The 13th Dalai Lama wanted to expand the original conflict taking place between the Tibetan Army and Liu Wenhui (Sichuan clique) in Xikang, to attack Qinghai, a region northeast of Tibet.

Qinghai Muslim General Ma Bufang overran the Tibetan armies and recaptured several counties in Xikang province.

The victory on the part of the Qinghai army threatened the supply lines to Tibetan forces in Garze and Xinlong.

[7] By August the Tibetans lost so much territory to Liu Wenhui and Ma Bufang's forces that the Dalai Lama telegraphed British officials in India for assistance.

[17] Their forces retreated to the capital of Yushu county, Jiegue, under Ma Biao to defend it against the Tibetans while the Republic of China government under Chiang Kai-shek was petitioned for military aid like wireless telegraphs, money, ammunition and rifles.

Ma Xun was sent to reinforce the Qinghai forces and accompanied by propagandists, while mobile films and medical treatment provided by doctors awed the primitive Tibetan locals.

[24] Ma Biao seized thousands of silver dollars worth of items from local nomads as retribution for them assisting the invading Tibetan army.

[29] The stature of Ma Biao rose over his role in the war and later in 1937 his battles against the Japanese propelled him to fame nationwide in China.

Chinese Muslim-run schools used their victory in the war against Tibet to show how they defended China's territorial integrity, which Japan had begun violating in 1937.

[31] Ma Biao and his fight against the Japanese were hailed at the schools of the Islam Progressive Council of Qinghai.

The emphasis on military training in schools and their efforts to defend China were emphasized in Kunlun magazine by Muslims.