Biography
According to his friend and contemporary poet and philosopher Fu Xuan (217-278 AD), Ma Jun was born in Fufeng, located in the Wei River valley between Wugong and Baoji. In his youth Ma Jun traveled throughout modern day Henan province, and obtained a minor literary degree, or bo shi. Despite this degree, Ma Jun was relatively poor in his youth, yet found means to gain recognition by employing his natural genius in creating mechanical contraptions and inventions.
Ma Jun was a somewhat distinguished official serving under the northern state of Wei, becoming a Policy Review Advisor (Ji Shi Zhong). Ma Jun once oversaw the construction of Chong Hua's palace, under the orders of Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui. Ma Jun was very well known in Wei as a very gifted designer of weapons and certain types of contraptions, and was praised especially by Fu Xuan in an essay of his. Fu Xuan noted that Ma Jun was not the best orator or master of rhetorics, and had trouble conveying his ideas to others with his somewhat introverted personality. Nonetheless, he gained fame for his mechanical genius, and is universally considered one of the greatest mechanical engineers of ancient China.
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