The Opium Factor in the Uprising of the Indigenous Population of Russian Turkestan in 1916

The interaction of the tsarist government and the Dungan communities in the Turkestan Territory was mostly peaceful and constructive. The article is devoted to the consideration of the reasons why the Dungan settlers from China joined the rebellious Kyrgyz of the Mariinsky Volost of the Przhevalsky District of the Semirechensk Region. The motive for the participation of the Dungans in the 1916 uprising was the fact that they were engaged in the cultivation of opium poppy and its illegal export to China, and the Russian authorities prevented this.