Who is Xi Shi?

[Shi Rui'en]

情人眼里出西施。

I know that the meaning of this is talking about love. Love is blind. But who or what is Xi Shi?

Ryan

[朋诚]

Xi Shi was a woman famous for her beauty, who lived in the period of "Spring and Autumn", about 600bc.

at that time her native state Yue had been defeated by a neighbouring state of Wu. to please its conquror and try to get back on its feet again, Yue send Xi Shi as a gift to the king of Wu. at the same time, Xi Shi acted as a spy for her native state.

the story ended on the total ruin of the state of Wu by the revived Yue and Xi Shi went away with the minister who discovered her into obscurity.

the name of Xi Shi become synonymous of beauty and to this day that part of China where Xi Shi was born is still renowned for its beautiful maids.

hope the information will help

[Shi Rui'en]

Thanks. I like it when things have a history behind them.

[holyman]

believed to be a legendary figure

[Ian_Lee]

Well-known idiom related to the beauty Xi Shi:

東施效顰

[bhchao]

One of the Four Beauties of ancient China

[Quest]

She was ranked #1 among the 4 beauties, so you could say she was the No. 1 widely accepted beauty in Chinese history.

[skylee]

She was ranked #1 among the 4 beauties, so you could say she was the No. 1 widely accepted beauty in Chinese history.

4 beauties ~ 西施, 北獅, 東屍 and 男士.

Sorry.

[Shi Rui'en]

Thanks. If anyone is willing to give a little history behind the other three, I'd be up to read it. I find nothing wrong with spending my time reading about beautiful women.

[bhchao]

Sorry, only have time for 1 beauty. 王昭君 (Wang Zhaojun) was a court lady during the reign of Han emperor Yuan Di. She entered the court to save her father, a scholar-official, from persecution. She was young and very intelligent, but bored with court life. At that time it was customary for the tribes of the Xiongnu to request a Han princess from the court.

In 33 BC, the Xiongnu requested to marry a Han princess. The emperor offered to give one of the court concubines instead, and planned to send the most ugliest one. Since there were thousands of them and Yuan Di could never have the chance to meet all of them, he asked the court painter Mao Yanshou to paint portraits of every single one of them. Mao was dishonest and requested bribes from the ladies in return for a good portrait. When he requested a bribe from 王昭君, she flatly refused because she was confident of her looks. She was given an unflattering portrait as a result, when in fact she was the most beautiful of all the ladies.

Yuan Di received Wang's portrait, and after seeing the ugly portrait, he chose her as the one to marry the Xiongnu chief. When it was time for Wang to depart on the long journey north to the Xiongnu frontier, Yuan Di and his ministers were astonished when Wang finally revealed herself. They have never seen such beauty and gracefulness. Since Yuan Di could not change his decision once he made it, he felt heartbroken and guilty inside. But Wang wanted to go anyway because she wanted more excitement in her life. After all, she was serving a good purpose because sending a lady from the court to the Xiongnu was one of the terms of keeping the peace between the tribe and the Han empire.

Yuan Di conducted an investigation and wondered how such a beautiful woman was given an ugly portrait, resulting in her selection. He found out that Mao Yanshou requested bribes from the ladies in return for good portraits. Enraged, the emperor put Mao and other royal court painters to death.