Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), courtesy name Xingwu (星五),[1] was a Chinese general who lived in the late Qing dynasty.

[6] The confusion over his religion was cleared up by Jonathan Neamen Lipman who noted that westerners had made the mistake of assuming that Dong was a Muslim since he commanded Muslim soldiers during the Boxer Rebellion, and the mistake was repeated by later western encyclopedias and works on Islam and on the Boxer Rebellion.

Dong Fuxiang was the Commander in Chief of Kashgaria (kashgar), and he received an order by telegram that he and General Ma Pi-sheng rush their army into rebelling districts via forced marching their troops.

[24] In a letter sent on 14 May 1899, Robert Hart wrote about the rumors of an alleged impending massacre at the hands of Dong Fuxiang's troops in June.

[25] In a letter on 4 June 1899, Robert Hart wrote of the influence Dong Fuxiang was exerting over the Empress Dowager Cixi's policy towards foreigners.

[26] Dong attended multiple audiences with the Empress Dowager Cixi from 27 to 29 May 1900 to affirm in her his belief that he could defeat and expel the foreigners from China.

[30][31][32] The Wuwei Rear Division troops were organized into eight battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, two brigades of artillery, and one company of engineers.

[37][38][39][40] On 18 June, Wuwei Rear Division troops stationed at Hunting park in southern Beijing, attacked at the Battle of Langfang.

[41] Russian marines in the legations were subjected to a massive attack on 23 June by Dong and his Kansu Muslim troops, who had merged with the Boxers.

[44][45] [46] When the Qing court decided to run away, the Wuwei Rear Division escorted Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor to safety in Xi'an.

[49] [50] Tsai-I Prince Tuan and Tsai Lan Duke Fu-kuo were sentenced to be brought before the autumnal court of assize for execution, and it was agreed that if the Emperor saw fit to grant them their lives, they should be exiled to Turkestan and there imprisoned for life, without the possibility of commutation of these punishments.1 1 Prince Tuan went no farther than Manchuria for exile, and was heard of there in 1908.

Tung Fu-hsiang's sentence was made banishment (to Turkestan, presumably), but he came back to Kansu province in 1906, and lived there in harmless old age.