Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/789

770

2025 Tso Ju y^ "^ . A man of the Choa dynasty, who interceded witk Prince Hsfian*, B.C. 827—781, on behalf of his friend ij^i^ To Po, condemned to imprisonment for a remonstrance he had addreMed to the Throne. Prince Hsiian^ in a fit of anger ordered Ta Po to be put to death; whereupon Tso Ju committed suicide, rather than live under such a ruler.

2026 Tso Ssu :i J^ (T. ^ # ). 3rd cent. A.D. A scholar and poet of the Chin dynasty. He stammered, and was so ugly that when he appeared in the streets the girls used to spit at him • as he passed. In order to produce good poetry, he had his house fitted at every turn with tables and materials for writing; and when aoy idea occurred to him, he would instantly commit it to paper. Thus he spent ten years over a poem on the Three Kingdoms; but when it was finished, Chang Hua said with a sigh, ^^Your compositions will hardly find favour in the present age.*' However he took hif poem to Huang- fu Mi, who wrote a laudatory preface; the result being that in a short time there was a scarcity of paper in Lo- yang from the number of copies required.

2027 Tso Tsung-t*ang :^^^ (T. ^^). A.D. 1812-1885. A native of Hsiang-yin in Hunan, who graduated as chU jen in 1832 and served under TsSng Euo-fan in Hu-Euang, 1852—1854. At tlia close of 1861 he was appointed to the command of the army in Chehkiang, of which province he became Governor in 1862. He fought a stubborn campaign against the T'ai-p^ng rebels, whom he gradually drove out of the cities. In May 1863 he became Viceroy of Fuhkien and Chehkiang, in addition to his (JoTemorBhip. In 1864 Hangchow was taken, and by October 1864 Chehkiang was entirely recovered from the T*ai-p4ngs, for which services he was ennobled as Earl. In July 1865 Chang-chou in Fuhkien wtf taken; he was further entrusted with the command in Eiangs and Kuangtung; and by the end of the year the T'ai-p'ing rebellion