Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/993

974

"^Merdj to gaze upon his conntenance,'* said ^ f!g Fang Eoan, ^ eBoagh to pot an end to all longings for wealth and fiuue.** He was canonised bj his friends as ^ fj ^ ^.

YUmn Ti. See (Han) Lin Shih; (Wei) Ts'ao Huan; (Chin) Hia Jul; (Liang) Hsiao L SCS Yuan Koi-kaiig ^ ^iM- ^^ ^^- ^^^- ^ ^^^^ ^

C!i''eng-tii in SsQeh^nan, who was employed nnder the Sni dynasty im the Salt Department. After the establishment of the Tang dynasty he fonnd his way to Lo-yangy and attracted mnch attention by his powers as a physiognomist and prophet. In 627 he was snmmoned to Coart, and is said to have seen the mother of tiie future Empress Wu Hon and to have predicted for her a remarkable child. A iiurso then brought in a baby which she said was a boy nock of u phoenix. If it was a girl, she would mount the Imperial throuo/* It was the future Empress Wu Hon herself. Bb was then AHked to take office, but declined on the plea that his span of life would soon be over. To him, in conjunction with ^ ^ M, '^ Shun-f<6ng the Grand Astrologer, is attributed the popular and spurious work on prophecy, known as |^ ^ Q. He is said to have drawn the pictures while Li provided the letterpress, neither seeing the work of the other. His son •Yflan ^ fS6 KVshih • inherited his skill. When the Emperor placed a rat in a box and bade his magicians guess what was inside, all said it was a rst. "Say rather rats,'^ cried he; "for though one went in, four will come out." On opening the box it was found that the original rat had given birth to three little ones. 8568 Ytlan Tsai jc ^ (T. -^ $| ). Died A.D. 777. A native of (1^ |Jj Ch4-shan in Shensi. His surname was originally ^ Ching; it was changed by his father to that of a favourite concnbine of the Prince of ^ Ts^ao. Left an orphan he devoted himself to
 * Ahl** oriod .Vdan, ^^this child has the eyes of a dragon and tiie