the four beauties in ancient china

the four beauties in ancient china

Wang Zhaojun

Wang Zhaojun, one of China¡¯s four ancient beauties, was selected into the palace during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty.During the reign of Emperor Yuandi of the Western Han Dynasty (48-33 BC), Chanyu Huhanye, the chief of the Huns, a nomadic ethnic group, asked to marry one of Emperor. Yuandi’s daughters to appease the relations between the Han people and the Huns. Emperor Yuandi granted his request, but instead of his daughter, he decided to pick out a palace maid to marry Chanyu. However, no one volunteered to do so except Wang Zhaojun. So Emperor Yuandi ordered his ministers to choose an auspicious day for them to get married in Chang’an. Escorted by officials of Han and the Huns, Wang Zhaojun embarked on a long journey to the north on horseback. They braved bitter cold and heavy snow storms and finally reached the Hun region. There she gradually got used to the local lifestyle and got along well with them. She persuaded Chanyu Huhanye to abandon violence on the one hand and spread Han culture to the Huns on the other hand. As a result, peace reigned on the border area between the Huns and her homeland for 60 years.

As Wang Zhaojun (the consort of the Hun ruler Hu Hanye) departed her homeland setting for the north, she plucked the strings of the qin, playing a sad and moving departure tune. Hearing the music and seeing the extraordinarily beautiful woman on the horseback, the wild geese flying toward the south forgot to flap their wings and fell to the ground. After that, "Luoyan", literally meaning "falling wild goose" and referring to "someone beautiful enough to entice wild geese in flight to fall from the sky", became the nickname of Wang Zhaojun.

Xishi

Xishi lived in the Yue Kingdom in the late Spring and Autumn Period. She is, together with Wang Zhaojun and Diaochan in the Han Dynasty and Yang Yuhuan in the Tang Dynasty, remembered as one of the Four Great Beauties in ancient China. Xishi was born in a small village in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province. She used to wash silks by a stream when she was still a little girl. It’s said that she was so beautiful that the fish may feel ashamed and hide at the bottom of the stream; that passers-by may gasp in admiration and extend heartfelt appreciation. At that time, the Yue Kingdom was defeated by the powerful neighbor Wu and forced to show  itself a vassal to Wu. Goujian, the King of Yue, in the hope of resuming power and taking revenge on the Wu Kingdom, offered Xishi the beauty as a tribute to lustful Fucai, the King of Wu so as to get him to indulge in sensuality. Xishi, the beauty of justice and righteousness, successfully made it and helped Yue win a breathing chance to get stronger and the Kingdom of Wu was ultimately wiped out. It’s said that Xishi, after the destruction of Wu, went away with Fan Li, a minister of the Yue Kingdom who introduced Xishi to Goujian the King, on a boat and has never been seen again, which reflects people’s pity on the innocent beauty. In the subsequent ages, Xishi is praised for her patriotism and sighed for her parting youth. Many famous poems are made for her and buildings set for her memorization. Even the stream where she once washed silks enjoys a fine name as Huan Sha Xi (Silk Washing Stream), which has become a reminder of the great woman and her moving stories.

Diao Chan

Diao Chan was one of the “Four Beauties“ in ancient China together with Xishi, Yang Guifei and Wang Zhaojun. Legend has it that when Diao Chan paid offerings to the moon at midnight, Chang’e (the Chinese Moon Goddess) hurried to hide in clouds, for this beautiful lady made her feel inferior. The phrase “outshines the moon“ in the beauty-describing idiom “Beauty which outshines the moon and shames the flowers“ has Diao Chan as the very subject. This legend embodies in an exaggerated way Diao Chan’s beautiful appearance in the eyes of the Chinese people. Diao Chan’s role as a widely known character is attributed to the famous novel-Romance of the Three Kingdoms. According to the novel, Diao Chan is a singing girl in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In order to alienate Dong Zhuo (a tyrannical warlord) from Lu Bu (Dong Zhuo’s adopted son), Diao Chan took upon herself to implement interlinked badger games, regardless of her own happiness. Under her effort, Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu, thus contributing to the emerging of the outstanding heroes: Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, etc. The story of Diao Chan’s circumventing Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu is narrated in Phoenix Pavilion, a play of Peking Opera. Records on Diao Chan are scarcely found in history. Most of narrations about her were given in unofficial history books and other literary works. According to scholars’ textual research, Diao Chan is a real person in history. She was living in Muzhi Village in Xinzhou, Shaanxi Province. In the village still stands a stele written with “Diao Chan’s Hometown“ as well as her tomb and temple. They were built for commemoration of this respectable woman who sacrificed herself for the country.

Yang Yuhuan

Yang Yuhuan, an imperial concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was one of China’s four beauties admired by latter people. She was commonly called “Imperial Concubine Yang (Yang Guifei)“. Yang Yuhuan was born in an old, well-known official family. She was naturally beautiful with a docile character. She was gifted in music, singing, dancing and playing lute. These talents, together with her education, made her stand out among the imperial concubines and win the emperor‘s favor. Emperor Xuanzong, a fan of music, ordered his musicians to play the music Song of Rainbow Skirt & Feathered Dress composed by him to express his cheerful feeling of seeing Imperial Concubine Yang. Latterly, Imperial Concubine Yang was banished twice from the palace, for her envy peeved Emperor Xuanzong. However, Xuanzong, who was so hard to forget her, called her back every time at the end. In 755 A.D when the military insurgence “Anshi Insurgence (Anshizhiluan)“ was lunched by the local forces of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Tang Xuanzong, together with Imperial Concubine Yang, fled from Chang’an. When they arrived at the Mawei Slope, the army refused to march, for the army thought that the reason of this rebellion by An Lushan was that Imperial Concubine Yang’s behavior of attracting emperor ruined the state and that her cousin Yang Guozong colluded with the enemy. To appease the army, Emperor Tang Xuanzong had no choice but to order Yang to commit suicide at the Mawei Slope. Today, there is a tomb of Imperial Concubine Yang in Xingping of Shaanxi, in front of which stands her white marble statue.