Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/52

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
33

1611–1634. A native of 楊園 Yang-yüan in Chehkiang, from which he came to be known as 楊園先生. His father died when he was only eight years old, and the family was left in poverty; but through his mother's assiduous care he was enabled to study, and soon became a man of profound learning. His life was spent in education and authorship. He took no part in the political struggles of his day, though his sympathies were entirely with the Mings. His house was burnt down by the rebels, and with it was destroyed the coffin containing the body of his grandfather, — an act which nearly caused him to commit suicide. His chief works were the 近古錄, in which virtue is illustrated by examples from history, the 補農書, a work on agriculture, commentaries upon the Classics, and many philosophical treatises. He was admitted to the Confucian Temple in 1871.

86Chang Li-hua 張麗華 or Chang Kuei-fei 張貴妃. 6th cent. A.D. The favourite concubine of Ch'ên Shu-pao (q. v.), last Emperor of the Ch'ên dynasty, who called her 張嫦娥 after the Goddess of the Moon (see Ch'ang O). She was renowned for her beauty, and in particular for her long glossy hair, which shone like a mirror and was said to be seven feet in length.

87Chang Li-pin 張麗殯 (otherwise called 阿元 O-yüan). 14th cent. A.D. A famous beauty in the harem of Shun Ti, the last Emperor of the Yüan dynasty, celebrated for her skill in embroidery.

88Chang Liang 張良 (T. 子房). Died B.C. 187. A native of the Hana State, in which his immediate ancestors had been Ministers for five generations. He was so chagrined at the destruction of his fatherland by the Ch'ins that he determined upon revenge, and spent the whole of his patrimony in collecting a band of bravoes, with whom he tried to slay the First Emperor by lying in ambush for him in modern Honan. The plot failed, and Chang Liang changed his name, and went into hiding in Kiangsu. There he one day