Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/375

356 Jung Yüan  (or ^^). A Minister under the Yellow Emperor, B.C. 2698, said to have been the inventor of bells.

K.
Ka Hsün (T.  ). 2nd cent. A.D. A native of Tunhuang in Kansuh, who graduated as hsiao lien and rose to be Governor of Han-yang. His probity made him an object of dread to Tung Cho, to whom, after the deposition of the Emperor Shao Ti and the murder of the Empress Dowager, he had written, "With congratulations at your door and lamentations at the grave, you have indeed need for caution." Tung Cho placed him upon the Privy Council, but he declined to imitate the servility of his colleagues and was soon sent to the provinces. Returning to the capital, he was taken ill and died of a carbuncle. On one occasion, an enemy of his was threatened with death. The question was referred to Ka Hsün, who advised that he should be pardoned; but when the culprit presented himself to tender thanks, Ka Hsün refused to see him, alleging that he had acted only in the interests of justice.

Kaisun Khan 海山. A.D. 1282-1311. Nephew of Timur, whom he succeeded in 1307 as third Emperor of the Yüan dynasty. Timur's wife, fearful of revenge for her ill-treatment of Kaisun and his mother and brother, tried to seize the Regency for another Prince; however the loyalty of the Junior Minister 哈剌哈孫 Harahassan foiled her plans, and she and her supporters paid for their treason with their lives. Kaisun was anxious to distinguish himself as a ruler, and was lavish of rewards and titles; but he achieved few noteworthy reforms beyond forbidding irregular official appointments, restoring the military colonies, and causing the children sold in the frequent famines to be redeemed by Government. He was slavishly devoted to Buddhism, though personally a lover of wine and women; and