But one of the things I don't really understand about Chinese history is why it doesn't contain more Xi Shi stories. There's an ongoing fascination with female beauty and the fact that it can destroy empires by distracting men. Chen Shubao, the Sui emperor Wen, and Xuanzong in the Tang are all said to have met their downfall because of their interest in women. Two of the descriptors for female beauty are predicated on how large a unit this woman could destroy: 倾城 (beautiful enough to upset a city) and 倾国 (beautiful enough to upset an entire country).
But Xi Shi is the only story I know in the traditional historiography about weaponising that female power. And of course, in this story, poor Xi Shi is just a pawn, her beauty deployed for the ends of Goujian, not for her own purposes.
So perhaps there was a patriarchal squeamishness about fully admitting the strength of this weapon that could only be wielded by women. Or perhaps it reflects an underlying recognition that the "fault" doesn't really lie with the beauty of the women; that lust and love are just random, chaotic forces in human affairs. I don't really know.
But the Xi Shi myth is certainly an important one, and informs lots and lots of gorgeous images in Tang poetry. Because of Xi Shi, just washing your laundry in a stream becomes a canonical image that opens up potentials for social mobility, sex and romance, political intrigue, and the rise and fall of empires.
> Two of the descriptors for female beauty are predicated on how large a unit this woman could destroy: 倾城 (beautiful enough to upset a city) and 倾国 (beautiful enough to upset an entire country)
Hah - somewhat like "the face that launched a thousand ships"!
Exactly like that! The Song of Eternal Sadness by Bai Juyi starts with 汉皇重色思倾国, and I'm thinking about translating it as something like "a face to launch a thousand ships (or sink a state)..." That poem is going to be a monster to translate.
Yay! Welcome back!
While reading up on Xi Shi, I have discovered the delightful coinage "sexpionage": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Shi
Yeah, Xi Shi is an extraordinary story.
But one of the things I don't really understand about Chinese history is why it doesn't contain more Xi Shi stories. There's an ongoing fascination with female beauty and the fact that it can destroy empires by distracting men. Chen Shubao, the Sui emperor Wen, and Xuanzong in the Tang are all said to have met their downfall because of their interest in women. Two of the descriptors for female beauty are predicated on how large a unit this woman could destroy: 倾城 (beautiful enough to upset a city) and 倾国 (beautiful enough to upset an entire country).
But Xi Shi is the only story I know in the traditional historiography about weaponising that female power. And of course, in this story, poor Xi Shi is just a pawn, her beauty deployed for the ends of Goujian, not for her own purposes.
So perhaps there was a patriarchal squeamishness about fully admitting the strength of this weapon that could only be wielded by women. Or perhaps it reflects an underlying recognition that the "fault" doesn't really lie with the beauty of the women; that lust and love are just random, chaotic forces in human affairs. I don't really know.
But the Xi Shi myth is certainly an important one, and informs lots and lots of gorgeous images in Tang poetry. Because of Xi Shi, just washing your laundry in a stream becomes a canonical image that opens up potentials for social mobility, sex and romance, political intrigue, and the rise and fall of empires.
> Two of the descriptors for female beauty are predicated on how large a unit this woman could destroy: 倾城 (beautiful enough to upset a city) and 倾国 (beautiful enough to upset an entire country)
Hah - somewhat like "the face that launched a thousand ships"!
Exactly like that! The Song of Eternal Sadness by Bai Juyi starts with 汉皇重色思倾国, and I'm thinking about translating it as something like "a face to launch a thousand ships (or sink a state)..." That poem is going to be a monster to translate.
Oh, I love it :-) I'll be looking forward to that one, then - good luck!