15 Xi Shi

The First Beauty in Chinese History

Xi Shi, the first beauty in Chinese history, was a native of Zhuji County, Zhejiang Province which has now become a tourist hotspot. Xi Shi, Shi was her surname, Xi literally meant west. As all of the dwellers in the village surnamed Shi, and she stayed at the west end, so, she got a name as West Shi, or Xi Shi. West Shi had also got a polite name as “Westcius”, as Su Shi, a great poet in Song Dynasty had a poem praising the West Lake in Hangzhou City was as pretty as the ancient beauty Westcius. Since then, Westcius became both the girl and the lake’s name. In fact, an uncommon story of a beautiful girl’s fate became a hot topic for making poems for many poets in Tang and Song dynasties. But Fu Chai, being taking fancy to Xi Shi’s singing and dancing, paying no mind to manage his state affairs, was finally defeated and killed by Gou Jian revenge troops.

There were many widespread tales described what Xi Shi’s beauty was like: “if taller one inch, it could too tall; if shorter one inch, it could too short; if fatter one ounce, it could too fat; if thinner one ounce, it could too thin”. Another popular idiom “closed blossoms, humiliated moon, sank fish and downed swans” presented more vivid pictures: During her way to Wu State, when she walked by blossoming flowers, the flowers immediately closed up themselves for feeling she was too beautiful; when she looked at the moon at night, the moon immediately hided itself behind the clouds. When she walked along the river, the fish immediately sank away from the surface. And once there flied over a group of swans and they forgot to fly and immediately downed on to the ground. The idiom was later constantly used by some writers in their novels, depicting the rare beauty of young woman protagonists.

After the perishing of Wu State, Xi Shi lost her whereabouts. Some people believed Fan Li had taken her away (see next piece).