During the Cultural Revolution, Communist campaigns attacked religious and traditional cultures, including Confucianism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.
The Communist army put pigs’ heads in the Muslim community’s well. The tension kept growing. Muslim leaders from Shadian went to Beijing to speak with Communist leaders, and when they returned they knew the situation was going to get worse. One of them urged the community to send women and children away, but many people were angry and refused. They thought he had betrayed them. He said that if they had to fight, he would fight to the death, and he did.
The Communist forces planned to clear the village in three hours, but the first 100 soldiers who entered were almost all killed. Only three survived and fled. The Muslims were well prepared, with underground workshops for making guns and mutually supporting firing positions. Instead of three hours, the operation took seven days and eight nights, and the village was burned.
I heard a witness within the Communist Party talk about this little-known incident on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVz73p2eVSY