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154 his private house, and conferred distinctions apon his wife and children. He himself was several times ennobled; finally, in 1147, as Duke. In 1150 an attempt was made to assassinate him; af^er which he was allowed to come to Coart in a sedan-chair, and in consequence of ill-health was excused the usual prostrations. When on his death-bed, the Emperor went to enquire after his health and gave orders that he should be raised to the rank of a Prince; but that very night he died. He was posthumously ennobled as Prince, and canonised as J^ j^ in token of his unshaken loyalty. But the Chinese people could never forgive him for surrendering their soil, coupled with his official murder of the patriot To Fei, who opposed him. Exactly fifky years after his death his patent of princely nobility was cancelled, and the glorious phrasing of his canonisation was changed into ^ ^ False and FoiU. Worse than that. Posterity took his name — cherished possession of all high-spirited men — and contemptuously bestowed it upon a spittoon !

Ch'in Mi  (T. -^ |^ ). Died A J). 226. A learned scholar, who for a long time refused to take office. An envoy from the Kingdom of Wu being sent to obtain his services, the latter enquired of him, "Has God a head?" "Do not the Odes tell us," replied Ch'in, "that He beholds this lower world in majesty?" "Has He ears?" asked the envoy. "Do not the Odes tell us," replied Gh4n, "that God on high hearkens unto the lowly?" "Has He feet?" continued the envoy. "Do not the Odes tell us," replied Ch*in, "that the way of God is hard and difficult?" "Has He a surname?" asked the envoy. "Yes," replied Gh'in, "His name is Liu." "How do you know that?" enquired the envoy. "Because that," replied Chin, "is the name of the Son of God." By this term he referred to the newly proclaimed Emperor, the great opponent of the Wu Kingdom, Liu Pei, under whom he subsequently became Minister of Agriculture.