672 A Chinese Biographical Dictionaryson of the Emperor Ttlan Ti, and second sovereigft at tkm * ^^"^^

dynasty. He was early distingaished for intelligasM, goo and love for literature. He was one day sitting on his &tlier^8 knee when a messenger arrived from Oh*ang-an. ^^Which is the farther off," asked his father, **Ch'ang-an or the son? "Oh, ibe sun, of course," replied the boy; '^we have people coming from Ch*ang-an, but no one ever comes from the sun." His father was so pleased with this answer that at a banquet the next day he gave him the same question again, when to his astonishment the child changed his reply to Ch^ang-an. ^*How so?" said his father angrily; *'what do you mean by this?" "Well," replied the boy, "we can see the sun, but we cannot see Ch'ang-an." Succeeding to the throne in 322, he saw his dominions redu^ on the north and west, and in 324 Wang Tun laid siege to Nanking. The latter was defeated by the Emperor and slain, but Shih Lo succeeded in extending his boundaries down to the river Huai. Canonised as

1761 Ssu-maTan fj ,B| fl (T. ^ IB.). A.D. 342-361. Son of the Emperor E^ang Ti , and fifth sovereign of the E. Chin dynasty. He ascended the throne at the age of three, and by the exertions of Huan W6n reigned not ingloriously for seventeen years. Sstich^oan was regained in 347, and in 356 Tao Hsiang was driven out of Honan, and all south of the Yellow River acknowledged the swaj of the Chins. Canonised as. ^^^^il^*

1762 Ssii-ma T'an ^ s%^' Died B.C. 110. Father of Ssu-maChien, and hereditary Grand Astrologer at the Court of the Emperor Wn Ti of the Han dynasty. An eager student of philosophy, especially of Taoism, he also planned and collected material for the Historical Record, which was completed by his more famous son. He acoom* panied the Emperor (see Liu Ch^i) on his visit to Mt. T*ai i^

Shantung for the celebration of the sacrifices to Heaven ^^^