387:, as Emperor Xuanzong and his cortege were fleeing from the capital Chang'an to Chengdu, the emperor's guards demanded that he put Yang Guifei to death because they blamed the rebellion on her cousin Yang Guozhong and the rest of her family. The emperor capitulated and reluctantly ordered his attendant Gao Lishi to strangle Yang to death. Yang Guifei became a tragic figure in later depictions. Particularly influential was the Tang poet
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247:, the King of Wu, in the hope that Fuchai would become infatuated with her and become distracted from his official duties. The plan was successful, with Fuchai spending all his time entertaining Xi Shi and not attending to military matters. In part due to his distraction, Goujian was able to defeat an unprepared Fuchai in battle. Fuchai, full of regret, committed suicide.
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of Wang Yun, assists her master in his plot to bring down Dong Zhuo. She seduces both Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo and thus drives a wedge between the two, eventually having Lü killed his foster father Dong Zhuo. She then becomes a concubine of Lü. The fictional details about her life were added over the
192:. In one chapter, the women Mao Qiang and Lady Li are described as "great beauties" who "when fish see them they dart into the depths, when birds see them they soar into the skies, when deer see them they bolt away without looking back". This passage is the source of the well-known
350:'s maids and he constantly feared that Dong Zhuo would find out. This was one of the reasons why he betrayed and assassinated Dong Zhuo in 192. The maid's name was not recorded in history, but it is believed the story partly inspired the character of Diaochan. In
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There are two accounts of what then happened to Xi Shi. The first is that
Goujian killed her by drowning her because he was afraid that he too would be mesmerized by her beauty. The second was that she eventually came together with her lover
309:, ordered that the plainest woman from the harem be given to Huhanye, and so Wang Zhaojun was chosen, based on her unflattering portrait. The artist Mao Yanshou was subsequently executed for deceiving the Emperor.
284:, despite her young age. Despite her beauty, the emperor never visited her, as she had refused to bribe the official portraitists, who had then painted an unflattering portrait of her.
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These separate idioms are sometimes merged to describe especially beautiful women or simply to refer to the Four
Beauties' legendary good looks. The merged idiom is
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224:, 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.
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period, she was said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face.
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One of the earliest references to qualities later associated with the canonical Four Great
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describe the Four
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601:Retrieved on 2010-02-20.
528:. Algora. pp. 1–4.
374:Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
303:marriage alliance system
297:came to the Han capital
218:Spring and Autumn period
690:Lists of Chinese people
549:Ziporyn, Brook (2020).
270:. Again reflecting the
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91:sei3 daai6 mei5 neoi5
385:An Lushan Rebellion
335:and the subsequent
268:Western Han dynasty
233:Ancient Yue Kingdom
145:Four Great Beauties
23:Four Great Beauties
725:Sexuality in China
720:Chinese concubines
665:2012-11-07 at the
641:2011-07-25 at the
617:2011-07-25 at the
593:2011-07-25 at the
524:Woo, X.L. (2016).
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99:Southern Min
70:sì dà měi nǚ
64:Hanyu Pinyin
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671:纪连海叹说四大美人 .
478:Yang Guifei
407:Well-known
383:During the
370:Yang Guifei
365:Yang Guifei
361:centuries.
333:Eastern Han
282:Emperor Yun
204:Biographies
168:Yang Yuhuan
684:Categories
636:Big5.ce.cn
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588:Big5.ce.cn
573:2022-01-09
508:References
465:sinks fish
182:Background
647:貂蟬拜月——閉月.
623:昭君出塞——落雁.
599:西施浣紗——沉魚.
489:沉魚落雁，閉月羞花
348:Dong Zhuo
147:are four
715:Quartets
663:Archived
639:Archived
615:Archived
591:Archived
496:See also
473:Diaochan
420:English
417:Chinese
389:Bai Juyi
318:Diaochan
313:Diaochan
299:Chang'an
272:Zhuangzi
222:Zhuangzi
189:Zhuangzi
164:Diaochan
85:Jyutping
295:Huhanye
289:Xiongnu
237:Goujian
149:Chinese
106:Hokkien
34:Chinese
559:
532:
502:Bao Si
463:Xi Shi
409:idioms
403:Idioms
324:novel
292:Chanyu
253:Fan Li
245:Fuchai
214:Xi Shi
209:Xi Shi
172:legend
166:, and
156:Xi Shi
344:Lü Bu
229:Zhuji
152:women
557:ISBN
530:ISBN
399:").
395:" ("
358:geji
322:Ming
277:pipa
198:沉魚落雁
139:The
40:四大美女
669:."
645:."
621:."
597:."
200:).
178:.
143:or
109:POJ
686::
516:^
457:羞花
455:貴妃
448:閉月
446:貂蟬
439:落雁
437:昭君
430:沉魚
428:西施
241:Wu
235:.
162:,
158:,
576:.
538:.
329:.
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