Xi Shi

Xi Shi (, 506 BC – ?) was one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived during the end of Spring and Autumn Period in Zhuji, the capital of the ancient State of Yue.

Xi Shi's beauty was said to be so extreme that while leaning over a balcony to look at the fish in the pond, the fish would be so dazzled that they forgot to swim and gradually sunk away from the surface. This description serves as the first two characters of the Chinese idiom 沉魚落雁, 閉月羞花 (), which is used to compliment someone's beauty.

The Story of Xi Shi

King Goujian of Yue, king of Yue, was once imprisoned after a defeat in a war by King Fuchai of Wu, king of the State of Wu. The state of Yue later became a tributary to Wu. Secretly planning his revenge, Goujian's minister Wen Zhong suggested training beautiful women and offering them to Fuchai as a tribute (knowing Fuchai could not resist beautiful women). His other minister, Fan Li, found Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, and gifted them to Fuchai in 490 BC.

Bewitched by the beauty and kindness of Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, Fuchai forgot all about his state affairs and at their instigation, killed his best advisor, the great general Wu Zixu. Fuchai even built Guanwa Palace (Palace of Beautiful Women) in an imperial park on the slope of Lingyan Hill, about west of Suzhou. The strength of Wu dwindled, and in 473 BC Goujian launched his strike and put the Wu army to full rout. King Fuchai lamented that he should have listened to Wu Zixu, and then committed suicide.

In the legend, after the fall of Wu, Fan Li retired from his ministerial post and lived with Xi Shi on a fishing boat, roaming like fairies in the misty wilderness of Tai He Lake, and no one saw them ever again. This is according to Yuan Kang's Yue Jueshu 《越绝书》. Another version, according to Mozi, is that Xi Shi eventually died from drowning in the river. (西施之沈，其美也)

Influence

She is remembered by the Xi Shi Temple, which lies at the foot of the Zhu Lou Hill in the southern part of the city, on the banks of the Huansha River.

The West Lake in Hangzhou is said to be the incarnation of Xi Shi, hence it is also called Xizi Lake, Xizi being another name for Xi Shi, meaning Lady Xi. In his famous work of song poetry, Drinks at West Lake through Sunshine and Rain (飲湖上初睛居雨), renowned scholar Su Dongpo compared Xi Shi's beauty to the West Lake.

Li Bai of the Tang dynasty wrote a poem about Xi Shi.

Vietnamese culture

In Vietnamese tradition, Xi Shi's name in Viet pronunciation is Tây Thi. She is regarded as a cultural heroine of the Viet people, in which she used her beauty and sexual prowess to seduce and conquer the King Fuchai of Wu. Tây Thi is depicted as a extraordinary beautiful woman from the State of Yue (Viet) who sacrificed her virginity to the Wu king Fuchai to seduce and distract him from political and governing duties, which enabled the armies of Yue to defeat Wu. The Yue army was led by Tây Thi's lover and guardian, Pham Lai (Fan Li). According to different versions, King Fuchai either committed suicide and Tây Thi escaped afterwards, never to marry again, or Fuchai was killed by the Viet forces, and Tây Thi ran off with Pham Lai and returned home to Viet State.

Other references

There is another well-known figure of unknown origin, probably fictional and parodical, named Dong Shi (東施). The "Dong" in her name means "east" contrasting to Xi Shi's "Xi", which means "west". Apart from her name, she is said to be the exact opposite of Xi Shi in being extremely ugly. This in turn has created the saying "Dong Shi imitates a frown" (东施效颦) (Xi Shi, being a sickly girl, often had chest pains; it was said that her beauty was most marvellous when she was wincing from the pain because all Chinese historians were male who interpreted the look of feminine pain as reminiscent of the peak of masculine sexual conquest over the fairer sex), whereas Dongshi, being ugly and thus inviting no suitor, emphasized her own ugliness while imitating Xishi's look of sexualized frailty and suffering. The saying has taken on a meaning to signify one's vain attempt imitating another only to emphasize one's own weaknesses.

A tongue twister that works best in Mandarin references XiShi: 西施死時四十四，四十四時西施死。(XīShī sǐ shí sì shí sì, sì shí sì shí XīShī sǐ.) It means Xishi died at (the age of) forty-four, at (age) forty-four Xishi died.

References

External links

A Depiction

Category:Chinese nobility