The Shadian incident was a major uprising of religious Hui people during the Chinese Cultural Revolution which ended in a military-led massacre. The massacre took place in seven villages of Yunnan Province, especially at the Shadian Town of Gejiu City, in July and August of 1975, causing the deaths of more than 1,600 civilians, including 300 children, and destroying 4,400 homes. The major conflict between Communist Party of China and the local religious Hui people began in 1974, when the latter went to Kunming, the Capital of Yunnan, to demand the freedom of religion granted by Chinese Constitution. However, local government deemed the behavior of the hundreds of protesters as "making a disturbance" and "opposing the leadership of the Party". In 1975, the villagers attempted to forcefully re-open the mosques closed during the Cultural Revolution, escalating the conflict and brought the attention of Beijing. Eventually, in the 29th of July, 10,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were ordered by Deng Xiaoping to settle the conflict, resulting in a massacre that lasted for about a week.
Historical background
Shadian Town at the time had one of the largest Hui people populations totaling about 7,200 people.As part of the Four Olds, the People's Liberation Army closed down mosques and burned religious books. Many Muslims set up their own factions. The statements of the Gang of Four, especially Jiang Qing, encouraged violence against all religious believers.
The incident
Conflicts
Shadian was not being allowed to reopen its mosque as a result of the aforementioned earlier incident in January. In 1974 a notice was issued ordering closure of mosques in the town. More than 1,000 people boarded a train to Beijing to complain. The conflict escalated when Communist leftists criticized the conservative Muslims, and when those Muslims took control of local PLA barracks and arsenals in several counties, they made weapons by themselves, arming themselves against perceived outside oppression.
Massacre
This ultimately let the central government to conclude that the movement had become militarily rebellious. A string of incidents ensued, culminating in a military attack by a 10,000 strong force of PLA soldiers against the Hui people living in seven villages in July 1975. One week later, more than 1000 Huis lay dead with 4,400 houses destroyed. The PLA used guns, cannons and also aerial bombardment in the campaign.
Rehabilitation
After the Cultural Revolution, theCommunist Party branch in Yunnan reviewed and investigated the Shadian Incident in February 1979 during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period, subsequently rehabilitating the victims and offering official apologies. The Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping blamed the worst and most violent parts of the Cultural Revolution which were directed at minorities upon the Gang of Four, especially Jiang Qing. After the Gang of Four were toppled by Hua Guofeng, the Communist Party ended the Cultural Revolution and issued apologies and reparations to survivors. The Gang of Four variously received death sentences or long prison terms, commuted to life imprisonment. The local people received certain amount of reparations from the government for the damages suffered, and after Deng Xiaoping's Gaige kaifang policy, the Malaysian and Middle East markets have been granted more access and special treatment by the government specifically for Shadian merchants, which has increased prosperity, and also increased religious and educational exchange, as more and more Hui students left for Islamic education abroad, and brought back Arabic speaking skills, religious ideas and practices from these countries. As part of the reparations scheme, the government has also erected a Martyr's Memorial in Shadian to honor the 800 officially recognised victims, whose graves surround the pathway that leads up to the memorial. The government also partially financed the building of the Great Mosque in Shadian which was completed in 2009. It is designed in an Arab style, and now serves as the town centre and a source of pride for the local Muslim community.
