Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ma Su
MA Su 馬驌 (T. 宛斯 and 驄御), Feb.1, 1621–1673, Aug. 15, scholar, a native of Tsou-p'ing, Shantung, was a chin-shih of 1659. After serving as police magistrate in Huai-an, Kiangsu, he became district magistrate of Ling-pi, Anhwei. He is best known as the compiler of the 繹史 I-shih, an encyclopedic history of China from earliest antiquity to the close of the Ch'in dynasty (206 B.C.), which was printed in 1670 in 160 chüan. It is a collection of extracts drawn from many sources, arranged chronologically under various heads, to each of which is appended the author's own conclusions. Ku Yen-wu [q. v.] praised it for the richness of its materials. It is traditional in its approach, incorporating many legendary ideas.
Ma Su likewise left a work on the Tso-chuan under the title Tso-chuan shih-wei (事緯), 12 + 8 chüan, which was printed in 1804. It was reedited by Li T'iao-yüan [q. v.] into 4 chüan, and with the title altered to 春秋左傳會要 Ch'un-ch'iu Tso-chuan hui-yao, was printed in Li's collectanea Han-hai (1882 edition). Ma is known to have left another work, entitled 十三代緯書 Shih-san-tai wei-shu which, according to Li Wên-tsao (see under Chou Yung-nien) was in the form of a collectanea containing 222 items, all written in the period from the Chou to the Sui dynasties inclusive. He was given unofficially the posthumous title, Wên-chieh 文介. Owing to his knowledge of, and his interest in, ancient history he was nicknamed Ma San-tai (馬三代) or "Ma of the Three Dynasties"—the dynasties before 255 B.C.
[1/487/4a; 3/218/47a, including epitaph by Shih Jun-chang [q. v.]; Tsou-p'ing-hsien chih (1696) 7/36b, (1836) 15/60b; Ssŭ-k'u 49/7a; Wang Shih-chên [q. v.], Ch'ih-pei ou-t'an 9/16b; Li Wên-tsao, 南澗集 Nan-chien chi 下/15a; Wylie, Notes p. 28.]