Sheng Shicai
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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 April 12, 1933 to August 29, 1944.
A Manchu born in Kaiyuan, Liaoning Province, he served under the Guominjun. He was first sent to Xinjiang to work for Governor Jin Shuren in 1930. He repressed the Kumul Uprising (February 1931 - October 1931) 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 Joseph Stalin's request, Sheng joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in August 1938 and received Party Card No.1859118 directly from Molotov during his secret visit to Moscow. 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］, today known as Urumqi. 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, Mao Zedong's brother, in hopes of securing the backing of the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) for his continued rule. However, Sheng miscalculated and underestimated the KMT's distrust of him. With no patron, the KMT removed Sheng in August 1944, partly to curry favor with the Soviet Union and stop border clashes that were taking place on the Xinjiang/Outer Mongolia border in the Baitik Bogdo disputable mountain border district, which was rich in mineral resources.
He left Xinjiang on September 11, 1944 to join the Kuomintang's Republic of China government as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Around 50 trucks accompanied him, loaded with his personnel property, "earned" in Sinkiang for 15 years, including gold (est. 1,500 kg) and silver (est.15,000 kg). 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.
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