Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Ma Hsiao-chin

Mr. Ma Hsiao-chin

馬小進字退之

Mr. Ma Hsiao-chin was born at Tai-shan Hsien, Kuangtung Province, in 1887. He was a Province Graduate in the Ching regime. Mr. Ma studied in the following schools: School of Political Science, Canton; St. Stephen's College, Hongkong; Columbia University and New York University, U. S. A. Mr. Ma was a prominent meinber of the revolutionary party Tung: Ming Hui, and played important roles in its activities prior to the establishment of the Republic. In January 1912 the Nanking Provincial government awarded Mr. Ma an Order of Merit. In 1913 Mr. Ma was elected a member of the Lower House of the First Parliament which was convoked in Peking in April 1913 and dissolved by Yuan Shih-kai in January 1914. He was a Kuomingtang member in Parliament. Besides being on the Foreign Affairs and the Finance Committees of the House, he was also a member of the Constitution Drafting Commission. After the dissolution of Parliament and the overthrow of the Second Revolution, Mr. Ma severed his connection with the Kuomingtang. Subsequently he became a Secretary to President Yuan. Later he was appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and still later a co-director of the Customs Administration. Mr. Ma returned to Parliament again when it was reconvoked in 1916 subsequent to the death of Yuan Shih-kai. After its second dissolution in June 1917, Mr. Ma returned to Kuangtung and became a member of the Extraordinary Parliament which was convoked at Canton in August 1917. While at Canton Mr. Ma also held the position of Councellor to the Generalissimo and also to the Tuchun of Kuangtung. For a time Mr. Ma kept himself away from politics and took interest in educational work, being Dean of St. Stephen's College, and Professor of St. Paul's College. The First Parliament being reconvoked in July 1922, Mr. Ma returned to Peking and became an M. P. again, and still continues as such. The highest decorations Mr. Ma has been awarded are the Second Class Tashou Paokuang Chiaho (April 1923) and the Third Class Wenfu (May 1923). During the past ten years, aside from his holding offices, Mr. Ma has been contributing editor and special correspondent of several papers and periodicals, in China and in foreign countries. Being a scholar in Chinese classics and also a poet, Mr. Ma has made a large number of contributions to the literary world. He is the author of "The Diary of a Traveler," "A Short History of World Literature,” “Poems and Essays by Hsiao-Chin,” “How to Improve China's Tea Industry,” “How to Improve Chinese Cotton," "On Woman Suffrage," "Constitutional Freedom," "General Outline of Law,” etc.