ar of 1856; and
there were also great and serious risings in other parts of the country.
In 1855 the Yellow River had changed its course, entering the sea once
more at Tientsin, to the great loss of the regions of Honan and Anhui.
In these two central provinces the peasant rising of the so-called "Nien
Fei" had begun, but it only became formidable after 1855, owing to the
increasing misery of the peasants. This purely peasant revolt was not
suppressed by the Manchu government until 1868, after many collisions.
Then, however, there began the so-called "Mohammedan risings". Here
there are, in all, five movements to distinguish: (1) the Mohammedan
rising in Kansu (1864-5); (2) the Salar movement in Shensi; (3) the
Mohammedan revolt in Yuennan (1855-1873); (4) the rising in Kansu (1895);
(5) the rebellion of Yakub Beg in Turkestan (from 1866 onward).

While we are fairly well informed about the other popular risings of
this period, the Mohammedan revolts have not yet been well studied. We
know from unofficial accounts that these risings were suppressed with
great brutality. To this day there are many Mohammedans in, for
instance, Yuennan, but the revolt there is said to have cost a million
lives. The figures all rest on very rough estimates: in Kansu the
population is said to have fallen from fifteen millions to one million;
the Turkestan revolt is said to have cost ten million lives. There are
no reliable statistics; but it is understandable that at that time the
population of China must have fallen considerably, especially if we bear
in mind the equally ferocious suppression of the risings of the T'ai
P'ing and the Nien Fei within China, and smaller risings of which we
have made no mention.

The Mohammedan risings were not elements of a general Mohammedan revolt,
but separate events only incidentally connected with each other. The
risings had different causes. An important factor was the general
distress in China. This was partly due to the fact that the officials
were exploiting the peasant population more ruthlessly than ever. In
addition to this, owing to the national feeling which had been aroused
in so unfortunate a way, the Chinese felt a revulsion against
non-Chinese, such as the Salars, who were of Turkish race. Here there
were always possibilities of friction, which might have been removed
with a little consideration but which swelled to importance through the
tactless behaviour of Chinese officials. Finally the