^As it is often the case with the 17th and 18th-century Hui Sufi figures, the chronology of Ma Laichi's life is not set firmly. Gladney (1996) (p. 47) gives no birth year, and 1766 as the death year; Weismann (2007) (p. 83), gives no birth year, and 1753 as the death year. Lipman (1998) does not give exact years for birth and death, and emphasizes differences between different historians' chronologies (p. 67); however, adding up lengths of time intervals in his biographical account implies that Ma would be close to 48 in 1728. The Great Chinese Encyclopedia (中国大百科全书, vol. 14 宗教 (Religion), p. 255 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)) gives 1681-1766.
^Lipman (1998), p. 66. Lipman's telling of the story does not mention whether Ma Jiajun had been married already by the time of his asking for Afaq Khoja's help. One would imagine that he was already married or widowed, otherwise asking for divine intervention to get an heir would make little sense. Thus, it is not clear if he had other wives before, or simultaneously with, Ma Laichi's mother.
^These days, Tibetan-speaking Muslim communities who have been Muslim since the 18th century are officially included into the Hui ethnic group, as there is no separate official designation for them. On the other hand, should a modern Tibetan convert to Islam, he would still officially remain an ethnic Tibetan. (Lipman (1998), p. 23)
^Probably, including the group known now as Bonan. (Lipman (1998), p. 65, citing Ma Tong).