55 



king will become a commoner'. Afterwards Hao submitted to 

 Chin (the Chin dynasty) \ 



In the same section of this work '^ we read the following. 

 "Under the "Emperor Ming of the Wei dynasty (A. D. 227—239), 

 ia the first year of the Ts'ing-lung era (233),. on the day kiah- 

 shen of the first month, a blue dragon appeared in a well at 

 Mo-p'o (a place) in the suburbs. If only a lucky omen rises 

 at a wrong time, it becomes an evil. How much more is this 

 the case, when it (the dragon) is in straits in a well! This is 

 not a felicitous omen ! ^ It was wrong that Wei on account of 

 it changed the name of the era. Yu Pao says: 'From the end of 

 the reign ef the Emperor Ming under the Wei dynasty the 

 appearances of blue and yellow dragons were signs corresponding 

 with the fall and rise of its rulers. As to the fate of the land 

 of Wei, blue is the colour of wood and yet it does not conquer 

 metal ; it was a sign of yellow getting the throne and blue losing 

 it. The frequent appearance of blue dragons means that the 

 virtue of the sovereign and the fate of the dynasty are in inner 

 conflict with each other *. Therefore Kao Kwei Hiang Kung -^ 

 (Ts'ao Mao, A. D. 241 — 260, who in 254 became the fourth 

 Emperor of the Wei dynasty) was utterly defeated in war.' " 



"According to Liu Hiang's " explanation the dragon, the symbol 

 of dignity, when being imprisoned in a well means calamity 

 consisting in a feudal lord being about to be secretly seized. 

 In the Wei dynasty there was no dragon which was not in a 

 well. It was an omen of the oppressive measures of those men 

 who occupied the highest ranks '. The poem on the 'Dragon lying 

 in the deep', written by Kao Kwei Hiang Kung, has this meaning". 



The Books of the Early Han dynasty ^ relate the following. "In 



1 ^%m%m^m^-^^'& k^^^k%%m.-^m 



2 ^ ^, Ch. XXIX, nr 19, jR ff ^> ' ±' P" ^^^ (f| ^ Z ¥)■ 



6 ^J [hJ (B. C. 80—9), a famous author and minister, cf. Giles, Biogr. Bid., p. 

 50lj nr. liSOO. 



8 Ch. XXVII, Sect, ^ ff ^ . m' '• 



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