The Musabay Family مۇسابايلار ئائىلىسى
The original article was written by Uyghur writer Yalqun Ruzi and published in his book The Secret of the Mud Castle. It was prepared by Nurmuhemmed Musabay, a member of the Musabay family and a Uyghur activist living in Virginia, U.S.A.
The Musabay family is one of the most renowned families in the Uyghur region. Their ancestral homeland is the village of Iksaq in Upper Artush (Ustun Artush), located 27.26 kilometers northwest of Kashgar in the southern region of Xinjiang, which is currently under Chinese occupation.
(East Turkestan, the motherland of the Uyghurs, has been called “Xinjiang” (新疆) — meaning “new land,” “new border,” or “new colony” — by the Chinese since 1885.)
The Musabay family has played a crucial role in Uyghur history and is recognized as one of the wealthiest and most influential Uyghur families. They spearheaded the innovation movement in the Uyghur homeland, East Turkestan (جەددىچىلىك ھەركىتى، يېڭىلىققا كۆچۈش ھەركىتى).
The Musabay family is unique in that they championed both modern education and national industry while carrying the torch of Uyghur freedom and pride. Their efforts were dedicated to the independence of the Uyghur people.
Memorial Statue
Photo: In 1995, with the permission of the Chinese government, a memorial statue of Husenbay and Bahadunbay Musabay was erected to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the beginning of modern Uyghur education.
(According to Radio Free Asia, this statue was destroyed by the Chinese government in 2018.)
Nine Major Contributions of the Musabay Family
Contribution 1: Establishment of the Musabay Leather Factory
With the founding of the Musabay Leather Factory, the Musabay family led Uyghurs into industrialization. They introduced bourgeois and capitalist ideas to their homeland, becoming the first Uyghur capitalists.
The Musabay Leather Factory was established in 1909 in Ghulja (Ili, 伊宁市). The factory’s equipment, machinery, and techniques were imported from Germany, and German technicians were contracted to train Uyghur specialists. Bahawudun I Musabay negotiated with the Russian Empire to transport the factory’s equipment through Russian territory within 90 days. The equipment was moved using trains, boats, sledges, and horse-/cow-drawn carts, with new roads and bridges built along the way. The journey was successfully completed within the stipulated time, and the factory construction was finalized in 1909.
The Musabay Leather Factory was established just three years after the Jiangnan Leather Factory, which was founded in Shanghai in 1906 as a joint venture between the Japanese and the Qing Dynasty.
(See Sherip Hushtar’s book and Yalkun Rose’s book “The Secret of the Mud Castle,” page 82.)
When China invaded East Turkestan in 1949, some members of the Musabay family fled abroad. Those who could not escape were imprisoned, and the Chinese government confiscated all of the Musabay family’s wealth and property, including the leather factory.
Since the 2000s, the factory’s equipment and workshops have been sold to Chinese migrants. Eventually, the entire factory complex was demolished and replaced with residential buildings for Chinese settlers. The factory’s iconic tall chimney, a historical symbol of Uyghur industrialization, was demolished in early 2004, erasing one of the last physical remnants of Uyghur industry.
Photo: The Musabay Family in the Early 1950s, Ghulja City
This photo was taken at the Musabay Leather Factory compound.
Back row, left to right:
- Feridon, the second son of Abliz Musabay
- Mrs. Rukiyagul, daughter of Bahawudun Musabay, wife of Abliz Musabay
- Mrs. Rabegul, wife of Bahawudun Musabay, mother of Mrs. Rukiyagul
- Mrs. Maghpura, granddaughter of Bahadunbay (Lady Maryam’s daughter). Maghpura’s husband, Ghani, was Ahmetjan Qasim’s bodyguard and was killed alongside him in a plane crash.
- Nijat, son of Ghani’s sister
Front row, left to right:
- Abdursul, the fifth son of Abliz Musabay
- Adiham, son of Mrs. Maghpura (Tashkent)
- Dilnavaz, daughter of Maghpura (Tashkent)
- Identity unknown
- Nilufer, daughter of Maghpura
- Ilshat, the youngest son of Abliz Musabay
- Identity unknown
Photo: A Uyghur Guard at the Factory, 1970s
By the 2000s, commercial buildings began replacing the Musabay Leather Factory complex. The 100-year-old industrial site was systematically demolished. The factory’s tall chimney, its last surviving structure, was destroyed in early 2004.
Contribution 2: The New Education Movement and the First Modern Uyghur School
The Musabay family pioneered the modern Uyghur education movement, implementing national education reforms and building the first Western-style Uyghur school, which provided free education for Uyghur children.
According to Chinese government publications, the Musabay brothers founded the first Western-style Uyghur school in 1885 in Iksaq village, Upper Artush (ئىكساق، ئۇستۇن ئارتۇش). However, testimonies from elderly Uyghurs and former students, as published in the Mash’al Magazine (1983), state that the school was originally founded in Kashgar in 1872 during Yaqub Beg’s rule. Following the Chinese/Manchu occupation of East Turkestan in 1885, the school was forced to relocate to Iksaq.
A brief note in the book Famous People in the Recent History of Xinjiang (page 377) acknowledges the Musabay brothers’ role in modern Uyghur education. The school, named “Huseyniya,” opened with 105 students, including 25 female students, and employed 20 teachers and staff members. Male teachers were referred to as “Sir,” while female teachers were called “Ma’am.”
Contribution 3: Sending Uyghur Students Abroad
In 1872, the Qing Dynasty began sending Chinese students abroad for education. Inspired by this, the Musabay family initiated the same practice for Uyghurs.
In 1898, they sent Kerim Ahun, the first Uyghur student, to study in Orenburg, Russia. Following this, around 30 Uyghur students were funded by the Musabay family to study in major cities such as Moscow, Cairo, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, Tashkent, Orenburg, and Kazan.
The Musabay family was the only Uyghur family to launch an innovation movement comparable to Japan’s Meiji Restoration.
Photo: Musabay Descendants Studying at Galatasaray High School, Istanbul (1927)
Front row, left to right:
1st person: Rashithaji (grandson of Lady Omara, sister of Husenbay & Bahawudunbay)
3rd person: Abdul Qayyum Musabay (son of Bahawudun Musabay)
4th person: Anwar Musabay (son of Ablahaji, brother of Husenbay & Bahawudunbay)
Second row:
1st from the left: Abdulhay (also known as Ilham Musabay in Turkey)