[12][13] It was said by American scholar Louis M. J. Schram that Ma Fuxiang himself was of Sant'a descent, who had assimilated into the Hui community.

[15] Schram reported that Ma Fuxiang's Sant'an ancestors belonged to a group of Mongols who converted to Islam under threat of death during the Qianlong Emperor's reign (1736–1796), since the area where they lived, around Hezhou, was dominated by Muslim Salar rebels at the time.

Ma led a cavalry charge against the foreign Eight Nation Alliance army at the Battle of Langfang, defeating them and forcing the Europeans to flee.

He and Ma Fulu personally planned and led the attack, encircling the foreign troops with a pincer movement.

From July to August 1912 Ma was "Acting Chief Executive Officer of Kokonur" (de facto governor of Kokonor, later Qinghai Province).

[34] The Beiyang government and Yuan Shikai received Ma Fuxiang's steadfast support once he has accepted that the Qing dynasty's time had ended.

Ma Fuxiang defeated Kao in Ningxia in 1916 and the Mongol princes of Otoy, Üüsin and Qanggin pledged their allegiance to the fake emperor, presenting him with rifles.

Ma Fuxiang captured Yu Ling-yun, Su Xuefeng, Yao Zhankui, Zhang Zhenqing, Li Zongwen and several others; in all 18 men were executed.

Ma Fuxiang wrote a commemorative inscription for men from Ningxia who died in the expedition against the bogus Emperor.

"[38] Ma Fuxiang defeated brigands near Sandaohe (San-Tao-Ho) and expelled them from Ningxia, according to Belgian Catholic missionary J. Terstappen in 1915.

[40][41] Ma Fuxiang himself was considered the most eligible person to serve as Governor of Gansu after Zhang's unsuccessful term, because of his military service under the Qing and Republic of China and his rule over Ningxia.

[52] American businessmen reported that Ma Fuxiang considered modernizing infrastructure in the region with motorized transport.

[58] Ma Fuxiang allied with Gen. Wu Peifu and acquired land from the political separation of Inner Mongolia from Zhang Zuolin.

Ma Hongbin read to Upton Close the revelations of a prophet in Shandong who advocated the union of Buddhism, Islam, Daoism, Catholicism and Protestantism in China under Confucianism.

In 1924, Ma Fuxiang met with Kuomintang leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Beijing and informed him that he would welcome the leadership of Dr.

[14] The Santa Muslim Dongxiang Mongols continued to play a major role in his army, protecting towns.

[78] Ma Fuxiang's Santa troops maintained an old Mongol and Qing custom of distributing specially marked arrows as tokens to officers to show their status.

[84] In 1923, an officer of the Bank of China from Baotou found out that Ma Fuxiang was assisting the drug trade in opium which helped finance his military expenses.

General Ma had been using the Bank, a branch of the Government of China's exchequer, to arrange for silver currency to be transported to Baotou to use it to sponsor the trade.

By 1933, people from every level of society were abusing the drug and Ningxia was left in destitution[90] On 11 September 1930, Ma Fuxiang celebrated his birthday in Suiyuan, Inner Mongolia, His annual opium profits reached $15,000,000.

[93] A lot of the opium from Gansu was being traded by Ma Fuxiang's Hezhou (Ho Chou) Muslim cavalry.

The Chengda Teacher's Academy was involved in reforming education and instilling Chinese nationalism among the Hui Muslims.

[99] For the purpose of educating and building a class of intellectuals among the Hui in northwest China, Beijing's Xibei Gongxue (the Northwestern Middle School) and the Yuehua were financed by Ma Fuxiang.

He thought his own Hui people fiercely loyal but "primitive" and lacking in "the educational and political privileges of the Han Chinese".

[52] Ma encouraged Huis to assimilate into Chinese civilization and culture,[108] and created the Assimilationist Group to promote this idea.

[112] Ma Fuxiang took a stance against religious sectarianism and the menhuan (Islamic sects in China) since he believed that it was the cause of violence, and in order to keep positive Han and Hui relations .

He promoted education for Muslims instead of backing certain sects and Imams, and also studied Confucianism, and republished Islamic texts and translations.

[113] One of Ma Fuxiang's calligraphic works was a cursive rendering of the Chinese character for Tiger, 虎, in ink on a scroll.

[121] Ma Fuxiang, as the chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission,[122] made a statement that Mongolia and Tibet were parts of the Republic of China: Our Party [the Guomindang] takes the development of the weak and small and resistance to the strong and violent as our sole and most urgent task.

[129] Ma Fuxiang died around Lianghsiang, 19 August 1932, while he was traveling to Beijing to receive medical treatment, from Chikungsan around Hankou.