Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/158

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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
139


3^ 3ti Wang-knang. It is recorded in the fS^ ^ i^ that when only fifteen years of age he was Minister in the Ch'u State, and that Confocias (who was not then born!) sent to make enquiries about him. The messenger returned and said that in the Terandah he had seen twenty-five refined scholars, and in the hall twenty-fire old men. *The wisdom of twenty-fire scholars,*' cried Confucius, "is more than that of Ch'dng T'ang or Wu Wang, and twenty-five old men are more than equal to P'6ng Tku!" In B.C. 635 he went into exile with Ch'ung Erh, and returned with him nineteen years afterwards, when the latter came to the throne as Duke ^ W6n of Chin. In the distribution of rewards which ensued, he seems to have been overlooked; although on one occasion, in the days of exile, he had cut a piece o£F his thigh to feed his starving master. He retired with bis mother to the {^ J^ Mien-shang mountain, disdaining to remind the prince of his services; but his friends posted a notice on the palace gates, calling attention to the neglect of a faithful adherent. The prince then set to work to find him, but without success. He died in his retirement; and then, as an act of atonement to his memory, the name of the Mien-shang mountain was changed to Mt. Chieh. According to a later legend, when he flatly refused to leave his mountain retreat, the prince, in mistaken kindness, caused the wood which covered the mountain fe be set on fire, in order to smoke him out. But Chieh and Us mother clasped hands around the trunk of a tree, and perished in the flames. [The origin of the Cold-meat Festival has been erroneously attributed to the tragic fate of Chieh Chih-t'ui.]

354 Chieh Kuei . Died B.C. 1763. The last Emperor of the Esia dynasty. He came to the throne B.C. 1818, and for many years indulged in cruel brutality and lust almost unparalleled

in history. He spent vast sums of money merely to amuse his