Background
Ma Wanqi was born 21 October 1919 to a farming family in County, Guangdong Province, Ma grew up learning the food trade. His father died when Ma was only 15, and Ma was soon forced to run his father’s local food wholesale business.
万祺 马
Ma Wanqi was born 21 October 1919 to a farming family in County, Guangdong Province, Ma grew up learning the food trade. His father died when Ma was only 15, and Ma was soon forced to run his father’s local food wholesale business.
With a strong belief in traditional values and entrepreneurial instincts, Ma quickly found his way and began to build up the family business. However in 1938, after the Japanese invasion of Guangzhou, the Sino-Japanese War got too close for comfort. His business headquarters, then called Wing Wo Hing Foods, were bombed and he was left with nothing.
But Ma was determined to keep going. He escaped to Hong Kong, and with the help of some friends, began working with Hong Kong and Thai firms importing and exporting cotton, gauze, and grain products. This successful venture gave him a strong foothold in the business world. Unfortunately, his activities were interrupted again when Hong Kong fell to Japan in 1941. Ma left Hong Kong for Macao, then a small Portuguese-ruled island off the coast of mainland China, to found Dafeng Bank and the Tsuneki Company. Ma used these companies to help support China during the years of war with Japan, using Macao’s position in the transport of much needed goods past the Japanese blockade. Ma will always be remembered as an instrumental non-military patriot.
When the war ended, Ma began to play a vigorous role in supporting China’s recovery. He was chairman of the board of Mirror Lake Charitable Hospital, helped to organize the Bank of China, represented Macao in the China General Chamber of Commerce, and was appointed the Director of Education for all of China. Ma then began investing in his hometown of Guangdong. However, his greatest direct influence was on Macao.
After the economic reforms began in the late 1970s, Ma has greatly expanded his business operation on the Chinese mainland, contributed to closer economic and trade cooperation between Macao and the mainland, and established a number of enterprises in Guangdong, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia in the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma has also been politically active throughout his long career, and played a pivotal role in preparation for Macao’s handover to China. He was a member of the 5th CPPCC National Committee (1978–83) and the 6th CPPCC Standing Committee (1983–88), deputy to the 7th National People’s Congress (1988–93), vice chairman of both the 8th and 9th CPPCC National Committees (1993–2003), vice chairman of the Committee for Drafting of the Basic Law for the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), and vice chairman of Macao SAR Preparatory Committee (1998–99). Ma was chosen to represent not only himself but also the interests of Guangdong and Macao.
As the current vice chairman of the 11th CPPCC National Committee, he comes together with party and non-party members to discuss the political and economic situation of the country.