A Chinese Biographical Dictionary 343
to conclude a treaty of peace, he tried to seize Hun Chan who escaped with difficulty. The latter retaiued his post as Minister of State until his death. He was ennobled as Prince, and canonised as
884 Hung-chi-la . Died A.D. 1281. The Empress of Kublai Khan. She aided in the establishment of his power, and he owed much to her wise counsels. She was most economical, even plaiting old bow-strings into clothing and making rugs out of the rejected parts of sheep-skins! She sympathised with the fallen Sungs, reminding her husband of the transitory nature of all dynasties, and refused to take any of the Imperial booty which she said "had been amassed for their descendants and now has fallen to us.-" She treated the ex-Empress with great kindness, and tried to send her back to the south. Her family distinguished itself under Genghis Ehan, who entered into a covenant that a daughter of that house should always be Empress, and a son an Imperial son-in-law. Consequently most of the Tiian Empresses were of the Hung- chi-la family.
885 Hung Chüeh-fan 洪覺範. 11th and 12th cent. A.D. A native of 新昌 Hsin-ch'ang, and grandson of Hung Hao. Distinguished as a poet and a calligraphist. He and his fellow-townsman, 鄒元佐 Tsou Yüan-tso, a professor of divination, together with his uncle, P'êng Yüan-ts'ai, were known as the 三奇 Three Wonderful Men of Hsin-ch'ang. He finally took orders as a Buddhist priest, and was known as 惠洪 Hui Hung, under which name he wrote the 冷齋夜話, the 甘露集, and the 林間錄.
886 Hung Chün . A.D.? 1840-1893. A native of Soochow, who graduated as first chin shih in 1868, and in 1887 was appointed Minister to Russia, Austria, Germany, and Holland. In 1890 he was a Senior Vice President of the Board of War, and at the
