CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS - University of Oregon

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hid himself in the mountain of the Golden Dragon, Kin-lung -shan
^ ifH
ill • Here,
in order to avoid falling into the hands of the
conquerors, he drowned himself in the Tiao-k'i ^ ^ stream,
which runs close to the district city of Yii-hang |£ ^£, in Cliehiang
Before dying, he uttered the following prophetic words: ''when
you will see the waters of the T'iuo ^ stream revert to their
source, I shall have become a genius ; when a similar phenomenon
will be observed in the Yellow River, Hvjang-ho jlf ]pT, the day
of vengeance is at hand". The inhabitants of the country recovered
his mortal remains, and laid them to rest at the foot of the Golden
Dragon mountain, Kin-lung -shan ^ f| |J_| .
Later on, when Hung-wu '(it jj^, founder of the Ming fl^J dynasty,
laid siege to the city of Lil-liang g ^ (1), Steh-hstl fjj.f |§ came to
his assistance, and hurled a swarm of bees on the Mongol troops,
who were thus compelled to retire. Hung-wu jit jj^,
in thankfulness
for this great favour, conferred on him the honorary title of "Great
Golden Dragon-king, n° 4".
The reason of his being called Dragon-king. n° 4, is due to the
fact that his father had 4 children, named respectively Ki $[£, Kang
||], T'ung ££, and Hsu ||f\ Hsu $$-, occupying the last place in
the series, was called n" 4.
There is also a play entitled the "Swarm of bees, that helped
to win the battle", Tsii-fung chu-chan -"£ ijij> jljj ]'[$ .
It is this legendary genius, who is generally honoured at the
present day, in temples dedicated to dragon-kings, throughout the
provinces of Nganhwei 4% $£, and Kiangsu /£ j|| (2).
(1) Lil-liang l'\ £j£. An ancient name for the present-day city of /fsi'i-
chow-fu f£ 'J'H f'f- in North Kiangsu yl ~ifc. It was then situated on the banks
of the Rwang-ho aV jpf, which in 1853 changed its course, and flowed thence-
forth into the Gulf of Chihli. Encyclopaedia Sioica. p. 014.
(2i Annals of Shanghai, Shanghai-hien-chi _k #J If- -k-, and Chenkiang,
Chenhiang-fu-chi Jfi yl fl-f ^.