The Chinese Garrison, Ill-Paid And Unrecruited, Gradually Lost The
Semblance Of A Military Force, And Was Not To Be Distinguished From The
Rest Of The Civil Population.
The difference of religion was the only
unequivocal mark of distinction between the rulers and the ruled, and it
furnished an ever-present cause of enmity and dislike, although apart from
this the Mohammedans accepted the Chinese rule as not bad in itself, and
even praised it.
The Chinese might have continued to govern Ili and
Kashgar indefinitely, notwithstanding the weakness and decay of their
garrison, but for the ambition of a neighbor. The Chinese are to blame,
however, not merely for having ignored the obvious aggressiveness of that
neighbor, but for having provided it with facilities for carrying out its
plans. The Khanate of Khokand, the next-door state in Central Asia, had
been intimately connected with Kashgar from ancient times, both in
politics and trade. The Chinese armies in the eighteenth century had
advanced into Khokand, humbled its khan, and reduced him to a state of
vassalage. For more than fifty years the khan sent tribute to China, and
was the humble neighbor of the Chinese. He gave, however, a place of
refuge and a pension to Sarimsak, the last representative of the old Khoja
family of Kashgar, and thus retained a hold on the legitimate ruler of
that state. Sarimsak had as a child escaped from the pursuit of Fouta and
the massacre of his relations by the chief of Badakshan, but he was
content to remain a pensioner at Khokand to the end of his days, and he
left the assertion of what he considered his rights to his children.
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