Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/512

Rh girls, who gave them hemp-seed to eat; and after a stay of what appeared to them aboat six months, they returned home, to find that seTen generations had passed away.

Liu Cheng ^^ (T. ^ ^). 2nd and 3rd cent. A.D. A native of Tung-p^ng in Shantung, who flourished as a poet and military commander at the close of the Han dynasty. He rose to high office under the great Ts^ao Ts^ao, but was put to death for daring to cast his eye upon one of his master's concubines. Hence the phrase 7^ ^ ^ ^ |^ = to be amorously inclined. Is ranked as one of the Seven Scholars of the Chien-an period (see Hsu Kan),

Liu Ch'eng-Ohtill ^jfc^. Died A.D. 968. Second son of Liu Min, whom he succeeded in 955 as second ruler of the Northern Han State. He paid the penalty of his father's league with the Eitan Tartars. The latter practically controlled the administration all through his reign, and no steps could be taken without their sanction.

Idu Chi ^ ^. 11th cent. A.D. A scholar of the Sung dynasty, fond of using strange phraseology, which was much reprobated by the great Ou-yang Hsiu. When the latter was Grand Examiner, one of the candidates sent in a doggerel triplet, as follows: —


 * The universe is in labour,
 * All things are produced,
 * And among them the Sage.

^'This must be Liu Chi," cried Ou-yang, and ran a red-ink pen through the composition, adding these two lines:


 * The undergraduate jokes,
 * The examiner ploughs.

Later on, about the year 1060, Ou-yang was very much struck by the essay of a certain candidate, and placed him first on the