It was told that there were four most famous beauties in ancient China, one of which was the Tang Dynasty Emperor Longji Lee’s (685-762) favorite concubine Yang Guifei (her child name was Yuhuan=Jade-ring). Most people know her romantic love in China’s history. She was born in today’s Yongji County, Shanxi Province, in 719. The girl was a little bit fat but extremely beautiful in appearance of bearing. She behaved in polite and lovely manner. From her childhood, she was good at singing and dancing, especially at pandering and catering in public or private surrounding. At first she was selected as a concubine of the Emperor’s son at her age of 17. However, the old emperor’s original concubine Wu Hui died and substituted by Yang years later. Actually, Yang became the first wife of the Emperor falling in love with her all day long. Although he was at the age of 61,still his mind and heart were full of the 27-year-old beauty. The Emperor had been lazy to manage public affairs every day since his favorite beauty joined his life. A famous long classic poem entitled Eternal Regret Song [by Bai Juyi (772-846)] retold their romantic love story and vivid daily life. I’d like to turn a few lines into everyday English as follows:
The flirtatious emperor deeply greedy for a beauty,
Years later he failed to find out the satisfactory.
A charming girl growing up silently in Yangs’ family,
Nobody knew her living in a secluded boudoir lonely.
She was born too naturally beautiful to lose a good luck,
By chance as a concubine candidate selected to the monarch.
Looking back with a smile showed her unlimited charm;
No beauties in six palaces seemed bright since she came.
………………………………………………………………
There were 3,000 beauties in the back-palace-chamber
She was considered as a favorite beauty by the emperor.
(Tr. Manfield Zhu)