Khodja Uprisings

uprisings of Uighurs, Kirghiz, Dungans, and other peoples in Sinkiang between the 1820’s and the 1840’s against the oppression of the Manchu Ch’ing rulers. The uprisings were led by the Khodja, a clan that had formerly ruled eastern Turkestan and had originally come from Kokand.

The largest of the uprisings was led by Jehangir, a grandson of Burkhan ad-Din, who had been deposed as ruler of eastern Turkestan by the Manchus in 1758. Jehangir first attempted to initiate a rebellion in 1820. After armed detachments under his command entered the Kashgar region in July 1826, the uprising spread to the largest cities of eastern Turkestan, including Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan. The rebels held these cities for a year and a half. At the end of 1827, however, the rebellion was harshly suppressed by Manchu-Chinese forces.

In 1830 another uprising flared up. This one was led by Jehangir’s brother Yusuf Hodja and was supported by the Kokand khan Muhammad Ali; however, it was suppressed at the end of the year. In 1847, Jehangir’s nephews led a rebellion known as the Uprising of the Seven Khodja because of the number of its leaders. It too was suppressed in the year it was begun.