Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/42

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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
23

some to have been the son of Chang Tao-ling. He graduated as chü jen about A.D. 100, but declined to take office, and gave himself up to scientific studies. The Emperor An Ti, hearing of his fame, summoned him to Court and appointed him Grand Historiographer. The Emperor Shun Ti continued him in this post, and subsequently advanced him to still higher rank. He constructed an armillary sphere, and wrote a treatise on astronomy, entitled 靈憲, besides poetry and miscellaneous treatises.

56Chang Hêng-ch'ü 張横渠. A teacher of old, who when expounding the Canon of Changes, always had a tiger's skin spread for himself to sit upon.

57Chang Hsien 張仙. A divine being, worshipped under the Sung dynasty by women desirous of offspring. See Hua-jui Fu-jen.

58Chang Hsien-chung 張獻忠. 17th cent. A.D. A noted rebel at the close of the Ming dynasty, and rival to Li Tzŭ-ch'êng. In 1628 he headed a band of freebooters in the Yen-an Prefecture in Shensi, and for the following ten years had a chequered career in Hu-Kuang and Anhui, sometimes at the head of a large army and living like a ruling sovereign, sometimes a hunted fugitive with a price upon his head. When Li Tzŭ-ch'êng started for Peking in 1643, Chang invaded Ssŭch'uan and speedily made himself master of the province. For the next five years he reigned as Emperor of the West, until at length the Manchus attacked him and he was killed in battle. He is chiefly known as one of the most murderous ruffians who have disgraced the annals of China.

59Chang Hsü 張旭 (T. 伯高). 8th cent. A.D. A native of Soochow in Kiangsu, who flourished as a poet under the T'ang dynasty. He was one of the Eight Immortals of the Winecup (see Li Po), and is celebrated in the poems of Tu Fu and Kao Shih. He was distinguished as a calligraphist, and could turn out beautiful specimens of the "grass" character even when far gone in liquor,