Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/442

Rh half. On another occasion Li Yfl was fishing with some of his couriders, all of whom managed to catch something whereas he himself, to his great chagrin, bad not a single bite. Thereupon Li Chia-ming took a pen and wrote the following lines:

In the green pool where deep and still the darkh'ng waters lie; And if the fishes dare not touch the bait your Highness flings, They know that only dragons are a fitting sport for kings.
 * T]s rapture in the warm spring days to drop the tempting fly

Id Chiao ^ |||S (T. g |1| ). 7th and 8th cent. A.D. A native of ^ ^ Tsan-hnang in Chihli, who at the age of 15 was thoronghly conversant with the Confucian Canon. Graduating as chin ahih at the age of 20, he rapidly rose to be Censor; and in 692 he espoused the cause of Ti Jen-chieh and protested against his unjust degradation, for which he himself was relegated to the provinces. Recalled in 703, he became President of the Board of Civil 0£Sce and was ennobled as Duke. But he was dismissed to a mi^stracy by the Emperor Jui Tsung; and when on the accession of the Emperor Ming Huang he was discovered to have secretly memorialised the Empress Wu against Jui Tsung, he was still further degraded. He was famous as a poet, and was ranked as the equal of Lo Pin-wang and Liu Euang-yeh; while his essays were regarded by students as perfect models of composition.

Li Caiieh ^^. A.D. 867-904. Seventh son of Li Ts'ui. He succeeded Li Ten in 888 as nineteenth Emperor of the T'ang dynasty. Clever and energetic, he was anxious to restore the power of the sovereign which had been impaired by the eunuchs. The influence of the provincial Governors had however been too long suffered to grow, and the Court was powerless against them. China was torn by wars between rival satraps (see Li Mao^chSn^ Wang Chien^ Han Chien^ and lA K^o-yung), Societies or ^'associations of friends*' began to give trouble; and in spite of the alleged purity