West Khanqa is a special Islamic sect in
China, which is most popular in Lintan of Gansu Province. It is a Muslim
organization with a commune nature founded in the early years of the 20th
century. Basically, it has traditional beliefs and similar religious rites to
those of some other Menhuan (saintly lineage) groups.
Ma Qixi, the founder of the sect, advocated
integrating Islamic creeds with traditional Chinese culture so as to develop
Islamic dogmas with the assistance of traditional Chinese culture. At the end of
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), people in that region lived a very hard life, so
Ma Qixi founded West Khanqa, in which Muslims were organized to live a
collective life and work together. Within the organization, several thousand
people from about 400 families lived together in Lintan while the other more
than ten thousand people were scattered in Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province and lived a life
separately. There was a general director and other administrators responsible
for certain aspects within the organization so that uniform management and
distribution could be realized.
The organization also laid stress on
education. It set up various schools and brought up some high-level
intellectuals. Ma Qixi's creation of Muslim commune was a pioneering work in the
Muslim history of China. Ma Qixi was assassinated by a local warlord in
1914.