Kadisha Mamyrbekkyzy

Kadisha Mamyrbekkyzy (1900–1963), better known mononymously as Kaduan, was a Kazakh politician from Xinjiang who served in the local governments of the Republic of China (ROC) and then the People's Republic of China (PRC). She was the commissioner of Xinjiang's capital Dihua (present-day Ürümqi) from 1946 to 1951, under the ROC and PRC. She was a member of the Xinjiang delegation to the National Constituent Assembly of the ROC, and later became an advisor to the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government of the PRC. She held the rank of major general in the ROC's military.

Kaduan was married to Prince Alen Zheniskhanuly, leader of the Altay Kazakhs, and was his personal advisor and translator, as she was fluent in Chinese, Uyghur, and Russian. She also assisted her brother-in-law Sharipkhan Zheniskhanuly, who served in the local governments of the ROC as well. Before her political career she worked for the Kazakh Cultural Promotion Association and helped establish Kazakh-language schools in Altay.

Early life Kaduan was born in 1900 in Toli County, in what was then Tarbagatay District of Qing China's Xinjiang Province. She married Prince Alen Zheniskhanuly, leader of the Altay Kazakhs, in 1910. For her efforts during the rebellion, the Chinese central government in Nanjing appointed her the commissioner of Dihua and head of the Dihua military garrison, with the rank of major general. During her tenure as commissioner of Dihua, she made great efforts to repatriate Kazakhs who had fled from the city during ethnic violence in the 1930s and 1940s.

Kaduan was one of the female members of the Xinjiang delegation to the National Constituent Assembly of the Republic of China, which met from 15 November to 25 December 1946 to draft a new constitution.

People's Republic of China In 1949, she participated in the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China and retained her post as commissioner of Dihua. She later resigned in 1951 to become an advisor to the Xinjiang Provincial People's Government.

Kaduan died from a heart attack in 1963.

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