List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era
Name Years of dominance Notes
Yang Zengxin 楊增新 1912-1928 Ruler of the Xinjiang province from the Qing era . Always recognized whichever government was dominant
Ma Fuxing 馬福興 1912-1924 Titai of Kashgar , Military Commander of Southern Xinjiang
Ma Shaowu 馬紹武 1924-1937 Executed Ma Fuxing on Yang Zengxin 's orders , then replaced him as Tao-yin of Kashgar , Military Commander of Southern Xinjiang
Jin Shuren 金樹仁 1928-1934 Ruler of the Xinjiang province
Sheng Shicai 盛世才 1933-1944 Ruler of the Xinjiang province and Soviet puppet
Northern Factions -- Xinjiang clique
Under Yang Zengxin , the clique organized the defence against the Soviet encroachment , [ 33 ] [ 34 ] but later closely affiliated with the Soviet Union .
The Warlord Era is the time period of China beginning from 1916 to the mid-1930s, when the country was divided by various military cliques, following the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916. Communist revolution broke out in the later part of the warlord period, beginning the Chinese Civil War. The era nominally ended in 1928 at the conclusion of the Northern Expedition with the Northeast Flag Replacement, beginning the Nanjing decade. However, residual warlords continued to exist into the 1930s under de jure Kuomintang rule, and remained until the end of the Communist victory in 1949. The warlords and military cliques of the Warlord Era are generally divided into the Northern Factions and the Southern Factions. The following is a list of cliques within each faction, and the dominant warlords within that clique.