China: Flag of the Ma Warlord Clique in Northwest China, ca. 1911-1949.

The Ma clique is a collective name for a group of Hui (Muslim Chinese) warlords in northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia from the 1910s until 1949.

There were three families in the Ma clique (‘Ma’ being a common Hui rendering of the common Muslim name, Muhammad), each of them respectively controlled one area. The three most prominent members of the clique were Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui, and Ma Hongbin, collectively known as the Xibei San Ma, (The Three Ma of the Northwest).

Some contemporary accounts, such as Edgar Snow's, described the clique as the ‘Four Ma’, adding Ma Bufang's brother Ma Buqing to the list of the top warlords. Other prominent Mas included Ma Anliang, Ma Qi, Ma Lin, Ma Hu-shan and Ma Zhongying.

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