Ma Xiangbo
| Ma Xiangbo SJ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | Ma Liang |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1870 |
| Rank | Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 April 1840 Dantu, Jiangsu |
| Died | 4 November 1939 (aged 99) |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Alma mater | Collège Saint-Ignace, Shanghai |
| Ma Xiangbo | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 馬相伯 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 马相伯 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Ma Xiangbo (Wade–Giles: Ma Hsiang-po; 1840–1939) was a Chinese Jesuit priest, scholar and educator in the late Qing Dynasty and Republican China. His original given name was Jianchang (建常) but was changed to Liang (良). "Xiangbo" was his courtesy name. He also adopted the Catholic name "Joseph". He was one of the founders of Aurora University, Fu Jen Catholic University and Fudan University.
Biography
Ma was born in Dantu, Jiangsu province to a prominent Catholic family. At the age of 11, he enrolled in a French Jesuit school in Shanghai, Collège Saint-Ignace (now Xuhui High School), where he remained first as student and later as teacher until 1870. In 1870, he was ordained priest in the Jesuit order. In 1886/87, he visited France and eventually devoted his life to higher education.
Ma founded the following institutions of higher learning:
- Aurora University (1903)
- Fudan University (1905)
- Catholic University of Peking, later renamed Fu Jen Catholic University, in co-operation with Ying Lianzhi.
His idea of establishing a highest body of learning was eventually realized in 1928 by his close friend, the educator Cai Yuanpei, who established the Academia Sinica.
His brother, Ma Jianzhong, was a prominent official in the Qing government.
References
- Boorman, Howard L., Richard C. Howard, and Joseph K. H. Cheng, eds. Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
- Hayhoe, Ruth, and Lu Yongling, eds. Ma Xiangbo and the Mind of Modern China 1840-1939. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1996.