Tang-chon in Kiangsu when Fa Chien approached at ihe head of a large army and Nanking was in a state of panic. Under his directions, Hsieh ^ Shih and Hsieh ^ Hstianf his brother and nephew, went to oppose the invader, and the reenlt oi the conflict was awaited with the keenest anxiety by all, Hsieh An was playing a game of tvei ch^i when a dispatch arrived from the seat of war, saying that the enemy had been completely rooted. He read it nnmoved; and when a gaest asked him what the news was, he replied, ^'Merely that my boys have defeated the rebels." He then finished the game and retired to his private apartments, where for the first time he gave way to emotions of joy. From his preference for a life of cnltnred leisure he earned the sobriquet of J5[ j/j^ S^ JHQ the Refined Minister. During his last iUness he dreamt oi a cock; and this was a presage of death, for during that year Jupiter was in the sign of the cock. Canonised as ^ d||.
725
Hsieh Ch'ao-tsung . 4th cent. A.D. A distingaiahed
writer, who was said by the Emperor Hsiao Wn of the Chin
dynasty to '^have the plumage of the phoenix." His poems in five
characters to the line were also said to be "as lovely as the budding
hibiscus." Another version makes him a typically worthy son under
the Sung dynasty, of whom one Hsieh ^ Chuang said, '*He has
the phoenix plumage," phoenix being the personal name of his father.
726
Hsieh Chi 薛稷 (T. 嗣通). 7th and 8th cent. A.D. He
graduated as chin shih, and rose by 709 to be a Censor. Later on
he became President of the Board of Rites and was ennobled as
Duke; but in consequence of being privy to a serious political
movement, he was forced to commit suicide. An artist of no mean
order, he was noted all over the empire as a calligraphist.
727
Hsieh Chin (T. i^^). A.D. 1869-1415. A native
of Chi-shui in Eiangsi, who graduated as chin shih in 1388 and
