Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/492

Rh 論篆, a short treatise on the formation of the Seal character. When Magistrate of 縉雲 Chin-yün in Chehkiang in A.D. 768, he is said to have obtained rain by threatening the City God with the destruction of his temple unless his prayers were answered within three days.

  Li Yen 李炎. A.D. 814-846. Fifth son of Li Hêng, and brother of Li Han, whom he succeeded, after slaying another brother, in 840 as fifteenth Emperor of the T'ang dynasty. His short reign was marked by the enforcement of a more extended control over several of the provincial Governors. Canonised as 武宗皇帝.

  Li Yen 李儼. A.D. 862-888. Fifth son of Li Ts'ui, whom he succeeded in 878 as eighteenth Emperor of the T'ang dynasty. A mere boy, he left the government to his eunuch favourite T'ien Ling-tzŭ and devoted himself to sport and amusement and also to music and mathematics. The officials and eunuchs struggled for power, and the people were neglected; so that in 874 a rebel appeared in Shantung and was joined the following year by Huang Ch'ao, who was soon at the head of a vast force. In 880 Huang entered Ch'ang-an and assumed the Imperial title, the Emperor fleeing to Hsing-yüan in Shensi, and in 881 to Ssŭch'uan. Li K'o-yung and others rallied to the aid of the sovereign, and by means of Tartar mercenaries the rebellion was suppressed in 884. In 885, on the approach of Li K'o-yung to the capital, he was forcibly carried off by T'ien to Hsing-yüan, from which he returned in 887 to Fêng-hsiang, the capital having been utterly ruined in the wars. In 879 南詔 Nan-chao in modern Yünnan formally renounced its allegiance to China. Canonised as 僖宗皇帝.

  Li Yen-nien 李延年. 2nd cent. B.C. A native of 中山 Chung-shan in Chihli. He was one of a family of actors, and for some crime or other had suffered mutilation. His sister, known as