defended Xie Xuan by bringing up their time together with Huan Wen, stating that Xie Xuan had proved himself a good eye for talents. Years later, Chi Chao's argument bore fruit as Xie Xuan decisively defeated Qin at the Battle of Fei River in 383, leading to its hasty decline. Death Chi grew ill at the end of 377 and died shortly after. His father Chi Yin was a stalwart Jin loyalist but never knew about his son's schemes with Huan Wen. Before his death, Chi Chao was concerned that his father would be too grief struck by his death. He gave one of his students a chest that would stop him from doing so. After he died, Chi Yin was indeed heartbroken by his death and never ate for days, so the student gave him the chest. In it were the plans that Chi Chao and Huan Wen made to overthrow the dynasty. His grief turned to anger, and he exclaimed, "My son should have died sooner!" Thus, Chi Yin no longer mourned him. Literary works Calligraphy Chi Chao was one of the distinguished calligraphers of the Eastern Jin period. In fact, five of his family members including Chi Jian were talented in calligraphy, and in the 8th century book about calligraphy, the "Shushu Fang (述書賦)", the writer Dou Ji (竇臮), listed the Chi family with the Xie, Wang and Yu clans as the four families that dominated the art during their time. According to the Liu Song dynasty calligrapher, Wang Sengqian, in his book, "Fashu Kau (法書考)", Chi's works were inferior to the "Two Wangs" (Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi) but superior to that of his father Chi Yin in terms of beauty and compactness. Sengqian's one criticism for Chi Chao was that he lacked strength in his strokes. Fengfayao Chi Chao was a Taoist but grew infatuated with Buddhism, more specifically through the teachings of Zhu Fatai and Zhidun. He attempted to harmonize the orthodox concepts of Buddhism and Confucianism into one and even wrote a book about it called the 'Fengfayao'. Due to the lack of translation of Buddhist texts, the Fengfayao contains many common misinterpretations held by most Jin officials and scholars at the time. Regardless, it was one of the most important pieces of Buddhist writing that contributed to its spread in the 4th century. Anecdote Chi Yin's treasury Chi Yin was a very