Yang Guifei

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Yang Guifei (楊貴妃 "Secondary-consort Yang") (June 1, 719 — July 15, 756), born Yang Yuhuan (楊玉環), was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was a consort of Xuanzong of Tang China who was killed (together with her cousin Yang Guozhong) because the angry army was convinced that the Rebellion of Anshi was ultimately the Yangs' fault.

Yang was born in Yongle (永樂), Pu Prefecture (蒲州) with an ancestry in Huaying (華陰), Hongnong (弘農) (in Shaanxi) to Yang Xuanyan (楊玄琰), the sihu (司戶), a finance and food official, in Shu Prefecture (蜀州). A few years after her father's death, sixteen-year old Yang married the Xuanzong's sixteen-year old son Prince Shou (壽王), Li Mei (李瑁).

Three years after Emperor Xuanzong's wife Wu Huifei (武惠妃) died in 737, the highly-placed eunuch advisor Gao Lishi arranged for Xuanzong to meet Yang in Xingwen Fountain Palace (幸溫泉宮). The emperor then made Yang divorce her husband the prince, and become a nun with the sobriquet Taizhen (太真 "Utmost Truth") living in Taizhen Palace. Five years later, Prince Li Mei was given another wife, the daughter of General Yuan Zhaoxun (韋昭訓), and then Yang was made a guifei (consort).

Many of Yang's relatives become officials, including:

Yang's eldest sister became Lady of Han (韓國夫人) (Note: the name 韓國 does not correspond to the modern-day Korea)
Yang's third eldest sister became Lady of Guo (虢國夫人)
Yang's eighth eldest sister became Lady of Qin (秦國夫人)
Yang's gambler distant cousin, Yang Guozhong, became a high-ranking official.

In addition, members of the Yang family married two Li princesses and two prefects. (See also: Guanxi)

Lychee was a favorite fruit for Yang, and the emperor had the fruit, which was only grown in southern China, delivered by the imperial messenger service's fast horses, whose riders would take shifts day and night in a Pony Express-like manner, to the capital. (Most historians believe the fruits were delivered from modern Guangdong, but some believe they were delivered from modern Sichuan.)

In the aftermath of the Anshi Rebellion, the emperor made his escape to Chengdu. Along the road, at Mawei Relay Stop (馬嵬驛站) (today in Xinping (興平縣), Shaanxi), the soldiers accompanying the imperial party, who believed that the Yangs were responsible for the country's upheaval, demanded the death of Yang Guozhong. Still unsatisfied, the army insisted that Yang Guifei should be killed as well. Rather than turn herself over to them, Yang (then 38) hanged herself or was hanged by Gao Lishi. The following year, Xuanzong tried to retrieve her body from Mawei Relay, but no body was found. Therefore, a Japanese myth tells that she was rescued, escaped to Japan and lived her remaining life there. A memorial tomb for her was erected in Xi.

Yang Guifei is known for being slightly overweight, which was a much sought-after quality at the time. Misinterpretion of quotes describing this in the West has often led to her being described as "obese". The term "obese", when used to describe Yang Guifei, must not be viewed in its modern context of someone who is extremely overweight. She was often compared and contrasted with Zhao Feiyan (趙飛燕), the beautiful wife of Emperor Cheng of Han, because she was known for her full build while Zhao was known for her slender build. This led to the Chinese idiom yanshou huanfei (燕瘦環肥), describing (frequently in advertisement for sexual services) the range of the types of beauties.

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Literature

Yang's life is popular in literature, such the operas

Guifei Intoxicated (貴妃醉酒 Guifei Zuijiu)
The Unofficial Biography of Taizhen (太真外傳 Taizhen Waizhuan)
The Slope of Mawei (馬嵬坡 Mawei Po) by Chen Hong (陳鴻)

Novels:

The Unofficial Biography of Yang Taizhen (楊太真外傳 Yang Taizhen Waizhuan)
The Biography-Song of the Everlasting Sorrow (長恨歌傳 Changhen Kezhuan)
The Court of the Lion (modern English novelization) - Eleanor Cooney, Daniel Altieri (ISBN 0877959021)

Drama plays:

The Hall of Longevity (長生殿 Changshen Dian) by (洪升) of the Qing Dynasty
The Mirror to Grind Dust (磨塵鑒 Mocheng Jian) by an anonymous of the Ming Dynasty
The Records of Shocking the Grandeur (驚鴻記 Jinghong Ji) by (吳世美) of the Ming Dynasty
The Records of Colourful Hair (彩毫記 Caihao Ji) by (屠隆隆) of the Ming Dynasty
Emperor Ming of Tang China in an Autumn Night with Kolanut and Rain (唐明皇秋夜梧桐雨 Tang Minghuang Qiuye Wutong Yu) by Bai Pu (白樸) of the Yuan Dynasty