Famine, natural disaster, and use of their land for planting opium precipitated the rebellion of the people of Gansu under Guominjun rule.

The revolt degenerated from an anti-Guominjun movement into general ethnic and religious conflict with Muslims, with mass atrocities on both sides.

The American botanist Joseph Rock saw the fighting between the Hui Muslim warlord Ma Qi and the Tibetan Buddhists of Labrang Monastery.

Even more brutal fighting broke out when war between Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique happened against the Guominjun warlord Feng Yuxiang in 1925, autumn.

The Muslims then looted the gompa and massacred the Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Labrang monastery after fleeting from Liu Yufen in January 1929.

The Chone temple and palaces were rebuilt by the Tibetan Tusi chief king Yang Jiqing after the 1928-1929 war.

The entire southern suburbs of the city (ba fang) "eight blocks" was ruined in 1928 by savage fighting between the Muslims and Guominjun forces.

[8][9] Ma Zhongying, a Hui commander led three separate attacks against Feng's forces in Hezhou, and the following year, traveled to Nanjing and pledged his allegiance to the Kuomintang, attending the Whampoa Military Academy and promoted to General.

[13] The Kuomintang incited anti Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang sentiments among Chinese Muslims and Mongols, encouraging for them to topple their rule.