Ma Shitu

Ma Shitu (17 January 1915 – 28 March 2024) was a Chinese politician and novelist. He was president of the Sichuan Writers Association.

Biography
Ma Shitu was born in Shibao Township, Zhong County, Sichuan, on 17 January 1915. In July 1936, he entered National Central University, where he majored in the Department of Chemical Engineering. During school days, he joined the underground party organisation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In March 1938 he joined the CCP. He founded the Public Newspaper with Hu Sheng in Hankou, Hubei. In 1939 he 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 the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Chuankang District.

After founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he served successively as deputy director of the Organization Department of the CCP 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 CCP Central Committee, and deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission. He joined the China Writers Association in 1962. In 1972, he was deputy head of the Propaganda Department of CCP 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 committee secretary. On July 5, 2020, in Chengdu, Sichuan, Ma announced that he would no longer write.

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

Personal life and death
Ma was twice married. His first wife was killed by the Kuomintang. He died at 19:25 on 28 March 2024, at the age of 109.

Adaptations
His fiction, Stealing Official Position (盗官记), was made into a phenomenally successful film by Jiang Wen in 2010.