 In Qinghai , the Salar Muslims voluntarily came under Ming rule , their clan leaders capitulating around 1370 . Uyghur troops under Uyghur general Hala Bashi suppressed the Miao Rebellions of the 1370s and settled in Changde , Hunan . Hui Muslim troops also settled in Changde , Hunan after serving the Ming in campaigns against other aboriginal tribes . In 1381 , the Ming dynasty annexed the areas of the southwest that had once been part of the Kingdom of Dali following the successful effort by Hui Muslim Ming armies to defeat Yuan @-@ loyalist Mongol and Hui Muslim troops holding out in Yunnan province . The Hui troops under General Mu Ying , who was appointed Governor of Yunnan , were resettled in the region as part of a colonization effort . By the end of the 14th century , some 200 @,@ 000 military colonists settled some 2 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 mu ( 350 @,@ 000 acres ) of land in what is now Yunnan and Guizhou . Roughly half a million more Chinese settlers came in later periods ; these migrations caused a major shift in the ethnic make @-@ up of the region , since formerly more than half of the population were non @-@ Han peoples . Resentment over such massive changes in population and the resulting government presence and policies sparked more Miao and Yao revolts in 1464 to 1466 , which were crushed by an army of 30 @,@ 000 Ming troops ( including 1 @,@ 000 Mongols ) joining the 160 @,@ 000 local Guangxi ( see Miao Rebellions ( Ming dynasty ) ) . After the scholar and philosopher Wang Yangming ( 1472 – 1529 ) suppressed another rebellion in the region , he advocated single , unitary administration of Chinese and indigenous ethnic groups in order to bring about sinification of the local peoples . 
