| THE FOUR MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN CHINESE HISTORY TOLD by Hani Law Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved BEAUTY 1 - DIAO Chan 貂 婵 BEAUTY 2 - YANG Yu Huan 样玉缳 BEAUTY 3 - XI Shi 西 施 BEAUTY 4 - WANG Zhao Jun 王 昭 君 |
BEAUTY 1 - DIAO Chan 貂 婵
Legend has it that DIAO Chan貂 婵, a beauty in China in the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).
She was so pretty that when she worshipped and prayed to the moon, the moon was shamed
by her beauty and hid itself behind the clouds.
DIAO Chan was one of the entertaining maids of a minister called WANG Yun王 允. WANG
Yun was aware that the Prime Minister DONG Zhuo董 卓 who was shrewd and wicked, wished
to usurp the throne. WANG Yun then had a plan to assassinate DONG Zhuo in order to protect
the Han Emperor who was admittedly weak and ineffective in governing the country.
WANG Yun invited LU Bu吕布 who was the god son of DONG Zhuo, to his place for dinner.
LU Bu was a great warrior, and hardly could anyone defeat him in battles. WANG Wan asked
DIAO Chan to serve wine to LU Bu. LU Bu was immediately enchanted by DIAO Chan’s
beauty. ‘My friend, would I have the honor of offering DIAO Chan to serve you?’ LU Bu was so
so thrilled with joy that he immediately accepted the offer. WANG Yun told LU Bu that he would
arrange for DIAO Chan to be sent to LU Bu’s residence in a few days’ time.
The next day, WANG Yun invited DONG Zhuo to go over to his place for dinner. During the
dinner, WANG Wan again asked DIAO Chan to serve wine to DONG Zhuo. DONG Zhuo was
of course deeply attracted by DIAO Chan who was also asked to sing and dance in front of
DONG Zhuo. ‘Would your Highness be pleased if I offer DIAO Chan to you as your concubine’,
asked WANG Yun. DONG Zhuo immediately accepted the offer, and took DIAO Chan home
the same evening.
The next day, when LU Bu saw what had happened, he quickly ran to see WANG Yun and
confronted him why he had broken his promise. WANG Yun calmed him down and explained to
him that his god father came to dinner in the previous evening and said that he would bring
DIAO Chan back to his residence so that LU Bu could marry DIAO Chan. WANG Yun went on
to say that he had been cheated by DONG Zhuo who, he emphasized to LU Bu, had plans to
overthrow the Emperor. WANG Yun then persuaded LU Bu to help the ministers in the court to
kill his god father so that he could not overthrow the Emperor and at the same time get back
his bride. What WANG Yun was doing was to alienate LU Bu from DONG Zhuo.
WANG Yun issued a decree on behalf of the Emperor extending an invitation to DONG Zhuo
to the Royal Palace, saying that the Emperor would abdicate and let him take over the entire
Empire. Being as powerful as he was at that time, DONG Zhuo did not have any suspicion at
all and went to the Palace with his large entourage as scheduled in the royal decree. When
DONG Zhuo arrived at the Palace, he saw nobody welcoming him and immediately knew that it
was a plot. Before he could call for his guards, LU Bu struck him with a spear right into his
throat, because DONG Zhou always wore an amour.
DIAO Chan was finally married to LU Bu.
==========================================================
BEAUTY 2 - YANG Yu Huan 样玉缳
Yang was a concubine of the Ming Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China (712-756 AD). She
was so beautiful that when she went with the Emperor to the Imperial Garden to appreciate the
flowers which were in blossom, all the flowers were shamed by her beauty that they all hid
themselves behind the leaves and some even failed to blossom. The Emperor had to get his
men to beat the drums so as to persuade the flowers to blossom.
The Emperor was so indulged with the beauty of YANG Yu Huan that he did not attend to his
court duties, and spent all his time in entertainment with YANG Yu Huan. A senior minister
saw the opportunity and amassed a substantial army to start a coup d'etat. The royal guards
believed that YANG Yu Huan was guilty of getting the Emperor to indulge in singing, dancing
and drinking all the time, thus overlooking his imperial duties. They refused to fight and defend
the throne, and demanded that unless YANG Yu Huan was ordered to die, they would
surrender to the rebels. As the Emperor had to keep the throne, he had no choice but to order
that a piece of white silk be presented to YANG Yu Huan, so that she could hang herself. The
Emperor was so upset that he abdicated and was succeeded by his son.
==========================================================
BEAUTY 3 - XI Shi 西 施
During the Warring States period in China (403BC-221BC), the Kingdom of Yue was invaded
by the Kingdom of Wu, which was led its King, FU Chai. FU Chai overran Yue and took the
King of Yue, GOU Qian, and his wife prisoners.
While GOU Qian was in the royal prison in the Kingdom of Wu, he and his wife pretended that
they had lost all will power to become a ruler again. In reality, GOU Qian was plotting with two
of his loyal ministers, FAN Li and WEN Zhong, to overthrow FU Chai so that not only could he
return to his own Kingdom again, but he could also conquer and annex the Kingdom of Wu.
Their plan was to find a beauty and offered her to FU Chai who was known to be fond of
women and wine. GOU Qian therefore ordered FAN Li to look for such a beauty and train her
to be a skilful entertainer.
FAN Li went back to the Kingdom of Yue and secretly scouted beautiful girls. One day, he
passed a river and was suddenly stunned by the look of a young woman who was washing
clothes by the river side. He stared at her and immediately knew that she was the person he
was looking for. This young woman was called XI Shi. She was so beautiful that whenever
she washed her clothes by the river, all the fish would hide from her and sank to the bottom of
the river.
It was extremely awkward for FAN Li to approach her and explain to her his plans. However, as
soon as he told XI Shi who he was, he got the immediate respect from XI Shi, as everyone in
the country knew that FAN Li was a great minister.
XI Shi was then invited to FAN Li's residence where she was trained in dancing and singing.
She was also secretly coached how to seduce men. During this period of training, both XI Shi
and FAN Li secretly fell in love with each other.
The day came for XI Shi to be presented to FU Chai. Of course, FAN Li found it most painful to
have to present his lover to his enemy. It was even more hurting to XI Shi because she did not
know whether she would see FAN Li again and she had to pretend that she would be a loving
concubine to FU Chai. However, in the interest of the future of the Kingdom of Yue and to
comply with their loyal duty, they had no alternative but to part for the time being, with the thin
hope that the plan would work and they could be united again.
When XI Shi was presented to FU Chai, he was as expected attracted by Xi Shi's beauty and
fell into the trap. FU Chai adorerd XI Shi so much that in no time was XI Shi to gain FU Chai's
confidence. XI Shi managed to persuade FU Chai to release GOU Qian adn his wife back to
the Kingdom of Yue as she made FU Chai firmly believe that GOU Qian was his loyal servant
and would not pose a threat to him.
After his return to the Kingdom of Yue, GOU Qian immediately inspected the strong army
which his loyal ministers had built up secretly. GOU Qian believed that his army was ready to
take revenge and attacked the Kingdom of Wu. As FU Chai had been neglecting his court
duties for such a long time, his army was disorganised and suffering from low morale. GOU
Qian was able to conquer Wu in a very brief encounter.
After the was, Fan Li was reunited with XI Shi as good lovers would and then got married. Fan
Li knew that GOU Qian was a king with a shallow view who could not share his fortune and
power with someone who had helped him regain his Kingdom. Realising this, FAN Li asked for
permission to retire early. He married
XI Shi and they both went to live in the country. Fan Li became a very wealthy businessman,
and he and XI Shi donated a lot of their wealth to the poor.
==========================================================
BEAUTY 4 - WANG Zhao Jun 王 昭 君
An emperor in the Han Dynasty in China, Emperor Yuan (48BC-33BC), indulged himself in
wine, music and women. Periodically, he sent his ministers to search for beautiful women
throughout the country to be his concubines. His ministers would bring in as many women as
possible and let the Emperor choose. Those who were not chosen would be kept as maids in
the Imperial Palace for life.
During one of those recruitment exercises, a young woman from a humble family was chosen
together with several hundred other girls to be sent to the Imperial Palace for further
shortlisting and then interviewed by the Emperor. She was called WANG Zhao Jun. As soon
as the girls reached the Palace, each of them had their portraits painted by the Court Painter.
Their portraits were then presented to the Emperor for screening. It had been a tradition that
the girls had to pay the Court Painter so that they would be shown to be very pretty and
attractive in their portraits. WANG Zhao Jun could not afford to bribe the Count Painter, and
therefore as a punishment, the Court Painter omitted all of WANG Zhao Jun's charm and
beauty in her portrait. As a consequence, WANG Zhao Jun was not selected by the Emperor
as a concubine. Instead she was kept as an Imperial maid, separated for life from her parents
and all her relatives, who were not allowed to visit her.
Months passed, and one day when the Emperor was enjoying his leisure afternoon in the
Imperial Garden, he heard somebody playing pipa. It was such a beautify melody that he
walked towards the direction where the music came from. He saw WANG Zhao Jun and was
immediately stunned by her beauty. He asked for her name and returned to his palace. The
next day he ordered to see WANG Zhao Jun's portrait, as he could not believe that he could
have overlooked this beautiful girl in the selection. When he saw WANG Zhao Jun's portrait
which did not reflect her true beauty, he immediately sent for WANG Zhao Jun and asked her
to explain the difference between her genuine appearance and her image in the portrait.
WANG Zhao Jun told the Emperor that because she did not give a bribe to the Court Painter
despite his demand, the Court Painter deliberately painted an unfavourable image of her in her
portrait. By this time, the Court Painter had heard that the Emperor had already met WANG
Zhao Jun, so he fled the Palace and submitted himself to serve the King in Mongolia.
The Court Painter was very angry with WANG Zhao Jun as not had he now lost his important
official position, but his asset had been confiscated by the state. He decided to take revenge.
He drew a true picture of WANG Zao Jun and offered it to the Mongolian King. Not
surprisingly, no sooner had the Mongolian King seen WANG Zhao Jun than he wanted her to
be his mistress. The Court Painter suggested that the King could dispatch a request to the
Han Emperor that WANG Zhao Jun be sent to Mongolia as a gift to him, failing that he would
invade the Middle Kingdom.
When the Han Emperor received the message from the Mongolian King, he was utterly
infuriated and refused the request. Within days, the strong army from Mongolia crossed the
border and fought its way easily towards the capital of the Middle Kingdom. As Emperor Yuan
had been indulging himself in leisure all the time and neglected his court duties, the Han army
was weak and disorganised. When the Mongolian army was just 200 miles from the Imperial
Palace, his ministers urged Emperor Yuan to surrender WANG Zhao Jun to the Mongolian
King in exchange for peace between the Middle Kingdom and Mondgolia. Even at this critical
moment, Emperor Yuan refused to let WANG Zhao Jun go as he was deeply in love with her.
However, seeing that her country was in great danger of being overrun by the Mongolians,
WANG Zhao Jun offered to surrender herself to the enemy in order to save her country.
On the day of her departure, she brought with her her pipa, and the Imperial guards
accompanied her to the border with Mongolia. When she passed through a desert, legend had
it that she was so beautiful that the wild goose in the sky dived down in order to have a
glimpse of her beauty.
When WANG Zhao Jun reached the border which was a cliff separating the two country, a
peace agreement which had been signed by the King of the Mongolia was delivered to the
representative of the Han Emperor. WANG Zhao Jun was happy that she had not only saved
her country from being conquered but also achieved the mission of bringing peace to the
country, she suddenly jumped from the cliff and ended her life, so as to maintain her chastity
and loyalty to the Han Emperor.
闭 月
羞 花
沈 魚
落雁
ORIENTAL WOMEN TALK
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Poems Wise talk Taiji Idioms Buddhism Mandarin History of China "Butterfly Lovers" Calligraphy Lyric verses Yi Jing Famous picture Chinese tea A true story Confucianism Book talk |
XI Shi 西 施 WANG Zhao Jun 王 昭 君 DIAO Chan 貂 婵 YANG Yu Huan 样玉缳
Link to YANG Yu Huan and the famous long poem, ODE OF EVERLASTING OWES
Link to YANG Yu Huan and the famous long poem, ODE OF EVERLASTING OWES
