Most likely you do not know who is Mr Ma Yifu, a genuine intellectual in modern China.  Please read his story at: https://www.toutiao.com/a6560016301517963779/.

There were many of his contemporary celebrities named Ma who were also great intellectuals: 馬相伯, 馬君武, and so on.  (A bad, lascivious Ma, too.  馬步芳) There is much younger Ma in Taiwan, who would have been an outstanding scholar or a capable statesman, but eventually he has become a bumbler: 馬英九.