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20世纪上半叶，中国教育界波涌浪激，多元并争，北京大学作为新文化运动的中心舞台，更是气象万千。当时，在蔡元培先生“兼容并蓄”的办学思想指导下，北大网罗众家，荟萃精英，使得一大批学博功深的名流纷纷执教北大，被誉为“一钱（钱玄同）、二周（周树人、周作人）、三沈（沈士远、沈尹默、沈兼士）、五马（马裕藻、马衡、马鉴、马准、马廉）等诸位教授，就是北大黄金岁月的经典组合，而且都是浙江人。
令我们引以为荣的是，“五马”教授系浙江宁波人，他们是宁波鄞州邱隘盛垫村马海曙的五个儿子。一门“五马”在人文学术领域各领风骚，这在北大历史上是绝无仅有的，在几千年中国知识分子家族史中也属罕见！
马氏群贤来自一个小村
来到鄞州邱隘盛垫村，真令人有点儿惊讶，因为这个村落太小了。村委领导告诉我：盛垫由四个自然村组成，占地一平方公里，户籍在册总人口仅600多人。但你可曾想到，在中国文化教育史上留下了一个个辉煌足迹的马氏群贤，就根植于这么一个小小的村落！“五马”是如何能够集体走出偏僻一隅走向全国的文化宫殿的呢？现年82岁的马义浩老人捧出两本珍藏的马氏族谱，翻着族谱，一个世家大族的来龙去脉和兴衰变迁逐渐明朗起来：原来盛垫马氏乃汉代伏波将军马援之后，他们于北宋末年南流避乱，至明代永乐年间，其中一族人入赘盛氏，于是马氏一脉就发展开来了，至今盛垫马姓村民已占半数以上。
马氏一族门庭显赫始于第三代的贤庵公，他官拜兵部尚书，为朝廷立了许多功劳。但朝代更替、世事沧桑，至19世纪中叶清朝末期，马氏望族已趋式微。这时，一位扭转家族局面的关键性人物出现了，他就是海曙公，族名有木。作为出身名门的望族子弟，马海曙也曾循规蹈矩地走科举之路，但几次应试之后，他反感教条僵化的八股文，竟冒天下读书人之大不韪，毅然经商，做了商人。不想这一转折，马海曙不仅让家道复兴，门庭重振，更重要的是他还培养出一群传承儒雅而又富有民主主义色彩的马氏后代，这些后代的名字，在中国文化教育史册上熠熠生辉。
深厚学养出自嗜书如命
说起在马氏兄弟中排行老二的马裕藻，1905年浙江公费选派100名学生留学日本之时，马裕藻夫妇竟双双入选东渡日本。马裕藻在日本师从章太炎先生学习文字音韵学，1911归国担任浙江教育司视学。1913年至1937年先后任北大国文系教授、系主任，并与鲁迅、许寿裳、朱希祖等一起提出以审定字音时使用的符号作为“注音字母”。这是中国第一套汉字注音方案，在1958年《汉语拼音方案》公布之前，它一直被国人使用了40多年，为汉字正音、传播国语、帮助识字做出了极大贡献，马裕藻的女儿马珏，当年是北大赫赫有名的校花，她在回忆父亲马裕藻先生时说：“父亲一生别无所好，唯喜购书、读书。我们家曾搬过两次，每次觅房都有两个要求：一是要有足够的书房，至少要有三四间，室内四周都是大书架，还有大书桌。再一是离北大要近。父亲除了上课以外，就是总在他的书房里。他的藏书大都是用朱红标点过的。读书备课，这是他一生最大的乐趣。父亲去世后，按照他的心意，我家的藏书（21000册）献给了北大图书馆。”
马衡（1881-1955），字叔平，排行第四。他与马鉴最为亲近，在清王朝最末一次科举取士中，他俩双双考中秀才。但他俩受维新运动影响，没参加乡试而是进入了南洋公学。毕业后马衡与宁波帮中号称“五金大王”叶澄衷之千金结婚,身为商界巨擘的女婿，马衡却书生本质不变，他抛弃富豪生活，毅然北上从事高等教育。1918年至于1931年，马衡历任北京大学文学院国文系讲师、史学系教授兼研究所国学门导师、考古研究室主任、北京大学图书馆馆长，1934年起任故宫博物院院长。他毕生致力于金石学的研究，著有《中国金石学概要》等众多著作，被誉为中国近代考古学的前驱者和奠基人之一。值得一提的是马衡是军阀孙殿英东陵盗宝案的最早揭发者之一，此举的后果差点带来生命危险。尔后日本侵华，故宫博物院文物南迁,数千箱国宝在战火中辗转东西南北，历尽艰难险阻，到抗战胜利后才传奇般地完璧归赵,这当中身为故宫博物院院长的马衡可谓尽职尽责,功不可没；
马鉴（1883-1959）字季明，排行第五，南洋公学毕业后曾任教北平协和医学院。1925年赴美国纽约哥伦比亚大学教育学院攻读硕士学位，1926年至1936年任燕京大学国文系教授及国文系主任，1937年至1941年任香港大学文学院教授，1942年至1945年任成都燕京大学国文系教授、国文系主任，并于1944年至1945年任文学院院长，1946年至1951年担任香港大学中文系主任。马鉴的师德是有口皆碑的，学生曾这样评价他：“季明师为人温文忠厚，讲课及谈话时都是那么谦和，有彬彬君子之风；处事认真负责，对学生选课及学业上的种种问题，都悉心扶助，指导有方。”他一生教书，对书籍爱之若命。蔡元培为马鉴写了副对联：“万卷藏书宜子弟，十年种木长风烟”，这是对马鉴嗜书很真实的写照；
马准字太玄，他是个民俗学家，曾在京师图书馆工作6年，1913年后任北京大学教授，教授文字学和目录学，1927年顾颉刚先生邀请他至广州中山大学负责图书馆工作。著有《中印民间故事的比较》《关于中国风俗材料书籍的介绍》等；
马廉(1893-1935)字隅卿，是马氏九兄弟中最末一位。他曾任北平孔德学校总务长，北平师范大学、北京大学教授，1926年8月继鲁迅先生之后在北京大学讲授中国小说史课，后主管孔德图书馆。1935年2月19日，在北京大学讲台上因脑溢血而英年早逝。
他一生抢救了大量珍稀版本的戏曲古籍，1932年回故乡鄞县养病时，曾与郑振铎、赵万里一起访得天一阁散出的明抄本《录鬼簿》，三人立即影抄出一部副本，第二年他又在当地购得一包残书，其中有旧藏天一阁的明嘉靖刻本《六十家小说》中的《雨窗集》《欹枕集》，马廉将此两册书交由书局影印出版，从而使十二篇宋元话本得以传世。
文脉传承惠及后裔
人生短暂，当年的“五马”都已作故，但他们留下的文化和精神遗产是不朽的。值得欣慰的是，从马氏的后辈子孙中，我们仍看到了文化脉络的显明传承。马衡之子马彦祥是中国著名戏剧导演、戏剧理论家，先后导演过《雷雨》《日出》《汉宫秋》《武则天》《逼上梁山》等剧，他历任文化部戏曲改进局副局长、艺术局副局长、中国剧协副主席等职，领导并主持了《中国大百科全书·戏曲曲艺卷》和中国《戏曲剧志》的编纂工作；马鉴有两个儿子继承了教育事业，马蒙是香港大学教授兼中文系主任，马临则成为香港中文大学的校长。
在宁波父老乡亲心目中，马临无疑是印象最深的一位。他多次受到邓小平、江泽民、李鹏等党和国家领导人的接见，1985年担任中华人民共和国香港特别行政区基本法起草委员会委员，为香港回归祖国下了汗马功劳。马临关心家乡的教育事业，早在包玉刚筹建宁波大学时，他多次赶赴宁大，以其对高等教育的远见卓识，向包玉刚及宁波市与宁波大学有关领导献计献策。后来，马临博士又代表邵逸夫先生，多次亲临宁大商谈落实捐资项目，为宁波建成了邵逸夫图书馆、逸夫教学楼、逸夫职教中心。
“人才是致富之根，科技是强国之本，国家之根本在于教育”，这是马临博士对教育意义的认识，其实也是马氏家族文化群贤教育价值观的集体反映。
村里的人说：马氏家族有很多人都出去了，现侨居海外的有200多位。这无关紧要，重要的是马氏家族的文化根脉留存了，崇尚教育的风气养成了。据了解，1998年，小小的一个盛垫村，居然投资80万元与鄞州中学合资办起了蓝青学校，不久双方又投入500万元，建起了学生寝室楼和食堂……
如此眼光，如此手笔，生动地折射了马氏家族文化前辈们一贯的远见卓识。
The Five Brothers of the Ma Family
The first half of the 20th century witnessed the millennia-old China began painfully and dramatically modernizing itself. One of the most phenomenal aspects was the modern education which took shape gradually. Peking University, where the New Culture Movement started and shaped the country, took the center stage in the education modernization. Under the wise leadership of Cai Yuanpei who worked to liberalize academic thinking and encouraged the expansion of disciplines, the university attracted a galaxy of prominent scholars to teach there. Many of the brilliant scholars were of Zhejiang origin. The five brothers of the Ma family, from Ningbo, a port city in East China’s Zhejiang Province, were all professors at the prestigious institution of higher learning. It is said that such a phenomenon is unique not only in the history of Peking University but also in the history of the intellectual families across the country.
They came from Shengdian village in the suburb of Ningbo. Even today, it is a small village composed of four tiny natural hamlets scattered within an area of one square kilometer and with a registered population of 600. According to the family pedigree, the Ma family in Shengdian village were descendents of Ma Yuan, a general in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.). They moved southward in the closing years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) when the whole country was torn apart by war. In the Mind Dynasty (1368-1644), a son of the Ma family married a daughter surnamed Sheng and moved in with the wife’s family. This is how the village first had someone surnamed Ma. Today, half of the residents in the village carry the nonnative surname.
The Ma family in this village flourished when Ma Xian誥n of the third generation since the grandfather’s move into the village was appointed as the minister of the Department of War. In the following centuries the family declined until the middle years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when Ma Shuguang brought the family back to prominence. As a son of a prestigious family, he first followed his forefathers?footstep by trying to become a government official through the imperial examinations system. After a few failed tries, he felt the bondage was quite smothering. So he gave up the political future and started a business. Success came soon. This proved to be a turning point in the family’s renaissance. He sired nine sons and five of them became eminent scholars at Peking University.
Ma Yuzao was the second of the nine brothers. He and his wife were two of the 100 scholars selected in 1905 in Zhejiang Province to study in Japan at the expense of the government. In Japan he studied, among other subjects, phonology under Master Zhang Taiyan’s tutelage. In 1911 he returned to Zhejiang and worked in the provincial education authorities. He was a professor and dean of the Chinese Language Department at Peking University from 1913 to 1917. In collaboration with Lu Xun, Xu Shoushang and Zu Xizu, he formulated a phonetic notation system for the Chinese language, which was the country’s first and was in use for about 40 years until 1958 when it was replaced by a new system.
Ma Heng (1881-1955) was the fourth brother of the nine. He was closest to Ma Jian, the fifth brother. They attended the last imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty and passed at the county level. Influenced by the modernization movement, they did not take the imperial examination at the provincial level. Instead, they enrolled themselves into Nanyang College in Shanghai, a government-funded education institution. From 1918 to 1931, Ma Heng taught at Peking University. Before becoming the president of the Palace Museum in 1934, he was director of Peking University Library. He was one of the founding fathers of the modern archaeology in the country. He was one of the first people who risked their necks and broke the shocking news to the country that the warlord Sun Dianying had robbed the East Mausoleum. During the Resistance War against Japanese Aggression, Ma Heng was in charge of moving thousands of cases of national treasures safely across the country. He kept them in tact and returned them to the Palace Museum after the war.
Ma Jian (1883-1959) was the fifth brother. After graduation from Nanyang College, he taught at Peking Union Medical College for a while. In 1925, he studied at Columbia University in USA and from 1926 to 1936 he was a professor and then dean of the Chinese Language Department of Yanching University (which merged with Peking University in 1952). From 1937 to 1941 he was professor at the college of liberal arts with the University of Hong Kong. From 1942 to 1945 he was back at Yanching University and from 1946 to 1951 he was dean of the Chinese Language Department of University of Hong Kong.
Ma Zhun, an expert of folk customs, worked for six years at the library of Beijing Teachers College before he became a professor at Peking University in 1913, teaching philology and bibliography. In 1927 he went to work at the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou and was in charge of the university library.
Ma Lian (1893-1935) was the youngest of the nine brothers. He was a professor at the Beijing Teachers University and Peking University respectively. After Master Lu Xun quit teaching the History of Chinese Novels at Peking University, Ma Lian took over the course in August, 1926. He died of cerebral hemorrhage in the classroom in the university on February 19, 1935. During his short lifetime, he salvaged reams of ancient books of Chinese folk dramas.
The brothers?descendents have been following the footsteps of their forefathers. Ma Yanxiang (1907-1988), a son of Ma Heng, was a celebrated theater director and theater theorist. In addition to taking a series of important government jobs in the field of culture, He also presided at the editing work of the Theater Volume of China Encyclopedia and helped edit The Chronicles of Chinese Theater. Ma Jian’s two sons were also actively engaged in education: Ma Meng was a professor and dean at University of Hong Kong from 1968 to 1981. He passed away this year at the age of 89. His younger brother Ma Lin was president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1978 to 1987 before he retired.
Today, more than 200 people of the Ma family have migrated to overseas, but education as a fond tradition stays as a focal point in the village. In 1998, Shengdian invested 800,000 to build a school in collaboration with a local middle school and the two partners later added another five million for constructing a dorm building and a dining hall.
(Translated by David)
令我们引以为荣的是，“五马”教授系浙江宁波人，他们是宁波鄞州邱隘盛垫村马海曙的五个儿子。一门“五马”在人文学术领域各领风骚，这在北大历史上是绝无仅有的，在几千年中国知识分子家族史中也属罕见！
马氏群贤来自一个小村
来到鄞州邱隘盛垫村，真令人有点儿惊讶，因为这个村落太小了。村委领导告诉我：盛垫由四个自然村组成，占地一平方公里，户籍在册总人口仅600多人。但你可曾想到，在中国文化教育史上留下了一个个辉煌足迹的马氏群贤，就根植于这么一个小小的村落！“五马”是如何能够集体走出偏僻一隅走向全国的文化宫殿的呢？现年82岁的马义浩老人捧出两本珍藏的马氏族谱，翻着族谱，一个世家大族的来龙去脉和兴衰变迁逐渐明朗起来：原来盛垫马氏乃汉代伏波将军马援之后，他们于北宋末年南流避乱，至明代永乐年间，其中一族人入赘盛氏，于是马氏一脉就发展开来了，至今盛垫马姓村民已占半数以上。
马氏一族门庭显赫始于第三代的贤庵公，他官拜兵部尚书，为朝廷立了许多功劳。但朝代更替、世事沧桑，至19世纪中叶清朝末期，马氏望族已趋式微。这时，一位扭转家族局面的关键性人物出现了，他就是海曙公，族名有木。作为出身名门的望族子弟，马海曙也曾循规蹈矩地走科举之路，但几次应试之后，他反感教条僵化的八股文，竟冒天下读书人之大不韪，毅然经商，做了商人。不想这一转折，马海曙不仅让家道复兴，门庭重振，更重要的是他还培养出一群传承儒雅而又富有民主主义色彩的马氏后代，这些后代的名字，在中国文化教育史册上熠熠生辉。
深厚学养出自嗜书如命
说起在马氏兄弟中排行老二的马裕藻，1905年浙江公费选派100名学生留学日本之时，马裕藻夫妇竟双双入选东渡日本。马裕藻在日本师从章太炎先生学习文字音韵学，1911归国担任浙江教育司视学。1913年至1937年先后任北大国文系教授、系主任，并与鲁迅、许寿裳、朱希祖等一起提出以审定字音时使用的符号作为“注音字母”。这是中国第一套汉字注音方案，在1958年《汉语拼音方案》公布之前，它一直被国人使用了40多年，为汉字正音、传播国语、帮助识字做出了极大贡献，马裕藻的女儿马珏，当年是北大赫赫有名的校花，她在回忆父亲马裕藻先生时说：“父亲一生别无所好，唯喜购书、读书。我们家曾搬过两次，每次觅房都有两个要求：一是要有足够的书房，至少要有三四间，室内四周都是大书架，还有大书桌。再一是离北大要近。父亲除了上课以外，就是总在他的书房里。他的藏书大都是用朱红标点过的。读书备课，这是他一生最大的乐趣。父亲去世后，按照他的心意，我家的藏书（21000册）献给了北大图书馆。”
马衡（1881-1955），字叔平，排行第四。他与马鉴最为亲近，在清王朝最末一次科举取士中，他俩双双考中秀才。但他俩受维新运动影响，没参加乡试而是进入了南洋公学。毕业后马衡与宁波帮中号称“五金大王”叶澄衷之千金结婚,身为商界巨擘的女婿，马衡却书生本质不变，他抛弃富豪生活，毅然北上从事高等教育。1918年至于1931年，马衡历任北京大学文学院国文系讲师、史学系教授兼研究所国学门导师、考古研究室主任、北京大学图书馆馆长，1934年起任故宫博物院院长。他毕生致力于金石学的研究，著有《中国金石学概要》等众多著作，被誉为中国近代考古学的前驱者和奠基人之一。值得一提的是马衡是军阀孙殿英东陵盗宝案的最早揭发者之一，此举的后果差点带来生命危险。尔后日本侵华，故宫博物院文物南迁,数千箱国宝在战火中辗转东西南北，历尽艰难险阻，到抗战胜利后才传奇般地完璧归赵,这当中身为故宫博物院院长的马衡可谓尽职尽责,功不可没；
马鉴（1883-1959）字季明，排行第五，南洋公学毕业后曾任教北平协和医学院。1925年赴美国纽约哥伦比亚大学教育学院攻读硕士学位，1926年至1936年任燕京大学国文系教授及国文系主任，1937年至1941年任香港大学文学院教授，1942年至1945年任成都燕京大学国文系教授、国文系主任，并于1944年至1945年任文学院院长，1946年至1951年担任香港大学中文系主任。马鉴的师德是有口皆碑的，学生曾这样评价他：“季明师为人温文忠厚，讲课及谈话时都是那么谦和，有彬彬君子之风；处事认真负责，对学生选课及学业上的种种问题，都悉心扶助，指导有方。”他一生教书，对书籍爱之若命。蔡元培为马鉴写了副对联：“万卷藏书宜子弟，十年种木长风烟”，这是对马鉴嗜书很真实的写照；
马准字太玄，他是个民俗学家，曾在京师图书馆工作6年，1913年后任北京大学教授，教授文字学和目录学，1927年顾颉刚先生邀请他至广州中山大学负责图书馆工作。著有《中印民间故事的比较》《关于中国风俗材料书籍的介绍》等；
马廉(1893-1935)字隅卿，是马氏九兄弟中最末一位。他曾任北平孔德学校总务长，北平师范大学、北京大学教授，1926年8月继鲁迅先生之后在北京大学讲授中国小说史课，后主管孔德图书馆。1935年2月19日，在北京大学讲台上因脑溢血而英年早逝。
他一生抢救了大量珍稀版本的戏曲古籍，1932年回故乡鄞县养病时，曾与郑振铎、赵万里一起访得天一阁散出的明抄本《录鬼簿》，三人立即影抄出一部副本，第二年他又在当地购得一包残书，其中有旧藏天一阁的明嘉靖刻本《六十家小说》中的《雨窗集》《欹枕集》，马廉将此两册书交由书局影印出版，从而使十二篇宋元话本得以传世。
文脉传承惠及后裔
人生短暂，当年的“五马”都已作故，但他们留下的文化和精神遗产是不朽的。值得欣慰的是，从马氏的后辈子孙中，我们仍看到了文化脉络的显明传承。马衡之子马彦祥是中国著名戏剧导演、戏剧理论家，先后导演过《雷雨》《日出》《汉宫秋》《武则天》《逼上梁山》等剧，他历任文化部戏曲改进局副局长、艺术局副局长、中国剧协副主席等职，领导并主持了《中国大百科全书·戏曲曲艺卷》和中国《戏曲剧志》的编纂工作；马鉴有两个儿子继承了教育事业，马蒙是香港大学教授兼中文系主任，马临则成为香港中文大学的校长。
在宁波父老乡亲心目中，马临无疑是印象最深的一位。他多次受到邓小平、江泽民、李鹏等党和国家领导人的接见，1985年担任中华人民共和国香港特别行政区基本法起草委员会委员，为香港回归祖国下了汗马功劳。马临关心家乡的教育事业，早在包玉刚筹建宁波大学时，他多次赶赴宁大，以其对高等教育的远见卓识，向包玉刚及宁波市与宁波大学有关领导献计献策。后来，马临博士又代表邵逸夫先生，多次亲临宁大商谈落实捐资项目，为宁波建成了邵逸夫图书馆、逸夫教学楼、逸夫职教中心。
“人才是致富之根，科技是强国之本，国家之根本在于教育”，这是马临博士对教育意义的认识，其实也是马氏家族文化群贤教育价值观的集体反映。
村里的人说：马氏家族有很多人都出去了，现侨居海外的有200多位。这无关紧要，重要的是马氏家族的文化根脉留存了，崇尚教育的风气养成了。据了解，1998年，小小的一个盛垫村，居然投资80万元与鄞州中学合资办起了蓝青学校，不久双方又投入500万元，建起了学生寝室楼和食堂……
如此眼光，如此手笔，生动地折射了马氏家族文化前辈们一贯的远见卓识。
The Five Brothers of the Ma Family
The first half of the 20th century witnessed the millennia-old China began painfully and dramatically modernizing itself. One of the most phenomenal aspects was the modern education which took shape gradually. Peking University, where the New Culture Movement started and shaped the country, took the center stage in the education modernization. Under the wise leadership of Cai Yuanpei who worked to liberalize academic thinking and encouraged the expansion of disciplines, the university attracted a galaxy of prominent scholars to teach there. Many of the brilliant scholars were of Zhejiang origin. The five brothers of the Ma family, from Ningbo, a port city in East China’s Zhejiang Province, were all professors at the prestigious institution of higher learning. It is said that such a phenomenon is unique not only in the history of Peking University but also in the history of the intellectual families across the country.
They came from Shengdian village in the suburb of Ningbo. Even today, it is a small village composed of four tiny natural hamlets scattered within an area of one square kilometer and with a registered population of 600. According to the family pedigree, the Ma family in Shengdian village were descendents of Ma Yuan, a general in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.). They moved southward in the closing years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) when the whole country was torn apart by war. In the Mind Dynasty (1368-1644), a son of the Ma family married a daughter surnamed Sheng and moved in with the wife’s family. This is how the village first had someone surnamed Ma. Today, half of the residents in the village carry the nonnative surname.
The Ma family in this village flourished when Ma Xian誥n of the third generation since the grandfather’s move into the village was appointed as the minister of the Department of War. In the following centuries the family declined until the middle years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when Ma Shuguang brought the family back to prominence. As a son of a prestigious family, he first followed his forefathers?footstep by trying to become a government official through the imperial examinations system. After a few failed tries, he felt the bondage was quite smothering. So he gave up the political future and started a business. Success came soon. This proved to be a turning point in the family’s renaissance. He sired nine sons and five of them became eminent scholars at Peking University.
Ma Yuzao was the second of the nine brothers. He and his wife were two of the 100 scholars selected in 1905 in Zhejiang Province to study in Japan at the expense of the government. In Japan he studied, among other subjects, phonology under Master Zhang Taiyan’s tutelage. In 1911 he returned to Zhejiang and worked in the provincial education authorities. He was a professor and dean of the Chinese Language Department at Peking University from 1913 to 1917. In collaboration with Lu Xun, Xu Shoushang and Zu Xizu, he formulated a phonetic notation system for the Chinese language, which was the country’s first and was in use for about 40 years until 1958 when it was replaced by a new system.
Ma Heng (1881-1955) was the fourth brother of the nine. He was closest to Ma Jian, the fifth brother. They attended the last imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty and passed at the county level. Influenced by the modernization movement, they did not take the imperial examination at the provincial level. Instead, they enrolled themselves into Nanyang College in Shanghai, a government-funded education institution. From 1918 to 1931, Ma Heng taught at Peking University. Before becoming the president of the Palace Museum in 1934, he was director of Peking University Library. He was one of the founding fathers of the modern archaeology in the country. He was one of the first people who risked their necks and broke the shocking news to the country that the warlord Sun Dianying had robbed the East Mausoleum. During the Resistance War against Japanese Aggression, Ma Heng was in charge of moving thousands of cases of national treasures safely across the country. He kept them in tact and returned them to the Palace Museum after the war.
Ma Jian (1883-1959) was the fifth brother. After graduation from Nanyang College, he taught at Peking Union Medical College for a while. In 1925, he studied at Columbia University in USA and from 1926 to 1936 he was a professor and then dean of the Chinese Language Department of Yanching University (which merged with Peking University in 1952). From 1937 to 1941 he was professor at the college of liberal arts with the University of Hong Kong. From 1942 to 1945 he was back at Yanching University and from 1946 to 1951 he was dean of the Chinese Language Department of University of Hong Kong.
Ma Zhun, an expert of folk customs, worked for six years at the library of Beijing Teachers College before he became a professor at Peking University in 1913, teaching philology and bibliography. In 1927 he went to work at the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou and was in charge of the university library.
Ma Lian (1893-1935) was the youngest of the nine brothers. He was a professor at the Beijing Teachers University and Peking University respectively. After Master Lu Xun quit teaching the History of Chinese Novels at Peking University, Ma Lian took over the course in August, 1926. He died of cerebral hemorrhage in the classroom in the university on February 19, 1935. During his short lifetime, he salvaged reams of ancient books of Chinese folk dramas.
The brothers?descendents have been following the footsteps of their forefathers. Ma Yanxiang (1907-1988), a son of Ma Heng, was a celebrated theater director and theater theorist. In addition to taking a series of important government jobs in the field of culture, He also presided at the editing work of the Theater Volume of China Encyclopedia and helped edit The Chronicles of Chinese Theater. Ma Jian’s two sons were also actively engaged in education: Ma Meng was a professor and dean at University of Hong Kong from 1968 to 1981. He passed away this year at the age of 89. His younger brother Ma Lin was president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1978 to 1987 before he retired.
Today, more than 200 people of the Ma family have migrated to overseas, but education as a fond tradition stays as a focal point in the village. In 1998, Shengdian invested 800,000 to build a school in collaboration with a local middle school and the two partners later added another five million for constructing a dorm building and a dining hall.
(Translated by David)