Four Beauties of China and their movies

My Ngie Mah came to visit us almost every weekend when she was alive. She enjoyed going to the movies which actually aided her to increase her knowledge of Chinese history and culture. As an illiterate,China born child bride, who learned about Confucius teaching by listening to the home tutor (she did her chores outside and could hear the teaching of the tutor) in the Lau home village of Bandung. Her memory was so good, she could recite many Confucian teachings. These teachings were in turn passed to us from time to time when she used them appropriately (inserted into our daily conversations).

One of her favourite topics of ancient China was the four beauties / ancient Chinese women, renowned for their beauty.

She related their legends and stories with some dramatic effects sometimes which cheered us. Perhaps she really empathized with them because they were tragic figures. Through her we learned a lot about the history of China in Foochow. Needless to say, to this day, I remember these beauties with their Foochow names, Sae Sieh, Wong Jao Jung, Chao Xuon, Yong Gui Hee.

The Four Great Beauties lived in four different dynasties, each hundreds of years apart. In chronological order, they are:

• Xi Shi (c. 7th to 6th 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.^[1]
• Wang Zhaojun (c. 1st century BC, Western Han Dynasty), said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky.^[2]
• Diaochan (c. 3rd 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.^[3]
• Yang Guifei (719–756, Tang Dynasty), said to have a face that puts all flowers to shame.^[4]