the first spark of revolt in xinjiang proved small enough for the qing authorities to easily extinguish it. on march17, 1863, some 200 dungans from the village of sandaohe (a few miles west of suiding), supposedly provoked by a rumor of a preemptive dungan massacre, attacked tarchi ( now part of huocheng county), one of the nine forts of the ili basin. the rebels seized weapons from the fort's armory and killed the soldiers of its garrison, but were soon defeated by government troops from other forts and were themselves slaughtered.