Jin Shuren

Who was Jin Shuren?

Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang, succeeded Yang Zengxin after Yang was assassinated in 1928. Jin ruled Xinjiang for about half a decade, and his reign was characterized by corruption and suppression. Under his rule, both ethnic and religion conflicts were greatly deepened, resulting in numerous riots against his regime, which eventually led to his downfall. Jin was blamed for starting ethnic and religious conflicts due to his corrupt practices. He confiscated the local Turkic people's lands in order to redistribute it to the Chinese, but instead of doing so, gave these lands to his personal associates. The Chinese, although they did not receive any land, became the targets of hatred and attacks because of the belief that they had received the confiscated lands. Jin also favored his fellow Han Chinese over Turkic peoples like the Uighurs, causing ethnic conflicts between the Uighurs and Chinese. In April, 1933, Jin's White Russian troops revolted against him, and the revolt spreading, forced him to flee to the USSR, ending his reign in Xinjiang. He was succeeded by Sheng Shicai. Jin signed an illegal treaty with the Soviet Union, which supplied him with weapons. When the Kuomintang Republic of China government heard about it, the Chinese government backed the Tungan general Ma Zhongying, giving his soldiers an official designation, the 36th Division, and naming him its commander, ordering him to overthrow Jin Shuren. Jin was overthrown after the First Battle of Urumqi by White Russian troops under Colonel Pappengut. When he returned to China in October 1933, he was arrested by the Kuomintang government for signing the illegal arms treaty with the Soviet Union, and was brought to trial in March 1935. Here he was sentenced to three and-a-half years imprisonment. However the Nationalist Govt. issued a pardon on the 10th of October and Jin was released from prison the next day.