ABSTRACT
In his annual report for the year ending 30 June 1929, the Kashgar ConsulGeneral, Frederick Williamson, observed that in the previous twelve months Xinjiang had, ‘remained quiet and undisturbed’ in spite of the assassination of Governor Yang Zengxing on 7 July 1928. Gansu, the province to the east of Xinjiang which had a long and bloody history of conflict between the Chinesespeaking Muslim Hui community and China’s rulers (whether imperial or republican) was still in turmoil. This unrest caused some disruption in communications between Xinjiang China but Kashgar, being so isolated even under normal circumstances, was not otherwise directly affected.1
