The Ma clique or Ma family warlords[1] 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 for 10 years from 1919 until 1928. Following the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the region came under Chinese Muslim warlord Ma Qi's control until the Northern Expedition by the Republic of China consolidated central control in 1928. There were three families in the Ma clique ("Ma" 馬/马, meaning "horse," being a common Hui rendering of the common Muslim name "Muhammad"), each of them respectively controlled 3 areas, Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia.