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.
