Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/328

Rh his brother HsQ ^ Ch4en, who rose to some distinction, were known as the Two Dragons of P^ng-yQ.

Hsü Shên (T.) Died A.D.? 120. A native of ^ 1^ Shao-ling in modern Honan. He graduated as hsiao lien and studied under Chia E'uei, with whose name he is often associated in literature. After holding o£5ce for a short time, he retired into private life and devoted himself to books. He was a deep student of the Five Claesics; and discovering discrepancies in the criticisms of these books, he wrote his 3£ j|^ ^ ^ i & work which gave rise to the popular sajing '^On the Five Classics Hsfl Shu-chung is without his peer." But it is by his Shuo Win that he is now known. This was a collection, with short explanatory notes, of all the characters — about ten thousand — which were to be found in Chinese literature as then existing, written in what is now known as the Lesser Seal style. It is the oldest Chinese dictionary of which we have any record, and forms the basis of all modern etymological research. It is arranged under 540 radicals which were called into existence for that purpose, and its chief object was to exhibit the hieroglyphic character of Chinese writing. Being not quite finished at his death, it was completed by his son HsU *f^ Cheung and in A.D. 121 was laid before the Emperor An Ti. In 1875 his tablet was placed in the Confucian Temple.

Hsü Shih  or Hsü Fu. 3rd cent. B.C. A native of the Ch4 State, who persuaded the First Emperor to send out an expedition, accompanied by several thousand young men and women, to search for the Isles of the Blest which were supposed to be inhabited by Immortals.

Hsü Shih-lin (T.   H.  ). A.D. 1684- 1741. The first of the two Governors of provinces admitted to the Temple of Worthies, "to encourage the others." He was famed for his judicial acumen and for his disregard of the ordinary pleasures of life.