‘_The earth supports the sky; the sky supports the earth. ~Five~ is the mystic number which to the universe gave birth. Down from the sky come the eddying waves of the river’s rolling might. In the K‘un-lun range we must seek the germ of the mountain’s towering height. By ~truth~, of the elements five, can most good work be done; And of all the ten thousand things that are, ~man~ is the wondrous one. There you have my replies to the questions set this day; The answers are clear and straight to the point, and given without delay._’ “As soon as he had finished writing, he handed his reply to Duke Ai, who at once saw that he had in every way disposed of the theme with far greater skill than Chi Nien, and accordingly now bade him show his strength upon the sacrificial vessel. Wu Yüan immediately stepped forward, and, holding up his robe with his left hand, seized the vessel with his right, raising it up and bearing it round the platform before the assembled nobles, and finally depositing it in its original place, without so much as changing colour. The nobles gazed at each other in astonishment at this feat, and with one accord declared him to be the hero of the day; so that Duke Ai had no alternative but to invest him with the golden tablet and announce his appointment to the post of arbiter.” [Sidenote: THE CHING HUA YÜAN] The _Ching Hua Yüan_ is a less pretentious work than the preceding, but of an infinitely more interesting character. Dealing with the reign of the Empress Wu, who in A.D. 684 set aside the rightful heir and placed herself upon the throne, which she occupied for twenty years, this work describes how a young graduate, named T‘ang, disgusted with the establishment of examinations and degrees for women, set out with a small party on a voyage of exploration. Among all the strange places which they visited, the most curious was the Country of Gentlemen, where they landed and proceeded at once to the capital city. “There, over the city gate, T‘ang and his companions read the following legend:-- ‘_Virtue is man’s only jewel!_’