Background
Dr. Ma Chun-wu was born at Kueiling, Kuangsi province in 1891.
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Dr. Ma Chun-wu was born at Kueiling, Kuangsi province in 1891.
After receiving Chinese education Dr. Ma Chun-wu went to Japan and studied in the Kyoto Imperial University from which he graduated in 1906. From Japan Dr. Ma went to Germany and entered “Die Kaiserlische Technische Hochschule' zu Berlin.” From this University he obtained in 1910 the degree of “Diplom Ingenieur” and in 1915 that of “Doktor Ingenieur” through an essay on “Vergleicheude untersuchung uber die phys'kalischen und chemischen Eigenschaften der chinesischen und japanischen Seiden.”
In the winter of 1911 Dr. Ma was elected by the Provincial Assembly of Kuangsi as representative to Nanking to draft the Provisional Constitution.
In January 1912 President Sun Yat-sen appointed him Vice Minister of Agriculture and Commerce the post which he held until the government was moved to Peking in April of same year.
In February 1913 Dr. Ma was elected by the Kuangsi Provincial Assembly as a senator to the Peking parliament as a Kuomingtang member. His party was proscribed by Yuan Shih-kai as a seditious organization and all members of the two Houses belonging to this Party were unseated in November 1913. The Parliament was dissolved in January 1914. The First Parliament enjoyed another year of life in Peking after the death of Yuan Shih-kai in June 1916, but was again dissolved in June 1917. Dr. Ma remained in Peking as Senator for a part of this period, and in 1918 he was appointed by the Constitutional government headed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the Minister of Communications. From 1918 to 1920 he worked at the Canton Arsenal as Chief Chemical Engineer.
In December 1920 Dr. Sun Yat-sen returned to Canton again with the late Dr. Wu Ting-fang and Tang Shao-i and Dr. Ma was appointed Chief Secretary of the government. In July 1921 he was appointed Civil Governor of Kuangsi which position he held until December 1922. Since his retirement from Kuangsi he has been interesting himself in farming. In October 1922 he received from President Li Yuan Hung the First Order of Tashou Chiao.
In addition Dr. Ma has also written many books among which the following are specially noted: Textbook of Zoology, Textbook of Botany, German-Chinese Dictionary, Poetical Works. All the above works, translated as well as written, were published either by the Commercial Press or the Chun Hwa Book Company of Shanghai.