Sheng Shicai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheng Shicai (Chinese: 盛世才; pinyin: Shèng Shìcái; Wade-Giles: Sheng Shih-ts'ai) (1897 - 1970) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944.

A Han Chinese born in Kaiyuan, Liaoning Province, he was first sent to Xinjiang to work for Governor Jin Shuren. He repressed the Kumul Uprising with support from the Soviet Union, but in exchange made several agreements with the USSR that gave it virtual control over the Sinkiang province. At Josef Stalin's request, Sheng joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)in 1939. Sinkiang, under Sheng's rule, was thus a part of China in name only, with every major decision of Sheng's regime cleared through the Soviet Consulate in Tihwa [Chinese: 迪化］, which today is known as Urumqi. Though during his years as Governor he was anti-minority (anti-Uyghur and anti-Kazakh), and was known for his pervasive use of torture. In 1942, sensing the Soviet Union's demise, he turned anti-Soviet, expelling Soviet advisors and executing many Han Communists, including Mao Zemin, a brother of Mao Zedong, in hopes of securing the backing of the KMT (Kuomintang - Chinese Nationalist Party) for his continued rule. However, Sheng miscalculated and underestimated the KMT's distrust of him. With no patron, the KMT was able to remove Sheng in August 1944, partly to curry favor with the Soviet Union and stop border clashes that were taking place on the Sinkiang/Outer Mongolia border.

He left Xinjiang to join the Kuomintang's Republic of China government as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. He fled to Taiwan along with the KMT at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In 1958, he co-authored Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot with Allen S. Whiting.