Du Wenxiu

After he failed to secure a settlement from the Qing administration, Du traveled through western Yunnan's trading networks on behalf of his family.

[8][9] Du invited the fellow Hui Muslim leader Ma Rulong to join him in driving the Manchus out and "recover China".

[15] Ma claimed that the central government was not responsible for the massacres of the Yunnanese Hui & that the blame lay with corrupt local officials.

Taiwanese researcher Li Shoukong asserts that in responding to the Qing offer for surrender; Ma Rulong acted hastily with no plan or thought other than to gain access to the Walled city of Kunming.

Ma Rulong's forces had come to believe that he could no longer be trusted to achieve their goal of uniting under a single rebel government.

In 1863 Ma Dexin declared himself "King-Who-Pacifies-the-South (Pingnan Wang)", seized the official seals & stopped using the Qing reign year when dating documents.

[22] Ma Rulong immediately rushed back to Kunming, He was rebuked by his followers who told him that "If you only crave to be an official with no thought for your fellow Muslims, you should return to [your home in] Guanyi."

When the first British envoys arrived in Yunnan from Burma they were presented with documents entirely in Arabic and had to wait several days for it to be translated into Chinese.

A state proclamation sent to the Muslims of Lhasa in the early 1860s (by way of Hui caravan traders) justified the rebellion as a righteous response to treachery by idolaters.

[29] Du tried to highlight the foreign nature of Manchu rule even in dress; and his own imperial robes were from the "Chinese" Ming dynasty.

[30] According to David G. Atwill: "The regime reflected the strong interethnic ties of the Hui with the Han and of the Yi with predominantly Han-Islamic imagery and a heavily indigenized presence in its institutions and rule.

The Dali government created policies to encourage locals to protect trade caravans and ordered officials to guard the main passes into Yunnan and to provide free lodging to traders.

[35][36] Religious instructions called upon Yunnanese Muslims and traders to not contradict Islamic Law: [37]"It is not permitted to transgress [the teaching of the legal schools by] acting [out of] subjective will; to foolishly [pursue] personal benefits; to despicably chase privileges; to act eccentrically or absurdly; to embrace heterodox [thoughts]; to claim supernatural [powers]; or to boast a connection with the spirits.

Nor [it is permitted] to deceive common [people, in order to] pursue profit and fame; or to falsify rites and ceremonies, and to confuse different teachings.

[This would be like] disguising [metals for] gold or counterfeiting silver; [or] selling dog meat [after] labeling [it] as “sheep”; [or] exaggerating [things] in order to deceive people.

[37] Islam, Confucianism and Tribal pagan animism were all legalized and "honoured" with a "Chinese-style bureaucracy" in Du Wenxiu's sultanate.

During his last offensive in 1867; Du Wenxiu declared in his "Proclamation from the Headquarters of the Generalissimo", that:"this army expedition was caused by the Manchus' taking China from us and staying in power for more than two hundred years, treating people as oxen and horses, having no regard for the value of life, hurting my compatriots, and wiping out my fellow Hui (wo Huizu).

"[39]He styled himself "Sultan of Dali" and reigned for 16 years before Qing troops under Cen Yuying beheaded him after he swallowed a ball of opium.

Du's top general Yang Rong advised him to surrender fearing disastrous consequences for the populace if resistance continued.

[50] Du Wenxiu's life and related historical facts are a major element of Tariq Ali's novel Night of the Golden Butterfly.