Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/396

Rh A native of Wu-hsi in Eiangsu, famous for his scholarship, his artistic skill, and his belief in magic. When painting a portrait he wonld not put in the eyes for several years, declaring that expression was entirely dependent upon a man's pecuniary position. He was also noted for the way in which he ate sugar- cane, beginning at the wrong end and passing gradually, as he expressed it, into Paradise. He is sometimes spoken of as ^ j^ Tiger-head Kn, from his position as commander of the ^'tiger-head** contingent at Hu-t'ou in Hupeh. He, and Lu T'an- wei, Chang 8£ng-yu, and Wu Shdng, are regarded as the ^ |^ Four Masters in art. Author of the J^ ^ §Q.

Ku K'uang  (T.   ). 8th and 9th cent. A.D. A native of j^ §J| Hai-yen in Chehkiang, who distinguished himself as a poet, and finally went into retirement, calling himself ^ ^| ^. Upon the death of his son ^ ]^ Fei-hsiung, he seized a pen and wrote the following verses: —


 * An old man lays to rest a much-loved son
 * By day and night his teal's of blood will run,
 * Albeit when threescore years and ten have fled
 * 'Tis not a long farewell that he has said.

At this the gods of the infernal regions were touched, and allowed Fei-hsiuDg to be born again into the family. The latter, at two years of age, was able to tell how in the world below he had heard the lamentations of his father and how he was permitted to appear once more upon the earth.

Ku Li-ch'êng  (T.   or  ). Born A.D.? 1860. A native of Foochow, who was sent to -Scotland to be educated, and after six years* residence graduated as M.A. of Edinburgh in 1877. After a short and uncongenial term of service as a kind of private secretary to Sir T. Wade in Peking, he started in 1882 with Messrs Golquhoun and Wahab on their overland journey