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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
965


perseverance, and accordingly he gave himself up to drinking and revelry. He rose to high military o£Sce under the Emperor WSn Ti of the Wei dynasty, and then exchanged his post for one where he had heard there was a better cook! He was a model of filial piety, and when his mother died he wept so violently that he brought up several pints of blood. Yet when ^ ^ Chi Hsi went to condole with him, he showed only the whites of his eyes {i.e. paid no attention to him); while Chi Hsi's brother, who carried along with him a jar of wine and a guitar, was welcomed with the pupils. A neighbouring tavern-keeper had a pretty wife, and Yflan Chi would go there and drink until he fell down insensible on the floor. He was a skilled poet, though much of his work was too hastily done. He is specially known for his ^'^^f & poem dealing with the calamities of his day. He also wrote the •f^ ^ "^ ^ ^, a work composed after an interview with the hermit ^ ^ Sun Ttog. He was a fine musician, and made the best ^ ehSng (a kind of harpsichord), his instruments being the '^Strads'* of China. He was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (see Hsiang Hsiu).

m

Yilan Clixiang. See Hsilan Tsang.

TtlanPu gt;^ (T. j^^). A.D. 278-326. Son of Ytlan 2545 Hsien. He was very poor as a youth, but always kept a single cash in his purse to guard against being wholly put to shame as a pauper. His mother was a Turkic woman, and he himself began life as a cavalry-soldier. Twice he was impeached for drunkenness, and twice the Emperor Y^an Ti pardoned him.' He rose to be President of the Board of Civil Office, and was ennobled as Marquis. In 326 he thought it advisable to leave the capital, anticipating trouble from the family of the Empress Dowager, then in power. He was appointed to high military command in the provinces, but died on the way thither.