as Gansu and Xinjiang.