Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/540

Rh succeeded in B.C. 48 as ninth sovereign of the Han dynasty. He was a precocious youth, and when only eight years of age he took upon himself to remonstrate with his father upon the excessive severity of punishment in vogue. The latter was far from pleased, and predicted that this son would bring ruin upon the House of Han, — a prediction which was not fulfilled. He was a mild and humane ruler, fond of history, and skilled in several musical instruments. Canonised as 孝元皇帝,

  Liu Shih 柳氏. 7th cent. A.D. The wife of an official named 任環 Jen Huan. Upon the Emperor T'ai Tsung presenting her husband with two pretty concubines, she cut off their hair and made them bald. The Emperor then sent a potion which he commanded her to drink, and which he said would cause instant death if she was jealous; adding that if she was not jealous she need not drink it. Without hesitation she drank it off, saying that death would be preferable to such a life; and the Emperor was so much struck by her heroism and devotion that he advised Jen Huan to remove the young ladies from his house.

  Liu Shou-kuang 劉守光. Died A.D. 912. Son of Liu Jen-kung. He debauched his father's favourite concubine; and when punished for this, he seized his father and kept him in confinement, subsequently defeating and killing his elder brother who had come to the rescue. In 911 he threw off his allegiance to the Liang dynasty, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Great Yen State. In the following year Chou Tê-wei was sent against him, and succeeded in taking his capital. He fled with two of his wives, but lost his way and was captured and slain. His father was seized by Chou Tê-wei, and was shortly afterwards beheaded.

  Liu Shu 劉恕 (T. 源道). A.D. 1052-1078. The son of an official who was too inflexibly upright for public life, and who retired to seclusion on a mountain in Ssŭch'uan, where he ended