the uprising occurred on the western bank of the yellow river in shaanxi, gansu and ningxia, but excluded xinjiang province. a chaotic affair, it often involved diverse warring bands and military leaders with no common cause or a single specific goal. a common misconception is that the revolt was directed against the qing dynasty, but no evidence shows that the rebels intended to attack the capital, beijing, or to overthrow the entire qing government, but to exact revenge on their personal enemies for injustices. when the revolt failed, mass emigration of the dungan people from ili to imperial russia ensued.