892 Hung Kua (T. :^'f|^). A.D. 1117—1184. Eldest son of Hung Hao. He and his two brothers, Hong Tsnn and Hung Mai, were all distinguished public servants and men of letters, being popularly known as the ^ ^^ Three Hnngs. He graduated in 1142, and by 1164 he was a secretary in the Privy Council and rapidly rose to be a Minister of State, but resigned his post in a few months. Author of the ^ ^ , a collection of inscriptions of the Han dynasty, published in 1167, to which he afterwards added a supplement. Canonised as J^ ]^ •
893 Hung Liang-chi (T. ft ^)- ^'^' 1746-1809. A natiye of Anhui, who did not graduate until 1790, becoming Literary Chancellor of Eueichou in 1792. He got into trouble for attacking the high officials, but was pardoned after a hundred days spent in Hi. Of a jovial disposition, foud of wine and laughter, he was also a man of wide learning and great poetical talents. He was the author of the ^ ^f^ ^, and of other works on the Classics; also of the ^J^^M^MM^ » geography of the empire, and of a collection of poems. He gave himself the name of M^^^t-
894 Hung Mai (T. ^ ^. E. S^^y A.D. 1124-1203. Third son of Hung Hao, and one of the ^Three Hungs" (see Hung Kua). Graduating in 1145, he served against the Chins^, and in 1162 he was sent to congratulate the Chin^ Emperor Shih Tsung on his accession. He refused however to adopt the slavish attitnde which had been exacted from previous envoys, and returned, after having been shut up for three days without food in Peking, only to be degraded. In 1167 he was made a secretary in the Privy Council, and then a sub-Chancellor of the Han-lin College, as a reward for restoring discipline in the Chehkiang forces. He was the author of several works; among others, of the a collection of extracts from the national literature, with criticisms
