Turkestan, that he had no difficulty in persuading the king of Khoten to own allegiance to China and provide him with money and troops. He advanced to Kashgar and Bactria and on through a large area of Central Asia, cutting off the heads of recalcitrant rulers and accepting the voluntary submission of others, until more than fifty of these kingdoms had submitted to the Chinese yoke. For these services he was ennobled as Marquis, thns fulfilling the words of the physiognomist. In A.D. 100 he petitioned to be allowed to retire, and his request was backed by the entreaties of his famous sister Pan Chao. After 31 years spent in Central Asia, he returned to China, where he died during the autumn, the Emperor sending his own private physician to attend him. See Kan Ying.
1599
Pan Chieh-yü 班婕妤. 1st cent. B.C. A lady of the seraglio, who was for a long time chief favourite of the Emperor Ch'êng Ti of the Han dynasty, "Chieh-yü" being a title conferred upon the Imperial concubine most distinguished for literary abilities. On one occasion the Emperor wished her to drive with him in his chariot. Upon which she said, "Your handmaid has heard that the wise rulers of the Three Dynasties of old were always accompanied by virtuous Ministers, but never that they drove out with women by their side." She was ultimately supplanted in the affections of the Emperor by the more famous Chao Fei-yen. She thereupon forwarded to the Emperor a fan, inscribed with some lines complaining bitterly that she herself had been treated like a fan in antumn,
........laid, neglected, on the shelf, All thought of bygone days, like them, bygone.
She then retired to a separate palace, in attendance upon the Empress Dowager to whom she had always been closely attached. The phrase "autumn fan" has passed into the language, and is figuratively used of a deserted wife.
1600 Pan Ku 班固 (T. 孟堅). Died A.D. 92. Son of Pan Piao.
