58 



by K'uNG Ngan-kwoh ' in his commentary on the Shu king ^ which 

 runs as follows: "A dragon horse is the vital spirit of Heaven 

 and Earth. As a being its shape consists of a horse's body, yet 

 it has dragon scales. Therefore it is called 'dragon horse'. Its 

 height is eight ch'ih five ts'uu. A true dragon horse .has wings 

 at its sides and walks upon the water without sinking. If a 

 holy man is on the throne it comes out of the midst of the 

 Ming river, carrying a map on its back" ^ 



The T^ung Men tsHen pien luai ki^, which refers to this passage, 

 says : "At the time of T'ai Hao (i. e. Fuh-Hi) there was a lucky 

 omen consisting of a dragon horse which carried a map on its 

 back and came out -of the Ho river. Therefore in giving titles 

 to the ofiQcials he began to arrange them by means of the dragon, 

 and called them 'Dragon-officers' "^ As to these titles we read 

 in the Annals of the Three sovereigns'^: "He (Fuh-Hi) had the 

 lucky omen of a dragon ; by means of the dragon he arranged 

 the officials and called them 'Dragon-officers' ". The Tso-chvfen ' 

 gives the same matter in an extensive passage regarding the 

 titles of the officials of the first Emperors. , 



The T^ai-ping yuAan ^ describes a dragon horse which appeared 



1 ^j, •S^ Q , a famous scholar in the reign of the Han emperor Wu (B. C. 

 140 — 85), who in B. 0. 97 transcribed the ancient tablets discovered in the wall of the 

 house of the Confucian family, and made a commentary on the whole. Cf. Legge's 

 Introduction to his translation of the Shu king, Sacred books of the East, Vol. Ill, p. 8. 



2 Sect. ^ ^ ; quoted in the T. S, Sect. -^ ^, Ch. 128, f| ^ |E ^ — , 



^ ffi ^ It li :^ME ' "^'^'^'"^ writings" belonging to the "Preceding part" of 

 the Tsze-ehi fung kien kang-muh, ^ Vg ^S ^^ «|^ H , "A chronological survey 

 of the Mirror of History, composed to assist Government", an imperial edition of 1707, 

 based upon the Tsze-chi f^ung kien written by Sze-ma Kwang, ^ ^E -nj^ , between 

 1065 and 1084. It consists of three parts: "^ ^JS , from Yao's time to B.C. 402; 

 the main work (B.C. 402— A. D. 960); and the Supplement (A. D. 960—1367). 



6 P.2a;CH^VANNES,Vol.T,p.7: 7^ f I ^ „ fUE W ^ tl ft ^iP » 



7 Book X, year XVII (17th year of Duke Chao); Legge, Chinese Classics, Vol. V, 

 Part II, pp. 666 sq. 



^ ";^ ^ f^P ^ ' '"^'^^ ^°^'^ °^ Imperial Autopsy of the T'ai p'ing period", 

 composed by an Imperial committee of thirteen scholars under the presidency of the 



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