Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/776

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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
757


On reaching manhood he sank into utter sensualism, and in 254 he was quietly deposed as unfit to rule. He then reverted to his title of Prince of Ch^i, which was afterwards changed to 3|J 1^ ^ . He was canonised as j|| ^ , and is known in history

Ts'ao Fu-hsing W ^ jPt- ^^^ ^®°^- ^'^' ^ °^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^'^

Principality of Wu, who was reckoned the greatest painter of his day. Commissioned by Sun Chilian to paint a screen he accidentally made a blot on it, and then turned the blot into a fly so skilfully that Sun Ch^^an tried to fillip it away. He painted a picture of a red dragon which he had seen playing on the surface of a ri?er; and later on, during a time of drought, this dragon was brought forth and cast into the river, the result being that rain fell immediately in great quantities.

Ts*ao Hou ^ j^. Died A.D. 1079. The Empress Ts'ao, wife 1998 of the Emperor Jen Tsung of the Sung dynasty. During the illness of the Emperor Ting Tsung, shortly after his accession, she was appointed Regent and directed public affairs with great wisdom, conferring with her Ministers from behind the protection of a curtain. She struggled to retain her power too long, but was ultimately forced to give it up by the unyielding firmness of Han Ch'i.

Ts*ao Hsien W M • ^^^ *°^ '^^^ ^®^*- ^•^- ^ centenarian of 1999 Chiang-tu in Kiangsu, who held a literary appointment under the Sui dynasty but declined to serve in a like capacity under the Emperor T*ai Tsung of the T*ang dynasty, preferring a life of study at home. If however the Emperor met with a difficult word or phrase in his reading, he used to send a special messenger to Ts'ao Hsien in order to have it explained. He was celebrated for bis learning, especially in the antiquities of the Chinese language, and wrote the ^ ^ ^ |^ i ^ treatise on etymology, and other