sentences:  Schram reported that Ma Fuxiang's Sant'an ancestors belonged to a group of Mongols who converted to Islam under threat of death during the Qianlong Emperor's reign (1736–1796), since the area where they lived, around Hezhou, was dominated by Muslim Salar rebels at the time.Another separate group of Mongol Muslims existed in Hezhou's east.Their leaders claimed a lineage from the Yuan dynasty royal family.