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Rh the Emperor Huog Wa, and the Emperor Ynng Lo took him into hiB doeest counsels. In 1404 he strongly supported the claims of his Majesty *s eldest son to be made Heir Apparent, and so earned the undying hatred of the favourite son ^ ^ Kao-hsfl, Prince of HaUf who three yean later succeeded in effecting his degradation to a minor post in Kuangsi, on a false charge of revealing Palace secrets. In 1403 he had been entrusted, together with 147 literati, with the compilation of an all-comprehensive cyclopeedia, which in 1405 was presented to the Throne under the title o{ "^ j^^ j^ • Tung Lo however was dissatisfied, and a still larger Commission, under the presidency of Hsieh Chin, Tao Euang-hsiao, and ^ ^>@£ Liu Ghi-ch'ih, was appointed to collect the substance of all the classicieJ, historical, philosophical, and literary works hitherto published. This encyclopedia (see Chu TV), which comprises 22,877 sections, was completed near the close of 1407. In 1411 Hsieh Chin, who had been put in charge of the supplies for the Annam expedition at ^ Hua-chou, had occasion to make an official visit to Nanking during the absence of the Emperor on ooe of his northern campaigns, a circumstance on which his relentless enemy, Eao-hsfl, founded an accusation. He was thrown into prison, and four years later he was made drunk and buried in a heap of snow. Canonised as ^ |^.

Hsieh Chü-chêng  (T. -^^). A.D. 912-981. A native of )^ ^ Hstln-i in Honan, who graduated in 934 and entered upon a public career. He held a variety of high posts, metropolitan and provincial, and was employed for a time upon the dynastic history; but he is chiefly known as the author of the ^ j£ "f^ ^ Old HiBtory of the Five Dynasties. He was noted for his kindly, amiable disposition, and for his thrifty personal habits. He died from poisoning himself with a compound which he fancied was the elixir of life. Canonised as ^ j^ •