The 马 surname

Ma (马) is one of the surnames of Taishan, its families living mainly in Baisha Town (白沙镇). The Ma of Taishan belong to the "Jinzi" (金紫) line of the Ma of Lingnan (岭南), and honor Ma Zhibei (马直北), who moved south to Gugangzhou (古冈州; today Xinhui, Jiangmen) at the beginning of the Southern Song, as the founding ancestor of the Ma in Lingnan; in the early Ming, the 8th-generation ancestor Ma Kangping (马康平) and his heir by adoption Ma Tianbo (马田波) moved from Xinhui to Madong in Xinning (新宁马洞; today Madong, Baisha Town), and this was the beginning of the Ma of Taishan. Unlike most surnames of Taishan, the ancestors of the Taishan Ma did not come south by way of Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄).^[1][2]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The Ma surname comes mainly from the Zhao clan (赵氏) of the Ying (嬴) surname. In the Warring States period Zhao She (赵奢), a famous general of the state of Zhao, was enfeoffed at Mafu (马服) for his military merits, with the title "Lord of Mafu" (马服君); his descendants took "Ma" as their clan name and in the Han moved to Maoling (茂陵) in Youfufeng (右扶风; in today's Shaanxi), and so Fufeng (扶风) became the ancestral commandery of the Ma.^[3] The genealogies of the Taishan Ma record much the same, except that the king who granted the fief is King Wuling of Zhao (赵武灵王) in one account and King Huiwen of Zhao (赵惠文王) in another.^[1] A couplet in the ancestral hall of Lijing Village (李井村) in Xiatun (下屯), Baisha, reads "Our forebears' home goes back to the Bian River; the village we chose carries on the line of Fufeng" (祖居由汴水，择里衍扶风), referring to this origin.^[2]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

According to Ma Zuolin (马作林), at the beginning of the Southern Song (about 1127 to 1130), Ma Zhibei, a Grand Master for Proper Service (奉政大夫), crossed south with Emperor Gaozong of Song from Lin'an (临安) into Guangdong and settled at Gugang (古冈; today the North Gate of Huicheng, Xinhui, 新会会城北门). His son Chiguo (持国) and grandson Xiji (唏骥), two generations, were both granted the honor "Jinzi" ("gold and purple"), and so the place where the family first lived came to be called Jinzi Street (金紫街; in today's Huicheng, Xinhui); this is why the places where the Ma live in Lingnan and overseas mostly use "Jinzi Tang" (金紫堂) as their hall name. Eight generations on from Zhibei Gong (直北公), his descendants were spread across Xinhui, Jiangmen, Taishan, Panyu, Conghua, Shunde, Zhongshan and other places, and later scattered further to western Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan.^[1]

The direct line of the Taishan Ma runs: 1st generation Zhibei, 2nd Chiguo, 3rd Xiji, 4th Shaolong (绍龙), 5th Liangbi (良弼), 6th Xingxun (行逊), 7th Xunshan (循善), 8th Kangping and Kangding (康定). According to the appended table of descent (宗传表), Liangbi of the 5th generation moved from Jinzi Street in the city of Xinhui to Dongtingli (东亭里), and Xingxun of the 6th generation moved again, to Mayuan (麻园) in Xialang (下朗), Chaolian (潮莲), Jiangmen.^[4] Kangding had three sons and moved from Xialang, Mayuan, Xinhui, to Hengshan (横山) (the table has Haochong (濠冲), Hengshan, Taishan); later, because of the warfare at the end of the Song and the beginning of the Yuan, most of his descendants moved to Chaozhou, Shantou and Xinhui.^[1][4] Kangping had no son and took Tuan (湍; named Tianbo), the second son of his elder cousin Kangcheng (康成), as his heir.^[1]

There are two accounts of when Kangping and his son came to Taishan and where they set out from: Ma Zuolin says they moved from Mayuan, Xinhui, to Madong, Baisha, in the Yongle period of the Ming (about 1410);^[1] an introduction written in 2018 by Taishan local media, from material provided by clansmen in Baisha, says they moved from Xinhui (Waihai (外海), Jiangmen) to Madong in Xinning in about the Hongwu period of the Ming.^[2] Ma Tianbo had six sons, named in order Yuyin (渔隐), Qiaoyin (樵隐), Gengyin (耕隐), Muyin (牧隐), Lianyin (炼隐) and Zhiyin (植隐), and the clan honors Tianbo as "the ancestor of merit whose tablet is never removed" (有功不祧之祖).^[1] Of the six branches the Gengyin line is the most flourishing; according to the 2018 material, about 70 percent of the Ma of Baisha are Gengyin's descendants.^[2]

Distribution[edit]

In 1995 and 1997 Ma Zuolin twice surveyed, with elders of the clan, where the Taishan Ma live and how many they are. According to that survey, the Taishan Ma are concentrated mostly in the towns of Baisha, Sanhe (三合), Sijiu (四九), Hengshan, Wencun (汶村) and others; they have passed down 32 generations, and nearly 50,000 live permanently within the city; those living abroad or settled in Xinhui, Enping, Gaozhou, Wuchuan, Yangjiang, Heshan and other places number more than 80,000 by an incomplete count.^[1] The article has a table of where the families live, surveyed and verified in December 1997, which lists the Taishan Ma in 17 towns, 40 management areas and 147 natural villages, of which Baisha Town alone accounts for 13 management areas and 86 villages; the rest are in Sanhe, Sijiu, Hengshan, Doushan (斗山), Chonglou (冲蒌), Wencun, Shenjing (深井), Haiyan (海宴), Shalan (沙栏), Guanghai (广海), Duanfen (端芬), Nafu (那扶), Shangchuan (上川), Xiachuan (下川) and other places (all names and administrative units as they were then).^[4] According to the 2018 material, more than 80 percent of the Taishan Ma come from Baisha, and in Baisha the Ma live mainly in the village committees of Xiatun, Yangling (阳岭), Baisha Xu (白沙圩) and others.^[2]

The old market town of Baisha (白沙旧圩) grew up in the 7th year of Yongzheng of the Qing (1729) where the Ma lived, and for a long time its land and shop stalls changed hands only among Ma clansmen, so it was called the "Ma market" (马圩); Jinzi Street in the market is named after the Ma's hall name.^[2]

Ancestral halls and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• Ma Ancestral Hall (马氏宗祠): formerly in Shangjingtou Village (上迳头村), Madong, three halls deep; it was torn down in 1958, but its door plaque survives, carved on the left "Rebuilt in the gengzi year of Guangxu" (光绪庚子重修; the 26th year of Guangxu, 1900).^[2]
• Ma Gengyin Ancestral Hall (马耕隐祠堂): in Lijing Village, Xiatun.^[2]
• Tomb of Ma Tianbo (马田波墓): in Lishantang Village (梨山塘村), Baisha, rebuilt in 1995 with money raised by clan members in China and overseas. In the past the branches in Taishan came here to worship the ancestors on the 7th day of the first month; today they do so on the 9th day of the 9th month.^[2]
• Overseas there are Ma clan associations in Vancouver, New York and elsewhere.^[2]

People[edit]

• Ma Chaojun (马超俊) (1886–1977), of Zhutouju Village (猪头咀村), Nanlang (南朗), Baisha; a returned overseas Chinese and political activist. He joined the Tongmenghui (同盟会) in Japan in 1905, served three times as mayor of Nanjing, and wrote A History of the Chinese Labor Movement (《中国劳工运动史》).^[2]
• Ma Xiang (马湘) (1889–1973), of Dunhe Village (敦和村), Shanlang (山朗), Baisha; bodyguard to Sun Yat-sen and a major general of the army. In 1922 he escorted Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling aboard the warship "Yongfeng" (永丰).^[2]
• Ma Guolian (马国廉) (1917–1944), leader of the 17th Squadron of the American Flying Tigers.^[2]
• Ma Zhimin (马志民) (1932–2006), of Shangjingtou Village, Madong, Baisha; one of the main founders of the Hong Kong China Travel Service group (香港中旅集团), who led the creation of theme parks such as "Splendid China" (锦绣中华) in Shenzhen.^[2]