Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/740

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
721


himself in a Baddhisi temple and remained in seclasion until the Emperor's decease in the following year. While there he studied* astrology and predicted that ^*a prince would arise out of Han/' and in 947 became a Superrisiug Censor under 'the new dynasty of that name. He subsequently served under the Chou and Sung dynasties, rising to be President of the Boards of Punishment and Reyenue. On one occasion he bade a newly-purchased waiting-maid get some snow and make tea in honour of the Feast of Lanterns, asking, somewhat pompously, "Was that the custom in your old home?" "Oh no," the girl replied; "they were a rough lot. They just put up a gold-splashed awning, and had a little music and some old wine."

T'ao Tsung-i |^ ^ ^ (T. :^ J^). 14th cent A.D. A natiye 1899 of ^ ^ Huang-yen in Ohehkiang, who was so disgusted by failing at his first attempt to graduate as chin shih that he retired into private life. There in the intervals of farming he put together a number of miscellaneous jottings, published in 1368 under the title of ^ ^ ^ . These jottings consist of notes on the overthrow of the Mongols, and of remarks on poetry, painting, porcelain, etc. He also wrote the Q J^ !^ jj^ , and the |^ ^ , a collection of extracts from all departments of literature. A man of few words in ordinary life, he would talk for hours at a time on archaeology and kindred topics. In fine weather he would take a kettle of wine with him into the garden, and sit there crooning over his own poems and rubbing his hands and laughing aloud with glee. T*ao Ting R^ ^.? 6th cent. B.C. A widow of the Lu State, 1900 who refused a second husband on the ground that she could not be less faithful than the crane, in which sense she is said to have composed the song known as the ^ ^ p.

T*ao Ttlan-ming. See T*ao Chlen.

Tcheng Ell-tong ^^ ^ (T. |^^). A native of Foochow, 1901

46