Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/665

646 to him that he replaced the childleas wife of his poverty by t concnbiae who bore him a sod. His personal name was originallf j^ I-lun. The I was omitted because it formed part of ikb name of the Emperor T^ai Tsung.

1695 Shen Nung ^ :^ • A legendary Emperor, said to have reigned B.C. 2838—2698. He was born upon the river ^ Chiang, finom which he derived his surname, and was the son of a Prinee« named ^ ^ An-t£ng, by whom he was miraculously conceived through the influence of a heavenly dragon. He received the designations ^ ^ and ^ ^, and is also knovm as ^ ^J ^ from the place where he lived. He is said to have taught the art of agriculture, to have discovered the medicinal properties of plants, from which he is known as ^ ^, and to have established a system of barter. Canonised as j^ ^ •

1696 Shen Pao-oheng ^li ^ ^ <T. ^ ^ and ^ :^). A.D. 1819 — 1879. In 1854 he was a Censor at Peking, and after serviog for some time at Eiukiang where his successes against the T'ai- p'ings attracted much notice, he was appointed Qovernor of Eiangd in 1862, and for two years kept up supplies to the armies before Nanking and in Fuhkien and Chehkiang. On the fall of Nanking in 1864 the T*ai-p4ng princes entered Eiangsi, but were again and again defeated, and Hung Fu-t4en, the son and successor of the Heavenly King, was taken prisoner. In 1867 he became Director of the Foochow Arsenal, which he started with the aid of M. Prosper Giquel, though in the face of much opposition, the first vessel being completed in 1869 and sent to Tientsin to be inspected. In 1874 political complications with the Japanese led to his mission to Formosa, the administration of which was greatly improved by him. In November 1875 he was appointed Viceroy at Nanking, where he was frequently called upon to take part in questions involving the status and rights of foreigners, especially in tiie