19th Century Javanese drawing, illustrating an episode of the Geger Pecinan ('Chinese Revolt') the war that erupted in java 1741-2

In 1740 the VOC implemented a policy intended to diminish the dominance of the Chinese population of Batavia (Jakarta) due to fear that their economic position was becoming increasingly powerful. This gave rise to great unrest among Batavia's Chinese population, eventually resulting in open conflict with the Dutch. Violent clashes following a search of the Chinese quarters within Batavia turned into a massacre (October 1740). Defeated byKumpeni troops, many Chinese left the city and fled to the east, where they were given support by the bupati (local rulers) of the north coast. A period of war ensued between the VOC, the Chinese, and the Javanese (1741-2). VOC strongholds were attacked, and Chinese communities in many parts of Java put up fierce resistance, at great losses for all parties involved. Paku Buwono II eventually decided to support them, having witnessed the determination of the Chinese resistance in Kartasura, and after the Javanese attacked the VOC fortress and the VOC's guardhouse at the karaton there in July 1741. But he did so indirectly, through one of the realm's highest officials, Patih Adipati Notokusurno.

The rebel forces also besieged the Dutch port of Semarang. When this eastern VOC base at Semarang did not quickly fall to the Chinese, despite local Javanese support, Paku Buwono II began to hesitate and tried to withdraw his support for the rebels. Unfortunately this decision rather dramatically backfired, and resulted instead in the rebel forces attacking Kartasura (June 1742). When Paku Buwono II made the tactical decision to return his support to the Kumpeni, he had AdipatiNotokusumo arrested; the latter was eventually exiled to Sri Lanka. However, an anti-Dutch Javanese faction at Kartasura took advantage of the situation and succeeded in defeating the Dutch garrison there, thus placing themselves in a position of revolt against Paku Buwono II. The situation culminated when the karaton itself was attacked by a combined army of Chinese rebels and Javanese aristocrats, and was destroyed. They installed one of the still very young grandsons of the exiled Amangkurat III, Raden Mas Garendi, as the ruler at Kartasura, who was subsequently known as Sunan Kuning. As in many Javanese names, the ,meaning is ambiguous. While 'Inning" means "yellow", this can either refer to someone's fair skin, or to Chinese ancestry.