Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ma Hsin-i
MA Hsin-i 馬新貽 (T. 穀山, H. 燕門, 鐵舫), Nov. 3, 1821–1870, Aug. 23, official, was a native of Ho-tsê (Ts'ao-chou), Shantung. He came from a Mohammedan family. A chin-shih of 1847, he was designated as suitable for the post of magistrate and was sent to Anhwei to await a vacancy. After serving as acting magistrate of Tai-ho (1849), Su-sung (1850–51), and Po-chou (1851–52), he was appointed magistrate of Chien-p'ing in 1852, and held that post until 1854. In the following year he was named acting magistrate of Ho-fei, seat of the prefect of Lu-chou-fu, and just then also the seat of the governor, since the provincial capital was temporarily in the hands of the Taipings. He fought and won several battles and his administration of civil affairs was highly appreciated by his superiors. In 1856 he was made acting prefect of Lu-chou-fu and in 1857 full prefect with the higher rank of an expectant intendant of a Circuit. In 1858, however, Ho-fei was taken by the Taipings under Ch'ên Yü-ch'êng [q. v.]. For this loss Ma was deprived of his titles and ranks, but was allowed to perform his duties. In 1859 his mother died, but he was not permitted to retire for the mourning period, being called by Yüan Chia-san [q. v.] to serve as quartermaster-general of the latter's forces at Fêng-yang, Anhwei. For several military successes he was restored to his rank of expectant intendant of a Circuit. In 1860 he became chief of a division in the military secretariat under Yüan Chia-san. A year later his father died and he was given a hundred days to return to his home for a period of mourning. At Ho-tsê he helped to defend the city from attacks by bandits.
Early in 1862 Ma Hsin-i returned to the headquarters of Yüan Chia-san at Fêng-yang and was ordered to lead a detachment to recover Lu-chou, and this he accomplished. For several months he was in Lu-chou as acting financial commissioner of Anhwei. Early in 1863 he became intendant of northern Anhwei and a few months later was promoted to be provincial judge. He was then defending the besieged city of Mêng-ch'êng and remained there until September 1863. After the siege was raised he served for a time at Fêng-yang in charge of the military secretariat. Late in the same year he was made financial commissioner of Anhwei, assuming his duties at Anking early in 1864. Knowing that province well, he did much to relieve the newly-recovered districts of their distress. Late in 1864 he was promoted to be governor of Chekiang to succeed Tso Tsung-t'ang [q. v.], and there he served more than three years, winning in this administration considerable prestige. He supervised famine relief, the repair of dikes, rehabilitation of the war-stricken areas, and disbandment of volunteer troops. He also established a provincial press. Early in 1868 he was promoted to be governor-general of Fukien and Chekiang. After several audiences in Peking he was granted leave to visit his home. Then he received notice of appointment as governor-general at Nanking in control of the provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsi and Anhwei.
Upon his arrival at Nanking in November 1868 Ma Hsin-i discussed the local situation with his predecessor, Tsêng Kuo-fan [q. v.], before the latter left for his post in Chihli. Ma and Ting Jih-ch'ang [q. v.], then governor at Soochow, were entrusted with the conduct of relations with foreigners in South China. They paid much attention to the training of soldiers with modern firearms. According to his chronological biography (nien-p'u), Ma did his part in providing for the maintenance of the arsenal at Nanking of which Sir Halliday Macartney (see under Kuo Sung-tao) was then in charge. In the middle of 1870, when war with France seemed imminent, on account of the Tientsin Massacre (see under Ch'ung-hou), Ting Jih-ch'ang went to Tientsin to help Tsêng Kuo-fan in settling that case. Ma was thus left to take charge of strengthening the defenses in South China against a possible war with France. On August 22, when he was walking back to his office from a military inspection he was wounded by an assassin's knife and died the following day. The culprit, Chang Wên-hsiang 張汶祥, was apprehended. Ma was given posthumously the title, Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and the name, Tuan-min 端敏. His memory was celebrated in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen and shrines were erected to him in Ho-tsê, Anking, Nanking and elsewhere.
The Court in Peking ordered a sweeping investigation of the murder, conducted by Chang Chih-wan [q. v.], Chêng Tun-chin 鄭敦謹 (T. 叔厚, H. 筱山, 1803–1885), and others. According to Chang Chih-wan's report, the culprit, Chang Wên-hsiang, was once a Taiping rebel, and later an agent of pirates off the coast of Chekiang, many of whom Ma had executed as governor of that province. Chang Wên-hsiang was alleged to have had a personal grievance against Ma because the latter refused to be bothered by complaints which Chang made against his own wife. Ma, moreover, had hunted down usurers, and Chang was one who owned a pawnshop in Ningpo, which was forced to close. Deprived thus of his livelihood, Chang was urged, it is said, by his piratical comrades to take revenge on Ma. These are the reasons given for the assassination in the official reports. Finally, in March 1871, the Court ordered the investigation closed and the execution of Chang by a lingering death.
At the time of the investigation many officials believed that there were others involved, and so urged the government to press the case. They could not believe that the crime resulted from a purely personal grievance or that Chang was the only person involved. Unconfirmed rumors circulated—one to the effect that Ma and Chang had once been intimate friends, but had a falling out because Ma had murdered a mutual friend in order to obtain the murdered man's wife. According to another story, Ma, as a Mohammedan, had contracted a secret alliance with Muslim rebels in Chinese Turkestan (see under Tso Tsung-t'ang) and thus the assassin was motivated by patriotism. Upon these stories a play was produced in Shanghai, known as 刺馬傳 Tz'ŭ Ma chuan. Though the play was soon banned it was impossible to suppress the stories that gave rise to it.
During the investigation another story, falsely involving Ting Jih-ch'ang, was reported to the throne by a high official. It happened that Ting's son had servants who were unruly, and their lawlessness had been condemned by Ma. Ting's son was reprimanded for his failure to control them. When, a few months later, Ma was assassinated it was easy to point to this son as a possible instigator of the crime. Nevertheless, the investigation cleared both Ting and his son of any connection with it.
The sudden death of Ma Hsin-i is significant in Chinese history because it affected the careers of two eminent men of the day, namely, Tsêng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang [q. v.]. Despite his early popularity as the leader primarily responsible for suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, Tsêng had alienated public opinion in the north by his unbiased settlement of the Tientsin Massacre (see under Ch'ung-hou). He condemned a number of guilty persons to death and even sent several local officials into exile. He thus settled the case in conformity with French demands and averted a possible war, but he was blamed as cowardly and unpatriotic, particularly by reactionary gentry and officials in the north. The Court could not in decency remove from his post in Chihli the hero of earlier days, but the vacancy left by Ma in Nanking offered both a fitting and convenient solution. Tsêng was sent back to his old post in Nanking with the honorable mission of conducting further investigations into the assassination and of maintaining peace and order in Kiangsu. Thereupon the important post of governor-general of Chihli was passed on to Li Hung-chang who held it, off and on, for more than twenty-five years, and so more or less shaped the history of Chinese foreign relations in his day.
[Ma Tuan-min kung nien-p'u (公年譜, 1877); 1/432/4b; 2/49/1a; 5/26/1a; Hsüeh Fu-ch'êng [q. v.], Yung-an pi-chi, chüan 4; Ch'ing pai lei-ch'ao (see bibl. Liu Lun) vol. 9, p. 205; Ch'ing-ch'ao yeh-shih ta-kuan (see bibl. under Li Hung-tsao) vol. 4, pp. 59–64.]