The Four Most Beautiful Chinese Women Ever

What's up guys? Welcome to Off the Great Wall. I'm Dan. And I'm Yi. Now, we know that there are a lot of beautiful Chinese women out there. Yeah, everyone loves Chinese women. So many of my western friends have Chinese wives and girlfriends. Off topic, Dan. Anyways, did you know that there are four Chinese women throughout over 5,000 years of Chinese history that were said to be the most beautiful of them all? What? And you think competing in Miss America was tough? Yeah, it's like, you know, you have been chosen to represent yourself in the Miss China pageant, but your competition is like every single girl born in the span of 5,000 years. See, if I win that, I better get more than a tiara and a scholarship. Yeah, if you win that, you should at least get like the Great Wall or something. See what I did there? Yeah, rappel them out. But you know, the four great beauties of China did indeed wield a lot of power. Three out of four of them are responsible for ruining entire kingdoms. What? Beauty is power. Yeah, but you know that being a beautiful woman does have its downfalls. There's a Chinese saying 红颜薄命, which means beautiful women will have difficult lives. In each of these beautiful women's cases, their lives have either ended prematurely or they were used as a tool in political struggles. Let's meet these women, shall we? Number one, Xi Shi is thought to have been the most beautiful of the four beauties. There's a popular saying, Xi Shi Chen Yu, meaning that Xi Shi was so entrancingly Xi Shi was born in 506 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as the Warring States Period. Basically, back then, China wasn't one country but made up of several states, like many kingdoms, and all those states were constantly fighting with each other. So Xi Shi was from the state of Yue, which was vanquished by the state of Wu. The king of Yue, Gou Jian, was forced to serve the prince of Wu, Fu Chai, for three years. According to legend, Gou Jian and his advisors thought of a way to beat the Wu state. It was widely known that Fu Chai, who had become the king of the Wu state, was a sucker for pretty women. Gou Jian knew that if Fu Chai was surrounded by beautiful beauties, he would be so distracted that he would have no energy left to run the country. But in order for the plan to succeed, Gou Jian needed to enlist a loyal woman of stunning beauty who was willing to sacrifice herself for the good of her country. Xi Shi was thus chosen. Gou Jian ordered his minister, Fan Li, to take Xi Shi to Fu Chai as a tribute gift from Yue. On the way to the Wu state, Xi Shi fell deeply in love with the wise, kind minister, the tall, dark, and handsome Fan Li during the journey. Wait, but this is ancient China, so Fan Li was probably short and pale. Anyways, before they parted, they made a secret pledge of undying love. And as expected, Fu Chai was enchanted by Xi Shi and her beauty, and spent more and more time with When he eventually realized that he should not have been so bewitched with Xi Shi, it was too late. Gou Jian invaded Wu and Fu Chai committed suicide, and Xi Shi's mission was complete. Now, there are two versions of what happened to Xi Shi after this. One is that she drowned in a river. The other, and the one that I choose to believe, is that she reunited with Fan Li and lived in relative obscurity, happily ever after. Number two, Diao Chan, who is the second best-looking of the four beauties, was described to be so luminously beautiful that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face. Hence the popular saying, Diao Chan Bi Yue. During the East Han dynasty, there was a tyrannical warlord named Dong Zhuo, with an adopted son, Lyu Bu, who was the mightiest warrior in the land. At the time, there was also an official called Wang Yun, and he was very concerned with the political state of the country. In order to dethrone Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun hatched a plan to drive a wedge between Dong Zhuo and Lyu Bu. The wedge would be Diao Chan, a beautiful girl who happened to live in Wang Yun's household. She agreed to help Wang Yun in order to repay his kindness for taking her in. So, Wang Yun first introduced Diao Chan to Lyu Bu, who was immediately mesmerized by her beauty. Of course. Then, Wang Yun also presented Diao Chan to Dong Zhuo, who immediately took her as his concubine. One day, when Lyu Bu came to see Dong Zhuo, Diao Chan ran to him crying, saying that she feels ashamed to see him as she had been violated by Dong Zhuo. At this time, Dong Zhuo walked in and saw Lyu Bu holding Diao Chan. From that point on, the battle was on between Dong Zhuo and Lyu Bu, and they became crazy jealous of each other over Diao Chan. In the end, Wang Yun was able to enlist Lyu Bu in helping him kill Dong Zhuo. Yes, so the son killed his adopted father over a woman. There are various versions of Diao Chan's fate, and none of them were good. Some say she was executed by Dong Zhuo's followers along with Wang Yun, and some say that she wandered the world with Lyu Bu, who became a warlord, but was executed with him when he was defeated in a battle. Some say Diao Chan never existed, as her name only appeared in legends and not historical texts. Others say Diao Chan was not her real name, and her actual name was Ren Hongchang, but we'll never know. Number three, Wang Zhaojun is the third most beautiful woman in Chinese history, and is said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky, hence the saying Zhaojun Luoyan. Wang Zhaojun was born in the Western Han Dynasty in 52 BC. She entered the imperial palace during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han. The emperor chose companions from his vast group of maidens only by looking at the portraits, you know, because he didn't have time to meet them in person, kind of like Ok Cupid for ancient China. Not the same thing. Okay, as a result of the practice, it has become the custom for palace ladies to offer large bribes to court artists to ensure that they painted flattering likeness. It's like bribing a photographer to photoshop your photo to make you look the best they can. Get it? Yeah. Wang Zhaojun, however, was so confident in her natural beauty and refused to pay the court painter his customary bribe. As a result, the painter painted an ugly picture of her, and from her finished portrait, she seemed to be the ugliest of all the palace ladies and thus never receives the emperor's favor. When the chieftain of the Xiongnu, which was a country that included Mongolia and northern China at the time, became a subject of the Han Empire, he told Emperor Yuan, I wish to take a Han beauty as my empress. To cement relations with this barbarian nation, Emperor Yuan agreed to the request. But of course, he didn't want to give away any of his pretty maidens, so he actually decided to pick the plainest girl for marriage. So Wang Zhaojun was picked. Only when she was on the point of departure did Emperor Yuan see her in person and of course was like, what did I do? I gave away the most beautiful maiden. But it was too late. So the groom-to-be, of course, was delighted. The emperor had the court artist that painted Wang Zhaojun's portrait be put to death. Wang Zhaojun traveled beyond the Great Wall and never returned to the homeland. She died at the tender young age of 33. And finally, we have the last of the four beauties, Yang Guifei. My favorite! Because she was curvy. Uh-huh. It was said that she had a face that puts all flowers to shame, thus the term Guifei Xiuhua. Yang Guifei's real name was actually Yang Yuhuan and she was born in the year of 719 during the Tang Dynasty. Yang Guifei, as she's more commonly known, entered the royal palace and immediately won the favor of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong. He had over 3,000 concubines, but he only had eyes for her, to the degree where he stopped caring about running a country and spent every waking moment with her. He also promoted all of Yang Guifei's family members to become high-ranking officials, which turned out to be a mistake. Yes, because Emperor Xuanzong eventually fled towards the southwest because of internal rebellion. He took Yang Guifei with him. They hadn't gone far from the capital when his own soldiers refused to go on and demanded the death of Yang Guifei as they blamed her for the rebellion. Emperor Xuanzong had no choice but to have his favorite concubine put to death. There's a popular Chinese saying, 英雄難過美人關, or it is hard for heroes to pass the test of beautiful women. Basically, all guys are weak when it comes to dealing with a beautiful woman. Yeah, right. Oh yeah? The Battle of Troy was fought over Helen. She was said to be the most beautiful woman on Earth. All right, maybe that one. Hey guys, thanks again for watching, and let us know if your job or life has ever been ruined because of a girl or friendship. Oh my god, there's this episode on Sex and the City where the guy's a modelizer and he realizes that his life has destroyed my models. That is not relevant. Thanks for watching. That's totally not what I was asking. And I don't remember seeing that episode. What episode was that? Just kidding, I don't watch Sex and the City. Thanks for watching, guys. See you next time. Be sure to share this video and tweet us and all that stuff. Like us on Facebook. Bye, guys.