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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary


to Yd, entered the service of the Duke. When the Ya State wag destroyed by the Chins, who had ' 'borrowed a passage through" in order to attack the Kuo State, he was carried off to the Chin State. An indignity was there put upon him and he fled to the Ch^n State, but was captured on the way by some ruffians belonging to the Ch'u State. The Duke of Ch4n however knew his value (see ChHn Hsi), and sent to ransom him, offering only five rams* skius so as to make it appear that he was an unimportant personage. He was then seventy years of age, yet he became Minister in the Ch4n State and conducted its affairs with such wisdom that on his death men and women shed tears, boys ceased to sing songs, and the sound of the rice-mortar was hushed. When he first became a fugitive, he left his wife behind; and she, having nothing to live upon, wandered to the Ch4n State where she supported herself for some years as a washerwoman. Hearing later on of her husband's elevation, she was afraid to say anything ; but one day when he was indulging in some music she presented herself, and asked to be allowed to sing before him. Her request being granted, she seized a lute and sang as follows:

Po-li Hsi of ram-skin fame,
Have you forgotten how we cooked the hen
At parting, by burning the window-frame?
You are richer now than you were then,
And you think no more of your poor old dame.

Recognition ensued, and they lived together again as husband and wife. 1660 Po-ling "g ^ (T. -f- |@|. H. ^ j^). A.D. 1747-1816. A Chinese Bannerman, who graduated as chin shih in 1772. By 1804 he had risen to be Viceroy of Hu-Euang, and three years later became Viceroy at Canton. The Kuangtung coast had long been harried by pirates, of whom ^ ^^j^ Chang Pao was the chief. Po-ling organised a fleet, and the pirate offered to yield, provided the Viceroy came in person to see him. This perilous task he