Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; , ) was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She was said to have lived during the end of the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

Zhuji Zhuji () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing, in north-central Zhejiang province, China, located about south of Hangzhou. It has with a population of 1,218,072 inhabitants at the 2020 census e ...

, the capital of the ancient State of Yue. In traditional stories, Xi Shi was named Shi Yiguang (施夷光). She was discovered by the Yue minister Fan Li and given to King Fuchai of Wu by

King Goujian of Yue Goujian () (reigned 496–465 BC) was the king of the Kingdom of Yue (越國, present-day northern Zhejiang) near the end of the Spring and Autumn period (春秋). He was the son of Marquis Yunchang. Goujian's reign coincided with arguably th ...

in a

sexpionage Sexpionage is the involvement of sexual activity, or the possibility of sexual activity, intimacy, romance, or seduction to conduct espionage. Sex or the possibility of sex can function as a distraction, incentive, cover story, or unintended par ...

operation which successfully brought down the

State of Wu Wu (; Old Chinese: ''*'') was one of the states during the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period. It was also known as Gouwu ( /''*''/) or Gongwu ( /''*''/) from the pronunciation of the local language. Wu was located at the ...

in 473 BC. This account first appeared in ''

Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue The ''Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue'' () is an unofficial history from the time of the Eastern Han dynasty that consists of a collection sidenotes on historical events. The ten-volume book was written by Zhao Ye (赵晔), and narrates the ...

'' published five centuries after the conquest, and is completely absent in earlier works such as '' Guoyu'', '' Zuo zhuan'', and ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

''.

Xi Shi Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; , ) was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived during the end of the Spring and Autumn period in Zhuji, the capital of the ancient State of Yue. In traditional st ...

Wang Zhaojun Wang Qiang (Wang Ch'iang; 王牆, also 王檣 and 王嬙), commonly known by her courtesy name Wang Zhaojun () was known as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Born in Baoping Village, Zigui County (in current Hubei Province) in the Western ...

Diao Chan Diaochan was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Although based on a minor historical personage, she is mostly a fictional character. She is best known for her role in the 14th-century historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', ...

and Yang Guifei are known as the “Four Beauties in Ancient China”, among which Xi Shi is the first.

Appearance

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 sank below the surface. This description serves as the meaning behind the first two characters of the Chinese idiom 沉魚落雁, 閉月羞花 (), referring to the Four Beauties, which is used to compliment a woman's beauty, meaning one is so beautiful she sinks fish and entices birds to fall, eclipses the moon and shames flowers, ().

Story of Xi Shi

was once imprisoned by King Fuchai of Wu after a defeat in war, and Yue later became a

tributary state A tributary state is a term for a pre-modern state in a particular type of subordinate relationship to a more powerful state which involved the sending of a regular token of submission, or tribute, to the superior power (the suzerain). This tok ...

to Wu. Secretly planning his revenge, Goujian's minister

Wen Zhong Wen Zhong () (died 472 BC) was an advisor in the state of Yue in the Spring and Autumn period. He was a native of Ying in the State of Chu. After Yue was defeated by the state of Wu in 494 BC, Wen Zhong bribed Bo Pi, the advisor to the leader ...

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 , and gave 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 :''Note: names are in simplified characters followed by traditional and Pinyin transliteration.'' Wu Yun (died 484 BC), better known by his courtesy name Zixu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Wu kingdom in the Spring and Aut ...

. Fuchai even built Guanwa Palace (Palace of Beautiful Women) in an imperial park on the slope of Lingyan Hill, about west of

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

. The strength of Wu dwindled, and in 473 BC Goujian launched his strike and completely routed the Wu army. King Fuchai lamented that he should have listened to Wu Zixu, and then committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. In the legend, after the fall of Wu, Fan Li (范蠡) retired from his ministerial post and lived with Xi Shi on a fishing boat, roaming like fairies in the misty wilderness of Taihu 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 Mozi (; ; Latinized as Micius ; – ), original name Mo Di (), was a Chinese philosopher who founded the school of Mohism during the Hundred Schools of Thought period (the early portion of the Warring States period, –221 BCE). The ancie ...

, is that Xi Shi later died from drowning in the river.

Influence

The Xi Shi Temple, which lies at the foot of the

Zhu Luo Hill Zhu or ZHU may refer to: *Zhu (surname), common Chinese surnames *Zhu River, or Pearl River, in southern China *Zhu (state), ancient Chinese state, later renamed Zou *House of Zhu, the ruling house of the Ming dynasty in Chinese history *Zhu (stri ...

(苎萝) in the southern part of Xiaoshan, on the banks of the Huansha River. The

West Lake West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

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 Shi compared Xi Shi's beauty to the West Lake. Li Bai of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

wrote a poem about Xi Shi. Xi Shi is mentioned in the novel '' Journey to the West'', as a sign of grace and beauty. Xi Shi is mentioned in the novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

'', the heroine Lin Daiyu is described as having a sickly appearance like Xi Shi, and has more beauty than her. Both Lin and Xi Shi give readers the image of a beautiful, sickly- looking lady. Xi Shi appears in the wuxia short story by

Jin Yong Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia (" martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong d ...

(Louis Cha), "

Sword of the Yue Maiden ''Sword of the Yue Maiden'', alternatively translated as ''Yue Maiden's Sword'', is a wuxia novelette by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It was first serialised in January 1970 in the Hong Kong newspaper '' Ming Pao Evening Supplement''. Although this is t ...

". Her name also inspired the modern name of the Shih Tzu, whose Chinese name translates to "Xi Shi dog", but whose English name has been claimed to come from the word for "lion". The moniker "lion dog" in Chinese is actually reserved for the Pekingese. Xi Shi is referenced in the saying 情人眼里出西施, meaning " beauty is in the eye of the beholder" (literally: "in the eyes of a lover, Xi Shi appears").

References

External links

A Depiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xi Shi Zhou dynasty people 5th-century BC Chinese people 5th-century BC Chinese women Ancient Chinese women Wu (state) Yue (state) People from Zhuji Fictional characters from Zhejiang People whose existence is disputed