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The Intellectual and Public Life of Ma Yin-ch'u

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Ronald Hsia
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Extract

After the turbulence of the anti-rightist movement of 1957 which silenced those who held different views from the Communist Party line, Ma Yin-ch'u, then Dean of Peking University, refusing to yield to pressure, continued to express his “unorthodox” views and accepted a challenge to defend them against some two hundred critics. He stated in November 1959, “Although I am nearly eighty years old and outnumbered, I shall accept this challenge [to defend my position] and fight single-handed till I die. I shall not yield to those critics who resort to force rather than reason.” Professor Ma's integrity and courage in defending his beliefs command our respect and would justify the following biographical account even if he were not one of China's leading intellectuals.

Type
The Intellectuals
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 6 , June 1961 , pp. 53 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1961

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References

1 Yin-ch'u, Ma. “Wo-ti che-hsueh ssu-hsiang ho ching-chi li-lun”Google Scholar (My Philosophy and Economic Theory), Hsin Chien-she (New Construction), No. 11, 1959.Google Scholar According to the Chinese system of age calculation, Ma was seventy-nine years old when he wrote this article.

2 This biographical account has been undertaken at the request of the Editor of The China Quarterly. In accepting his kind invitation, I must emphasise that biographical writing is beyond the field of my competence.

3 This background is reflected in an inclination in his recent writings to touch on Chinese philosophy, particularly the thoughts of Sung and Ming scholars.

4 Ma Yin-ch'u yen-chiang chi (A collection of lectures by Ma Yin-ch'u) (Shanghai: 1928), Vol. IV, p. 138.Google Scholar (An earlier edition was published in Peking, 1926.)

5 While in Shanghai, Ma assisted Kuo Ping-wen, President of Southeastern University, in establishing the Shanghai College of Commerce as a part of the University. He also gave a course in economics at the new College.

6 His major publications in the 1920s included the following: Chung-kuo kuo-wai hui-tui (China's Foreign Exchange) (Shanghai: 1925)Google Scholar; Chung-kuo kuan-sui wen-t'i (China's Tariff Problem) (Shanghai: 1926)Google Scholar; Chung-hua yin-hang lun (Discussions on Chinese Banking) (Shanghai: 1929).Google Scholar In addition, he published between 1923 and 1928 four volumes of Ma Yin-ch'u yen-chiang chi).

7 Yin-ch'u, Ma, Ts'ai-cheng hsueh yü chung-kuo ts'ai-cheng li-lun yü hsien-shih (Public Finance and Public Finance in China: Theory and Reality) (Shanghai: 1948) Vol. 1, p. 2.Google Scholar

8 The early publications of the Chinese Economic Association included Chung-kuo Ching-chi Wen-t'i (China's Economic Problems), Ching-chi Chien-she (Economic Construction), and Kuan-sui wen-t'i chuan-k'an (Special Issue on Tariff Problems).

9 Spann, Othman, Types of Economic Theory (London: 1929), pp. 211–212.Google Scholar

10 In this period, Ma taught at the National Chekiang University, the National Chiaotung University and the National Central University. He was Dean of the Central University's College of Commerce, which was located hi Shanghai.

11 Chung-kuo ching-chi kai-tsao (The Economic Reform of China) (Shanghai: 1935), pp. 520–524.Google Scholar

12 This textbook written on the basis of his lectures delivered at the Shanghai College of Commerce (see note 5, supra), was published by the Commercial Press in Chungking early in 1943 under the tide Ching-chi hsueh kai-lun (Introduction to Economics).

13 The shortage in the supply of commodities was real, resulting from the loss of territories, destruction by military operations, the disruption of transport, etc. This shortage was accentuated by the increase in the size and the concentration of population due chiefly to the influx of ipeople from the coastal areas. Above all, high-priority military needs were competing for the dwindling resources.

14 One day in the winter of 1940, Tai Li (the secret police chief) called on Ma Yin-ch'u at his residence to extend a request on behalf of the government that Ma make a field trip to investigate the economic conditions in Third War Zone. Ma was taken first to Nanchang, where he was the house guest of Ku Chu-t'ung, Commander-in-Chief of the Third War Zone. From there he was transferred to Hsifeng, Kweichow Province, to be confined to a “camp” where Chiang Hsueh-liang was also detained.

15 Wendell Willkie is known to have been instrumental in Ma's release. While in China in 1942 on a special mission for President Roosevelt, Willkie requested to see his mend Ma Yin-ch'u. In the meantime, he pleaded with Chiang Kai-shek for Ma's release on the ground of democratic principles.

16 The Chung Hua Industrial and Commercial College, and the Li Hsin Accounting School.

17 Ching-chi hsueh k'ai-lun (Introduction to Economics) (Shanghai: 1947) (rev. ed.), p. 3.Google Scholar

18 Yin-ch'u, Ma, Chung-kuo ching-chi kai-tsao, op. cit., pp. 191–199Google Scholar; Ching-chi-hsueh kai-lun, op. cit., p. 3Google Scholar; Yen-chiang-chi, Vol. IV, p. 138.Google Scholar

19 See Tse-tung, Mao's report, “On Coalition Government,”Google Scholar to the Seventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on April 24, 1945, translated in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1956), IV, p. 244 et seq.; and his report to the Central Committee of the CCP on December 25, 1947. See Mao Tse-tung Hsuan-chi (Mao Tse-tung's Selected Works) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan-she, 1960), IV, p. 1243et seq.Google Scholar

20 His more important posts during 1949–59 included the following: member of the Central People's Government Council; Vice-chairman of the Committee on Financial and Economic Affairs of the Government Administration Council; Vice-chairman of the East China Administrative Committee; Member of the China Committee for the Promotion of International Trade and subsequently also of its Arbitration Committee for Foreign Trade; member of the Standing Committee of the First and Second National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; member of the Standing Committee of the First and Second National People's Congresses; member of the Committee for Drafting the Constitution; member of the Central Election Committee; member of the Executive Board and subsequently Vice-Chairman of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association; Vice-Chairman of the China Peace Committee; member of the Executive Board of the World Peace Congress; member of the Board of Directors of the Chinese People's Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries; member of the Standing Committee of the Board of Directors of the Bank of China; President of Chekiang University; President of Peking University; and Member of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences.

In addition, during 1949–54 he was sent to Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin and Stockholm as a member of Communist China's delegation to the various sessions of the World Peace Congress, to the Congress of Peoples for Peace and to the International Conference on the Relaxation of World Tensions.

21 Yin-ch'u, Ma, Chung-kuo ching-chi kai-tsao, op cit.. Vol. I, p. 199.Google Scholar

22 A revised version of this paper was published in Jen-wen k'o-hsueh (Humanity: the Peking University Journal) No. 3, 1957.Google Scholar

23 The text of this report appeared in the People's Daily (Jen-min Jih-pao), 07 5, 1957.Google Scholar

24 “Lien-hsi chung-kuo shih-chi lai t'an-t'an tsung-ho p'ing-heng li-lua ho an pi-li fa-chan kui-lü,” People's Daily, 12 28 and 29, 1956.Google Scholar “Lien-hsi chung-kuo shih-chi lai tsai t'an-t'an tsung-ho p'ing-heng li-lun ho an pi-li fa-chan kui-lü,” ibid., May 11 and 12, 1957. Wo-ti ching-chi li-lun che-hsueh ssu-hsiang ho cheng-chih li-ch'ang (Peking: 1958).Google Scholar

25 What Ma considers to be most important are not necessarily the most important “links” in a planned economy. He has, for instance, over-emphasised the role of prices in a planned economy.

26 “Tsai t'an wo-ti p'ing-heng-lun chung ti t'uan-t'uan-chuan li-lun,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 05 9, 1958.Google Scholar

27 See, for instance, the criticisms made by Chia-ch'en, Han. Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 04 19, 1958.Google Scholar