of the eunuch ^ |^ Ch'^ng Ch'aag. Attaching himself to tiie low-bom but powerful concubine !j|^ Wan, whose nephew he professed to be, his influence became paramount; and when in 1471 a comet at last terrified the weak Emperor into giving audience, he broke up the conference by crying out, '^Long life to his Majesty!" and so earned the contemptuous nickname of Minister Long-Life. His twenty years of power were disgraced by jobbery and corruption, for which posterity has noted traces of Diyine vengeance in the early extinction of his line by the premature deaths of his son and only grandson. Canonised as ^ j^.
2U8 Wan Ching ^^^ (T. :^— and jl ^y A.D. 1660-1743.
Son of Wan Ssti-ta. Graduated in 170^, and entered the Han-lin College. Became Literary Chancellor in Eueichou, but was disgraced and reduced to poverty, in which he supported himself by selling specimens of calligraphy in the li style. He was a profound student of metaphysics and history. He wrote the ||| ^ j^ "^ , a history of China under the Mings, completed his father's work on the Spring and Autumn^ and also a work by his cousin, Wan Yen, on the historical notabilia of the Ming dynasty. 2119 Wan £rll ^ ]^ . 7th and 8th cent. A.D. Daughter of an official named J^ ^ Shang-kuan. During pregnancy the mother dreamt that a giant appeared and handed to her a large steel-yard, sayiDgt
- With this you will weigh the empire." A mouth after the child
was born she playfully said to it, *'Is it you who are going to weigh the empire?" to which the little Wan Erh replied with «n affirmative guggle. When she grew up she was found to have great beauty, and was taken into the harem of the Emperor Chung Tsoog of the T^aug dynasty; and in 708 she was raised to the rank of the Lady j^ ^ Chao Jung, and took a considerable share in the administration. One evening, when feasting with the Emperor, she decided which was the best of a number of impromptu poems
