New History of the Five Dynasties
Traditional histories — including the official history "Old History of the Five Dynasties" and the chronicle "Zizhi Tongjian" — did not give details on Ma Shaohong's family origins, or how he became a eunuch serving under Li Cunxu, other than giving his original family name of Ma. (The other official history of the period, the "New History of the Five Dynasties", did not have a biography for him at all, making only a brief condemning reference to him at the end of the biography of his colleague Zhang Juhan.) At some point during his service of Li Cunxu, he was bestowed the Tang Dynasty imperial surname of Li (which Li Cunxu's grandfather Li Guochang had also been given), and thus became known as Li Shaohong.