Muslim rebellions in China THE REST OF THE WORLD Outside Europe and the Americas, music in Africa involved heavy use of percussion, especially drums, with lutes and zithers also being common in northern and Saharan Africa Drums and dance played an important part in religious ritual in much of sub-Saharan Africa In the Arab and Islamic worlds, chanting of the Qu’ran remained the most esteemed musical form Even in present-day Islamic societies, such as Malaysia, national competitions in Qu’ranic chanting are held for both men and women Some local and instrumental improvisational performances were considered the Arab equivalent to classical music in the West The oud (a short-necked lute), tambourine, qanun, tabla (a small, hand-held drum), and various flutes were the main instruments Numerous authors from Morocco, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey wrote about musical theory and the lawfulness of singing and musical performances from the 17th to 19th centuries There was also a lively tradition of folk music and dance In India musicians used a very wide range of musical instruments such as the two-stringed lute, the sittar, the tabla, the sarangi, and the tambura, with much of the music being associated with ritual religious festivals Ghazals—classical Urdu love songs—were popular throughout the year Chinese music tended to rely on percussion, with drums and cymbals heavily used in theatrical performances, but use of the flute and stringed instruments were also common Mention should also be made of gamelan bands (musical ensemble bands), which remain common in Java and Bali in modern-day Indonesia They trace their origins back to medieval times, and during the 18th century most villages in Java and Bali had at least one gamelan— the orchestra being imbued with special spiritual significance Japanese court musicians were formed into orchestras playing for members of the imperial family and to accompany plays Further reading: Abraham, Gerald A Hundred Years of Music London: Duckworth, 1949; Bacharach, A L The Music Masters, Vol 2: After Beethoven to Wagner Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1958; Barea, Ilsa Vienna: Legend and Reality London: Secker & Warburg, 1966; Carse, Adam The Orchestra in the Eighteenth Century Cambridge: W Heffer and Sons, 1940; Cooper, B., ed The Beethoven Compendium New York: Thames & Hudson, 1991; Cooper, Martin French Music c 1850–1924 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951; Einstein, Alfred Music in the Romantic Era London: J.M Dent, 1947; Hindley, Geoffrey, ed The Larousse Encyclopedia of Music 289 London: Hamlyn, 1971; Lang, Paul Henry Music in Western Civilization London: J.M Dent, 1942; Robertson, Alec, and Stevens, Denis The Pelican History of Music Vol 3, Classical and Romantic Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1968; Yorke-Long, Alan Music at Court London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1954 Justin Corfield Muslim rebellions in China The three Muslim rebellions against the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty in China in the 19th century were caused by economic, ethnic, and religious problems The Xinjiang (Sinkiang) Rebellion also had diplomatic implications The first was the rebellion in Yunnan, known in the West as the Panthay Rebellion, from a corruption of the Burmese word for “Muslim.” Between 20–30 percent of the population of Yunnan, located in southwestern China, is Muslim, descended from Central Asian Muslim troops sent by Kubilai Khan to garrison the region in the 13th century They were discriminated against by the majority non-Muslims and the Han and Manchu officials because of their distinctive lifestyles Disputes over mining rights led to the rebellion in 1855 under Du Wenxiu (Tu Wen-hsiu), who proclaimed himself Sultan Sulieman of a Muslim kingdom with capital at Dali (Tali) After enjoying initial successes, a new governor appointed by the Qing was able to eliminate the rebels in 1873 Du sought British help in vain and committed suicide The second Muslim rebellion occurred in Shaanxi (Shensi) and Gansu (Kansu) Provinces in northwestern China between 1862 and 1873 It is also called the Tungan Rebellion, after the approximately 14 million Chinese Muslims in these provinces who were of mixed Central Asian and Chinese descent; although largely assimilated in language and customs, they nevertheless suffered from discrimination The rebellion broke out in 1862 as a result of the incursion of Taiping rebels into Shaanxi, igniting local grievances The situation was very confused because the Muslims were divided into the warring Old and New Sects and was further complicated by incursion of another rebel group, the Nian (Nien), into Shaanxi in 1866, who joined forces with the Muslims The Qing court appointed Zho Zongtang (Tso Tsung-T’ang), a great general-statesman who had helped defeat the Taiping Rebellion, governor-general of Shaanxi-Gansu, in charge of suppressing the Tungan rebels Zuo could not take up this task until