 Tibetan tribals in southern Qinghai revolted due to taxation against Ma Bufang in 1939-1941, but they were crushed by "suppression campaigns" and massacred by Ma Bufang which caused a major influx of Tibetan refugees into Tibet from Qinghai.Under orders from the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek, Ma Bufang repaired the Yushu airport in southern Qinghai Province, close to the border with Tibet, to prevent Tibetan separatists from seeking independence.Chiang also ordered Ma Bufang to put his Hui soldiers on alert for an invasion of Tibet in 1942.