A clever courtier, popularly known as “the nine-tailed fox,” was CH’ÊN P‘ÊNG-NIEN (A.D. 961--1017), who rose to be a Minister of State. He was employed to revise the _Kuang Yün_, a phonetic dictionary by some unknown author, which contained over 26,000 separate characters. This work was to a great extent superseded by the _Chi Yün_, on a similar plan, but containing over 53,000 characters. The latter was produced by Sung Ch‘i, mentioned in chap. iii., in conjunction with several eminent scholars. TAI T‘UNG graduated in 1237 and rose to be Governor of T‘ai-chou in Chehkiang. Then the Mongols prevailed, and Tai T‘ung, unwilling to serve them, pleaded ill-health, and in 1275 retired into private life. There he occupied himself with the composition of the _Liu Shu Ku_ or Six Scripts, an examination into the origin and development of writing, which, according to some, was published about A.D. 1250, but according to others, not until so late as the year 1319. * * * * * [Sidenote: WU SHU--LI FANG] From the rise of the Sung dynasty may be dated the first appearance of the encyclopædia, destined to occupy later so much space in Chinese literature. WU SHU (A.D. 947--1002), whose life was a good instance of “worth by poverty depressed,” may fairly be credited with the production of the earliest work of the kind. His _Shih Lei Fu_ dealt with celestial and terrestrial phenomena, mineralogy, botany, and natural history, arranged, for want of an alphabet, under categories. It is curiously written in the poetical-prose style, and forms the foundation of a similar book of reference in use at the present day. Wu Shu was placed upon the commission which produced a much more extensive work known as the _T‘ai P‘ing Yü Lan_. At the head of that commission was LI FANG (A.D. 924--995), a Minister of State and a great favourite with the Emperor. In the last year of his life he was invited to witness the Feast of Lanterns from the palace. On that occasion the Emperor placed Li beside him, and after pouring out for him a goblet of wine and supplying him with various delicacies, he turned to his courtiers and said, “Li Fang has twice served us as Minister of State, yet has he never in any way injured a single fellow-creature. Truly this must be a virtuous man.” The _T‘ai P‘ing Yü Lan_ was reprinted in 1812, and is bound up in thirty-two large volumes. It was so named because the Emperor himself went through all the manuscript, a task which occupied him nearly a year. A list of about eight hundred authorities is given, and the Index fills four hundred pages.