Ma Fuxiang - Donations To Education

Donations To Education

Ma Fuxiang, along with Ma Linyi, sponsored Imam Wang Jingzhai when he went on hajj to Mecca in 1921.

Ma Fuxiang supported Imam Hu Songshan.

Ma built many elementary and high schools for Muslims throughout northwest China. He founded the Association for the Promoting of Islamic Teaching in 1918 in the provincial capital of Gansu. Ma Fuxiang funded both the Yuehua and Beijing's Xibei Gongxue (the Northwestern Middle School) for fostering Hui intellectuals who would contribute to nation-building and the development of the Northwest. He believed that modern education would help Hui Chinese build a better society and help China resist foreign imperialism and help build the nation. He had both the military authority and economic power to help fund education. He donated 100 yuan every month to education until his death in 1932. He established a public library in Ningxia, and sponsored various Muslim schools. He was a Chinese nationalist and a Confucianist, and was praised for his "guojia yizhi" (national consciousness) by non-Muslims. He also invested in new editions of Confucian and Islamic texts. He edited "Shuofang Daozhi". a gazette, and books such as "Meng Cang ZhuangKuang: Hui Bu Xinjiang fu".

A new edition of a book by Ma Te-hsin, "Ho-yin Ma Fu-ch'u hsien-sheng i-shu Ta hua tsung kuei Ssu tien yaohui", which was printed in 1865, was reprinted in 1927 by Ma Fuxiang.

Yunting (雲亭) was the courtesy name of Ma Fuxiang. A school, the Yunting Provincial Normal School, was named after him.