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Ma Shitu

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Ma Shitu
Ma Shitu
Birth: 14 January 1915
Shibao Township, Zhong County, Sichuan, China
Death: 28 March 2024
Sichuan, China
Age: 109 years, 73 days
Country: ChinaCHN
Centenarian

Ma Shitu [Chinese: 马识途; pinyin: Mǎ Shítú] (17 January 1915 – 28 March 2024) was a retired Chinese politician and novelist. He was the president of the Sichuan Writers Association.

Biography[]

Ma Shitu was born in Shibao Township, Zhong County, Sichuan, China (then Republic of China) on 17 January 1915 (3 December 1914 by lunar calendar). He had around four siblings. In July 1936, he entered National Central University, where he majored in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Ma was twice married. His first wife was killed by the Kuomintang.

His older brother Ma Shihong (Chinese: 马士弘; 1911–2016) lived to be 105 and his younger brother Ma Zichao died in 2018 at the age of 95.

Career[]

During school days, he joined the underground party organization of the Communist Party of China. In March 1938, he joined the Communist Party of China. He founded the Public Newspaper with Hu Sheng in Hankou, Hubei.

In 1939, Ma was appointed party secretary of Western Hubei District. Because the party organization was destroyed by the Kuomintang, he fled to Chongqing in 1941 and then was accepted to National Southwestern Associated University. In 1946, he became party secretary of Chuankang District.

After founding of the Communist State in 1949, he served successively as deputy director of the Organization Department of the CPC Western Sichuan District Committee, director of the Construction Department of Sichuan, director of the Construction Commission, secretary of the party group of the Southwest Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Southwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission.

Ma joined the China Writers Association in 1962. In 1972, he was deputy head of the Propaganda Department of CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, and served until 1978, when he was appointed vice president of the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its party branch secretary.

He was a delegate to the 6th and 7th National People's Congress.

Later Life[]

In 1983, Ma published the fiction Stealing Official Position [Chinese: 盗官记]; the book was later adaptated as a movie, Let the Bullets Fly, by Jiang Wen, and released in 2010.

On 5 July 2020, in Chengdu, Sichuan, Ma announced that he would no longer write. In December 2021, he made a donation for the Ma Shitu Literary Award.

Ma Shitu died in Sichuan, China on 28 March 2024 at the Age of 109 years, 71 days.

Gallery[]

References[]

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