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It is assumed that it happened around 770-476 BC, in the Chunqiu era in Zhejiang, Yue Kingdom. She had the ability to dance.
Xi Shi’s beauty had been rumored since her childhood. Her beauty is natural. She was said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fishes would forget how to swim and sink below the surface upon seeing her reflection in the water when she washed clothes by the river. Xi Shi was nicknamed “Drowns fish” (沉鱼:chen yu) which means so beautiful as to make swimming fish sink
Xi Shi was a tribute that Yue Kingdom sent to Fuchai, the prince of Wu Kingdom. Prince Fuchai was so infatuated with Xi Shi and neglected the nation’s matters. As a result, the Wu kingdom collapsed 13 years later. The Goujian Prince could defeat and rule over the Wu Kingdom, which was once stronger than the Goujain’s Kingdom.
Despite Xi Shi’ renowned beauty, there is a flaw in her beauty as well which is big feet. However, Xi Shi was so smart that she fixed her flaw by covering her feet with a long skirt and wearing high wooden clogs to avoid her skirt from touching the ground. This makes Xi Shi look so elegant, like a modern girl wearing an evening dress with high heels.
FYI: “Big feet” may refer to normal-sized feet. In ancient times, upper-class women would do foot binding to make their feet smaller than usual. The foot binding will be done at a young age, to avoid the girls’ feet from growing. According to history, Xi Shi used to be just an ordinary girl, so she did not have her feet binded before. Since the foot binding will make women not walk normally, they need an assist to support while walking or cannot walk for a long distance. Therefore, the foot binding was not popular among those villagers who had to do hard work.
Wang Zhaojun lived during the Western Han Dynasty. She could play a musical instrument called Pipa. At first, Wang Zhaojun was a maid of honor in the royal palace that was sent to the Xiongnu tribe to strengthen a good relationship. Wang Zhaojun eventually became the most favorite wife of Huhanye and devoted herself to living there till she died, creating a good relationship between China and Xiongnu for 60 years. Wang Zhaojun was nicknamed “Fells geese” (落雁:luo yan) which mean “so beautiful as to make flying geese fall.” This was because when she traveled to the Xiongnu tribe, the geese in the sky only looked at her till they forgot to flap their wings and fell.
Wang Zhaojun also had a flaw in her beauty which is that her shoulders were unevenly level. To fix this problem, she covered her shoulders with a colorful-patterned shawl. This is a way Wang Zhaojun used to hide her flaws.
Diaochan had an excellent ability in dancing. Diaochan is different from the other three beauties because there is no evidence to prove that she really existed in history. It is assumed that Diaochan was just a character that was created in Romance of the Three Kingdoms which the story is based on the incident in late Eastern Han Dynasty.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdom, Diaochan’s parents were servants and died when Diaochan was little. Wang Yun adopted and raised her till she was 16 years old and she volunteered herself to help Wang Yun when he was stressed out about the battle.
As Wang Yun thought that Diaochan was pretty, he told her to use her guile to cause a splinter between Dong Zhou and Lu Bu which would lead to them killing each other. Wang Yun planned to give Diaochan to Lu Bu first then give her to DOng Zhou. Wnag Yun told Lu Bu that he would give Diaochan to be Lu Bu’s wife. However, before the wedding date, Wang Yun sent Diaochan to serve Dong Zhou and became one of his ladies. This made Lu Bu furious and split with his step father, Dong Zhou. In the end, everything went as planned for Wang Yun.
Diaochan’s nickname is “Hiddens moon” (闭月: bi yue) which means a face that would make the full moon hide behind the clouds. It is told that when she was out to pray to the moon for the nation, Chang er (The Moon Goddess) had to hide herself behind clouds once she saw Diaochan’s beauty.
Diaochan also has flaws as well. Her earlobe is abnormally small and short. To fix this issue, Diaochan decided to wear jade earrings that have a shape that can dissimulate her flaws, making her short earlobe look proportional.
The last Great Beauties is Yang Guifei, the king’s first concubine of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. She was great at vocal music and dancing. Since the Emperor was infatuated with Yang Guifei till he neglected to administer the nation, Yang Guifei’s relatives played roles in the royal court. As a result, the rebellion occurred. The Emperor had a royal command to punish Yang Guifei by hanging, which is the end of the legendary beautiful girl like Yang Guifei.
The nickname of Yang Guifei is “Shameds flowers” (羞花:xiu hua) which means a face that would make all flowers feel shameful. It was said that one day while in the palace, Yang Guifei went for a walk in the flower garden and saw peonies and Chinese roses in full bloom and thought of her life imprisoned in the royal palace, causing Yang Guifei to weep and stroke those flowers. Once she touched the petals, the petals were close (but nobody thought that the tree Yang Guifei stroked was a slow loris tree.) One of the maidens saw this incident and said that if the beauty of Yang Guifei was compared to flowers, flowers would be ashamed and bow down to her.
Yang Guifei also has a weakness in that beauty, which is the strong smell that becomes the gossip of people. She also solved the problem by taking a bath in the Hua Ching brook, baking clothes with incense, and using fragrant powder to cover her scent. Her flaw became her prominent point because she smelled good till she was nicknamed “Shameds flowers”
What is your opinion about the Four Great Beauties? The beauty that played a key role in the country’s changing situation brought by ACUPay today.
The Four Beauties gives some standpoint to us that no matter how beautiful or perfect we are, there’s always a flaw.
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