143 years ago today, June 24, 1882 (the ninth day of the fifth lunar month), demographer Ma Yinchu was born.

Portrait of Mr. Ma Yinchu, a famous scholar and President of Peking University

On June 24, 1882, Ma Yinchu was born in a family that opened a wine workshop in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. At the age of 20, he went to the United States to study and studied economics. He was the first scholar in my country to study economics abroad and obtain a doctorate. After returning to China, he served as a professor at Peking University, Central University, Jiao Tong University, Chongqing University, and Zhejiang University. He also served as the dean and provost of the Department of Economics at Peking University.

In old China, Ma Yinchu was not only a renowned economist, but also a heroic and unyielding democracy fighter. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, at the critical juncture of the national crisis, he stood up, wrote articles and gave speeches against bureaucratic capitalism and inflation, against the betrayal of national interests and dictatorship. Because of these patriotic acts, Ma Yinchu was persecuted by the Kuomintang reactionaries and imprisoned in concentration camps for several years. But he did not give in and always persisted in the struggle to love the country and the people.

Ma Yinchu is an old friend of the Communist Party of China. As he himself said, he has "been with the Communist Party all the time" since 1939. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he used his expertise as a scholar and made suggestions as a master.

In the mid-1950s, due to the recovery and development of the national economy, people's lives improved significantly, the population mortality rate dropped, and the natural growth rate surged. Just before most people had noticed the population issue, Mr. Ma Yinchu first put forward a proposal on population control at the fourth session of the First National People's Congress held in July 1957. This is the so-called "New Population Theory."

Mr. Ma Yinchu advocated that we have a planned economy and should have family planning, and put forward three very specific suggestions, suggesting that our country's population policy be determined, the benefits of birth control and late marriage be promoted, and population growth be controlled. The basic idea of the "New Population Theory" is to further improve the people's material and cultural living standards by controlling population development. After more than 30 years of social practice, Ma Yinchu's "New Population Theory" viewpoint has been proved to be correct, and many propositions are feasible. To this day, it is useful for us to study population theory, promote family planning, control population growth, and promote the four modernizations. Construction, still has an important reference role.

Mr. Ma Yinchu is also a famous educator. He has worked hard in the educational garden for more than 60 years, and the world is full of peaches and plums. After liberation, he was enthusiastic about education and repeatedly emphasized that in running education, we must "learn new ideas and establish a stance of serving the people.""Only on the basis of common political thoughts can all teachers and students unite, sincerely help each other, and cultivate a meeting. Specialized technical talents that meet practical requirements." He defended the leadership of the Communist Party of China over education and once argued against the erroneous trend of thought that did not want the leadership of the Party. When he became honorary president of Peking University again, he said with a smile: "Peking University, with a glorious tradition, will make new contributions to the realization of the four modernizations under the leadership of the Communist Party of China in the future."