health, he asked to be released from office. Shih-tsung consented. Unfortunately, however, Po was not to spend his old age in peace. Soon after his retirement the charge was brought that while he was governor of Kiangsi he had sought to buy public favor by paying, from his own purse, back land taxes, a deficit of about 1,300 taels, due from the merchants of four prefectures. He had done this without asking imperial permission and without even informing the throne. Furthermore, he had falsified the reports of the merchants and others who were supposed to have paid the taxes. After due deliberation Po was divested of all titles and honors; but the year after his death Emperor Shih-tsung restored his rank.
An incomplete edition of Po Huang's memorials was edited by Li Fu [q. v.] who also wrote a history of the Po family which he presented to Po's son.
[1/295/8b; 3/15/21a; 3/15/suppl.; Cha Shên-hsing [q. v.], Ching-yeh t'ang shih hsü (續) chi 1/15a for date of birth.]
Po-lo. See under Bolo.
PU-chan-t'ai. See under Bujantai.
P'U Sung-ling 蒲松齡 (T. 留仙, 劍臣, H. 柳泉, 聊齋), June 5, 1640–1715, Feb. 25, author of the famous collection of short stories known as 聊齋志異 Liao-chai chih-i and other masterpieces, was a native of Tzŭ-ch'uan, Shantung. His ancestors, P'u-lu-hun 蒲魯渾 and P'u Chü-jên 蒲居仁, served in the last two or three decades of the Yüan dynasty (1279–1368) as governors of the Pan-yang Route (般陽路, present central Shantung), their official residence being in Tzŭ-ch'uan where their tombs can still be identified. P'u-lu-hun, whose name suggests a non-Chinese origin, was probably a Mongol or came from one of the Turkish races serving under the Mongols. The other name, P'u Chu-jên, gives the impression of belonging to a later generation that had more contact with the Chinese. It is said that when Mongol rule ended in Shantung (1367–68), the descendants of this P'u family remained in Tzŭ-ch'uan, hiding in the home of a Chinese relative by the name of Yang 楊 and for a time pretending to be members of that family. Some years later they resumed the name P'u. By the end of the Ming period the clan had become very important in the district, and the name of the village was changed to P'u-chia chuang 蒲家莊. In 1592 P'u Sung-ling's grand-uncle, P'u Shêng-wên 蒲生汶, became a chin-shih and later served as magistrate of Yü-t'ien, Chihli. P'u Sung-ling's father, P'u Pan 蒲槃 (T. 敏吾, d. 1651), was a merchant and a man of some learning. In 1647 he led his clan in a successful defense of their village against a strong band of desperadoes that had taken several large cities.
In 1658 P'u Sung-ling became a hsiu-ts'ai with highest honors at the examination presided over by Shih Jun-chang [q. v.], then commissioner of education of Shantung. Thereafter P'u took the provincial examination regularly but did not qualify for the chü-jên degree. In 1685 he became a salaried licentiate of the district school and in 1710 or 1711 became a senior licentiate. In 1670 he went to Pao-ying, Kiangsu, where he was employed as secretary to the magistrate, Sun Hui 孫蕙 (T. 樹百, H. 笙生, 1632–1686), a fellow townsman and a chin-shih of 1661. In 1671 he accompanied Sun to the district of Kao-yü where Sun served for a time as acting magistrate. Later in the same year P'u relinquished his position and returned to Tzŭ-ch'uan. From 1672 onward for about twenty years he was engaged as secretary to a wealthy friend, Pi Chi-yu 畢際有 (T. 載績, H. 存吾, 1623–1693), onetime department magistrate of T'ung-chou, Kiangsu (1661–63). The rest of his life he spent in preparing for the examinations, managing the affairs of the family, teaching in the homes of local gentry, and writing short stories, poems, songs, etc. He was a member of the local poets' club, Ying-chung shih-shê 郢中詩社. In his later years his family fortune seems to have increased slightly, probably owing to the labors of his thrifty and genial wife, née Liu 劉 (Jan., 1644–1713). The two led a happy and uneventful life together, and had four sons, of whom three became licentiates. After his wife died, in 1713, P'u wrote a sketch of her life and dedicated several poems to her memory. He died two years later.
P'u Sung-ling was little known in his day, but gradually his fame spread over China and eventually to distant lands. That fame is based primarily on his remarkable collection of short stories, entitled Liao-chai chih-i. He seems to have begun writing short stories early in life, and in 1679 wrote a preface to his collection. But some of the stories must have been written or revised after that date. These stories attracted some attention while he was still living. The poet and official, Wang Shih-chên [q. v.], was
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