Ma Pu-ch'ing ( 1898-), Chinese Muslim general. He was the elder brother of Ma Pu-fang. The elder brother of Ma Pu-fang (q.v.), Ma Pu-ch'ing was born in Linhsia (Hochow), Kansu. After receiving his primary education in the Chinese classics, he enrolled at the Kansu First Provincial Middle School. About 1916 he entered military service as commander of the 1st Battalion of the Ninghai Army Cavalry Patrol. He subsequently became commander of the entire infantry and cavalry force of the Ninghai Army. In 1922 he became Fourth Route defense commissioner in Suiyuan province, and in 1923, having attained the rank of brigadier general, he received command of a cavalry regiment in the 5th Mixed Brigade. Then, as commander of the Ninghai Temporary Cavalry Brigade, he worked to suppress banditry and unrest in Kansu and the Kokonor region. Ma Pu-ch"ing joined the National Revolutionary Army in 1928 as commander of the Temporary 77th Brigade of the 26th Division in the Second Group Army of Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.). The following year, Feng appointed him commander of the 65th Brigade of the 22nd Division and garrison commander at Loyang. Although Ma participated in Feng's anti- Nanking campaigns of 1929 and 1930, he was not removed from command by the National Gov'ernment during the 1931 reorganization of Feng's troops. Instead, he received command of the 26th Division, with the rank of lieutenant general. In 1932 he returned to his home province to take command of the Kansu 1st Cavalry Division. He again became concerned with bandit suppression and the maintenance of peace when that unit was reorganized as the Nationalist New 2nd Cavalry Division, with garrison station in the Hohsi region. In 1936 Ma Pu-ch'ing became the commander of the Nationalist 5th Cavalry Division. He remained in the Hohsi area and prevented Chinese Communist forces from entering it later in 1936. In addition to military measures, he undertook such projects as reforestation and the expansion of educational facilities. He reportedly prohibited opium and wine production in the Hohsi region in 1937. About the time that the Sino-Japanese war broke out, his unit was reorganized as the Fifth Cavalry Army. Also in 1937 Ma became director of the Kansu- Sinkiang highway, with the task of transforming an ancient camel trail into a modern paved road to be used in the transport of war supplies from the Soviet Union. He accomplished this task in three years. Ma then was appointed reclamation commissioner of the Tsaidam region of Tsinghai province in 1942. His younger brother. Ma Pu-fang, was governor of Tsinghai, and they worked closely and well together. In 1943 Ma Pu-ch'ing became deputy commander in chief, serving under his brother, of the Fortieth Group Army and a member of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.

In the postwar period Ma Pu-ch'ing's fortunes declined. His Fifth Cavalry Army, which was ordered to Sinkiang in 1945 to fight rebellious Turki forces, was reorganized and removed from his command after its arrival in Sinkiang. The following year, the Fortieth Group Army was disbanded, leaving Ma without a military post. He accompanied the Nationalists to Taiwan in 1949 and became an adviser to the ministry of defense of the National Government in Taiwan.