The Four Beauties or Four Great Beauties are four ancient Chinese women, renowned for their beauty. The scarcity of historical records concerning them meant that much of what is known of them today has been greatly embellished by legend. They gained their reputation from the influence they exercised over kings and emperors and consequently, the way their actions impacted Chinese history. Three of the Four Great Beauties brought kingdoms to their knees, and the lives of all four ended in tragedy or under mysterious circumstances.
The Four Great Beauties lived in four different dynasties, each hundreds of years apart. In chronological order, they are:

* Xi1 Shi1 (c. seventh to sixth century BC, Spring and Autumn Period), said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink away from the surface when she walks by.
* Wang2 Zhao1 jun1 (c. first century BC, Western Han Dynasty), said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky.
* Diao1 Chan2 (c. third century, Late Eastern Han/Three Kingdoms period), said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face.
* Yang2 Gui4 fei1 (719–756, Tang Dynasty), said to have a face that puts all flowers to shame.

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The four most beautiful women in the ancient China

This following article gives more details about the four beauties: Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun,Diaochan and Yang Guifei. Read on,

Xishi

Xishi (497 BC) was a legendary beauty of ancient China. She has been described as “equally charming in both heavy and light makeup”, “as appealing when she frowns as when she smiles”. Of her figure it has been said that “were she plump, you would admire her plumpness, were she thin you would admire her for being slender”. She is celebrated as a woman of extraordinary natural beauty with a universal appeal. Although many have praised Xishi’s looks, there is but little mention of her notable virtue – she had a great love for her country and her people.

Xishi was the daughter of a tea trader from Ningluo Mountain village in the Zhuji county in Zhejiang Province. This comprised a part of the ancient state of Yue.

When the state of Yue was vanquished by the state of Wu, the King of Yue, Gou Jian was forced to serve the Prince of Wu for three years. On his release, King Gou Jian slept on brushwood and drank gall before each meal to remind himself of the humiliation his country had suffered. He commissioned men to search far and wide for a woman whom he could send as a tribute to Prince Fuchai of Wu. Xishi, whose beauty was much talked of even from early childhood, was selected for this task and sent to the capital.

King Gou Jian approved of the choice and had Xishi dressed in fine robes. He had her trained in royal court etiquette. Gou Jian ordered his minister Fan Li to take Xishi to the Prince of Wu as a tribute gift from Yue. During the journey, Xishi fell deeply in love with the wise minister. Fan Li also grew to admire this courageous lady who was willing to give her life for her country. Consequently, before they parted, they made a secret pledge of undying love.

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萬芳-我記得你眼裡的依戀

万芳 – 我记得你眼里的依恋
Wan4 fang1 – Wo3 ji4 de5 ni3 yan3 li3 de5 yi1 lian4

I remember the attachment in your eyes

走在红尘俗世间　谁的呼唤飘在耳边
zou3 zai4 hong2 chen2 su2 shi4 jian1, shui2 de5 hu1 huan4 piao1 zai4 er3 bian1
Walking in the red dust mundane, who’s calling drifting at my ear side?

那么熟悉却又遥远　为什么痴心两处总难相见
na4 me5 shu2 xi1 que4 you4 yao2 yuan3, wei3 shi2 me5 chi1 xin1 liang3 chu4 zong3 nan2 xiang1 jian4
(You) are that familiar, but that far away; why (we) have to be infatuated with each other but hard to see each other?

徘徊在起风的午夜　谁的叹息飘在风间
pai2 huai2 zai4 qi3 feng1 de5 wu3 ye4,  shui2 de5 tan4 xi2 piao1 zai4 feng1 jian1
Pace to and fro at the midnight of the wind blowing; who’s sighing drifts between the wind?

那么无奈却又无悔　多少前世残梦留待今生圆
na4 me5 wu2 nai4, que4 you4 wu2 hui3, duo1 shao3 qian2 shi4 can2 meng4 liu2 dai4 jin1 sheng1 yuan2
(I am) such helpless, but not regretful; how many incomplete dreams of past life leave to be completed in this life

就算换了时空变了容颜　我依然记得你眼里的依恋
jiu4 suan4 huan4 liao3 shi2 kong1, bian4 liao3 rong2 yan2, wo3 yi1 ran2 ji4 de5 ni3 yan3 li3 de5 yi1 lian4
Even space and time changed the faces and the appearances; I still remember the attachment in your eyes

纵然聚散由命　也要用心感动天
zong4 ran2 ju4 san4 you2 ming4, ye3 yao4 yong4 xin1 gan3 dong4 tian1
Although reunion and departing are fated; (we) have to use heart to move the heaven

就算换了时空你变了容颜　我依然记得你眼里的依恋
jiu4 suan4 huan4 liao3 shi2 kong1 ni3 bian4 liao3 rong2 yan2, wo3 yi1 ran2 ji4 de5 ni3 yan3 li3 de5 yi1 lian4
Even space and time changed the faces and the appearances; I still remember the attachment in your eyes

纵然难续前世　也要再结今生缘
zong4 ran2 nan2 xu4 qian2 shi4, ye3 yao4 zai4 jie2 jin1 sheng1 yuan2
Although it is hard to continue the previous life; (we) still have to connect the predestined affinity of this life

就算换了时空变了容颜　我依然记得你眼里的依恋
jiu4 suan4 huan4 liao3 shi2 kong1 bian4 liao3 rong2 yan2, wo3 yi1 ran2 ji4 de5 ni3 yan2 li3 de5 yi1 lian4
Even space and time changed the faces and the appearances; I still remember the attachment in your eyes

就算换了时空你变了容颜　我依然记得你眼里的依恋
jiu4 suan4 huan4 liao3 shi2 kong1 ni3 bian4 liao3 rong2 yan2, wo3 yi1 ran2 ji4 de5 ni3 yan3 li3 de5 yi1 lian4
Even space and time changed the faces and the appearances; I still remember the attachment in your eyes

Translated by Shu

Quotes about beauty:

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.  ~John Muir

Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see.  ~George W. Russell

I’ve never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.  ~Author Unknown

By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.  ~Rabindrath Tagore

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.  ~Kahlil Gibran

Against Him those women sin who torment their skin with potions, stain their cheeks with rouge and extend the line of their eyes with black coloring.  Doubtless they are dissatisfied with God’s plastic skill.  In their own persons they convict and censure the Artificer of all things.  ~Tertullian

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.  ~Ninon de L’Enclos

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked.  ~Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal”

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty – they merely move it from their faces into their hearts.  ~Martin Buxbaum

Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for being
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Rhodora”

Close your eyes and see the beauty.  ~Author Unknown

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.  ~Leo Tolstoy

In every man’s heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.  ~Christopher Morley

Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.  ~Simone Weil

What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for Beauty, and never see the Dawn!  ~Logan Pearsall Smith

The most beautiful view is the one I share with you.  ~Author Unknown

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.  ~Chinese Proverb

Beauty comes in all sizes, not just size 5.  ~Roseanne

I don’t like standard beauty – there is no beauty without strangeness.  ~Karl Lagerfeld

There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.  ~Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty and folly are generally companions.  ~Baltasar Gracian

Beauty comes as much from the mind as from the eye.  ~Grey Livingston

We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.  ~Confucius

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