Born c. 1850, he was a leading shaykh of the Jahriyya menhuan and a direct descendant of its founder Ma Mingxin. After the suppression of the 1895 Gansu Muslim uprising he rebuilt the shattered Jahriyya organization and moved its headquarters to Zhangjiachuan in eastern Gansu; his followers called him the 'New Prophet.' He died on 16 December 1920 together with his son when a mosque collapsed in the Haiyuan earthquake. His tomb at Xuanhuagang near Zhangjiachuan is a principal Jahriyya shrine. (Sources: en.wikipedia.org 'Ma Yuanzhang' & 'Ma Hualong'; J. Lipman, Familiar Strangers)