Wang Zhaojun (active c50-1 BCE) was one of the four Meiren or great beauties of antiquity China. As a Meiren archetype, Zhaojun reflects beauties who are willing to give away a great deal, part of the transfer between antiquity ideals of acceptable beauty standards rooted in traditional ideals of inner and learned beauty (Dao/Tao beauty) towards contemporary Aesthetics standards of long black hair, cosmetics and alternating silhouettes popular by the Tang dynasty with court noblewomen and male poets. Zhaojun's tale begins at the court of Yuan of Han (48-33 BCE) and reflects the Han orientated male beauty standards of the time, which enabled female beauty to a point, but not allowing it to threaten existing male power structures whilst still serving Han male acceptability politics.
The tale of Wang Zhaojun
Zhaojun begins her tale as the child of a noble family living in Western China during the late Han Dynasty. Zhaojun was a great beauty, both inside and out being regarded as highly intelligent and aesthetically pleasing. As was customary, she was called upon by the Emperor to reside in his palace as a concubine representing her county in 36 BCE aged 14. At the court however, she spent her days in solitude, playing the Pipa & Gugin instruments, games of Go and practicing writing and painting. These marked her as an accomplished scholar as an adept practitioner of the Four Arts (四藝).
Zhaojun was confident enough in her looks that she did not bribe the court painter, resulting in her painting being subpar for her actual representative beauty. Due to this, she remained as a lady in-waiting at court. When a provincial Mongolian prince became ripe, Zhaojun was chosen as his tradable merchandise bride based on her supposed average, provincial beauty in 33 BCE. In this capacity Zhaojun volunteered, and in later being presented to court, the Emperor found out his error in allowing corrupt portrait painters to flourish, and eventually had to send Zhaojun to the Mongolian Kingdom.
Eventually Zhaojun produced 4 ankle-biters, 2 of whom were daughters; Yun Subu Juxi (须卜居次) who became an important local political figure and Dangyu Juxi (当于居次). In 31 BCE with the death of the groom, Zhaojun requested a return to Western China, only for the Emperors progeny to determine Zhaojun must marry the succeeding prince of her new Kingdom, which in following her adopted homelands custom was to be her stepson. This produced 2 more daughters. These actions cemented Zhaojun as the pacifying, tolerant and wise Meiren of the Han dynasty whose selflessness enabled the pacification of the central Han courts.
Passive Otherworldly Beauty
A great many poems were written up until the early modern medieval period about Zhaojun. Most of them however present as a passive feminine token for male affection, being a mediator figure who gives over her agency and autonomy to fulfill the needs and requirements expected of her as a tradable commodity and womb factory. Zhaojun also often acts a meat shield used to protect Han ethnic groups from barbarian 'Hun' peoples Others even up until the early Medieval period in Europe, in China. This followed a patriarchal trope set by the central Han court as it sought to use women's bodies to draw its influence over neighbouring kingdoms and peoples through marriage pacts.[1]
In the tradition of natural beauties prompted by the scholarly fascination with what it meant to be beautiful, Zhaojun was thus to be considered a Damei beauty figure, whose beauty therefore drew upon her intellectual beauties as earliers writers found in Xi Shi's tale:
Xi was said to be a true beauty, one of nature [...]. Zhuangzi and subsequent writers after him when contemplating Mei in this way rejected therefore fake/false beauty and accepted there is a spectrum of natural beauties. It was these natural beauties who represented the genuine which were to be revered as Damei ( Great Beauty ) which was held by the aesthetic and inner beauty of anyone, but which was not made but only produced naturally. This was a reflection of Zhuang's following of the Dao; [...] Zhuang also warned against the attainment and influence of beauty. Instead Zhuang encouraged us not to want for aesthetic or beautiful perfection, but to instead understand our own flaws and to understand that these give us their own unique beauty or advantages.[2]
Zhaojun represented this passive form of womanhood which was acceptable to men, as she embodied the Heavenly Nymph trope embodied in the work of Kaizhi. Zhaojun held a heavenly beauty which was both natural and yet otherworldly, a beauty which threatened other women's status due to the heightened place women depicted as Heavenly Nymphs held in the sexual marketplace, but which did not threaten male places as they were the perceived audience of these poems and thus the sole beneficiaries. Zhaojun was acceptably tame and selfless, serving her masters as a tradable commodity and protecting the Homogenous ethnic Han Chinese from the 'barbaric' Other by remaining an unattainable perfection which was yet still held to be solely Han originating, totally sidestepping the contributions Zhaojun played for the 'Hun' kingdoms she sometimes resided in.[1]
However there are variations in the agency given to Zhaojun dependent on the writer and the era, with the Tang era poets writing of her woeful journey to the land of the Huns as being so sorrowful that she began strumming her Pipa, which signified her own feelings of loss and homesickness.[3] However, most writers of Zhaojun wrote on her story during the early Ming period (1368-1644) which saw the tale change to focus on more xenophobic attitudes of its writers, turning Zhaojun into a passive intermediary away from the active and autonomous legend she acquired during the Tang.[1]
By the way of the Lotus
Whilst not quite the exhilaration of Xi Shi, Zhaojun represented the archetypal expectations of beautiful women at the time, that their beauty must reside purely in the realm of the intellect of noblewomen. By this time women were respected scholars, writers and moral exemplars but they played these roles through patriarchal lenses and worldviews. A far cry from the agency of the foregrounded Xi Shi, and the worldview which gave rise to the anti Wu Zetian crowd of Drunken Lotus Gongti Meiren ideals.[2] Even during Zhaojun's Tang renditions, she was depicted as a beautiful solitary figure with her Pipa by Han Gan (706-783 CE), which really only explored her beauty in the context of passivity and acceptance of her place and status in Han society.[3] Zhaojun was almost just this trope at the time of an almost 'fallen woman' type by marrying a non-ethnically Han person, and is more often remembered for her looks and the Emperor's reaction to them than what Zhaojun's motivations were to take on the role of marriage alliance volunteer.
Zhaojun therefore exemplified the bookend of the Heavenly Nymph trope exemplified in Kaizhi's time of women, in that whilst they could be valuable assets to the courts, kingdoms and people they served, their autonomy and agency was still held primarily in the hands of men and their roles where behind the bamboo curtain as it were. Their intellect came with the caveat of being practiced behind closed doors, ideally by wealthier castes and only for the benefit of upholding male dominated existing structures such as that of the Emperor's rule and the Han Chinese tributary system. Indeed until the upheaval of the 7th century of Matriarchal figureheads in China, these were the expected norms for women in this time, to be the properties of their fathers and husbands households and were expected to only act in accordance with their wishes as Confucian thinkers emphasised.[4]
Conclusion
In context therefore we see how the moral background of Zhaojun's tale shadows aesthetic beauty as a pre-existing side attraction of being a selfless person to self-serving men, which was then termed Damei beauty. Just as Xi proved herself, Zhaojun was to be admired for her otherworldly attitudes and decidedly metaphysical 'Han' standards to protect mostly Han-male interests and power structures. This moral tale reiterates the dao, self-sacrifice and the idea that aesthetic beauty was a pursuit to be held in vain, with real beauty coming from Zhaojun's acts of bravery in volunteering to move away from all she knew as a passive agent for male figurehead interests.
Zhaojun was a moral tale for women of their place in Confucian society, a tool which whilst heeded in Japanese Heian society, was only pursued in the sense that complex emotions were considered to beautiful when subtly displayed.[4] Zhaojun in this way is the archetypal Heavenly Nymph Meiren, a conveniently passive pacifier and philosopher who happened to also be deeply beautiful and available, yet also elusive, pure and otherworldly construct of Han male beauty standards which would have been and still are held up to women as ideals, even thought their upholding solely benefits male interests and reiterates female subservience.
Bibliography
[1] Wang Zhaojun on the Border: Gender and Intercultural Conflicts in Premodern Chinese Drama, Daphne Pi-Wei Lei, 1996, Number 2, Volume 13, pp.229-237, Asian Theatre Journal
[2] See Bijin #17
[3] https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/queen-wang-zhaojun/queen-wang-zhaojun-the-precious-jewel-that-the-emperor-deeply-regretted-losing/
[4] https://gradynewsource.uga.edu/being-a-woman-in-a-confucian-household/
Bijin Series Timeline
11th century BCE
- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1045 BCE); Ruqun Mei
8th century BCE
- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (770 BCE)
3rd century BCE
Xi Shi (flourished c201-900CE); The (Drunken) Lotus Bijin
2cnd century BCE
- The Han Dynasty
1st century BCE
Wang Zhaojun (active 38 - 31 BCE) Intermediary Bijin
0000 Current Era
1st century
- Han Tomb portraiture begins as an extension of Confucian Ancestor Worship; first Han aesthetic scholars dictate how East Asian composition and art ethics begin
- Isometric becomes the standard for East Asian Composition (c.100); Dahuting Tomb Murals
- Ban Zhao introduces Imperial Court to her Lessons for Women (c106); Women play major roles in the powerplay of running of China consistently until 1000 CE, influencing Beauty standards
- Buddhism is introduced to China (150 CE)
- Qiyun Shengdong begins to make figures more plump and Bijin-like (c.150) but still pious
Diao Chan (192CE) [Coming Soon]
2cnd century
- Yuefu folk ballads inspire desirable beauty standards of pining women [Coming Soon]
4th century
Gu Kaizhi (active 364-406); Metaphorical Beauty
- Buddhism is introduced to Korea (c.372)
- Chinese Artists begin to make aesthetic beauties in ethereal religious roles of heavenly Nymphs
- Luo River Nymph Tale Scroll (c.400)
- Womens clothing emphasized the waist as the Guiyi (Swallow-Tail Flying Ribbons) style (c.400)
- Wise and Benevolent Women (c.400)
5th century
- Chinese Art becomes decadent; Imperial Culture begins to see more expression in religious statues (c450)
- Longmen Grotto Boddhisattvas (471)
6th century
Xu Ling; (active 537-583); Terrace Meiren
7th century
- Tang Dynasty Art (618-908)
- Rouged Bijin (600-699 CE) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty
Yan Liben (active 642-673); Bodhisattva Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A1.jpg Guan Yin | https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater
Wu Zetian (active 665-705); The Great Tang Art Patron [Coming Soon]
Asuka Bijin (c.699); The Wa Bijin
8th century
- Princess Yongtai's Veneration Murals (701) [Coming Soon]
- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)
- Sumizuri-e (710)
Yang Yuhuan Guifei (719-756); [Coming Soon] East Asian Supermodel Bijin https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275768522.pdf https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5437.html#chapter-5
- Astana Cemetery (c.700-750) [Coming Soon]
Zhang Xuan (active 720-755); [Coming Soon]
- What is now Classical Chinese Art forms
- An Lushun Rebellion (757)
Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin
- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)
9th century
- Buddhist Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty#/media/File:Noble_Ladies_Worshiping_Buddha.jpg + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves#/media/File:Anonymous-Bodhisattva_Leading_the_Way.jpg
- Gongti Revival https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents
10th century
-End of Tang Art (907)
13th century
- Heimin painters; 1200-1850; Town Beauty
15th century
- Fuzokuga Painting schools; Kano (1450-1868) and Tosa (1330-1690)
Tang Yin (active 1490-1524); Chinese Beauties [Coming Soon] https://www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/tang-yin/
16 century
- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630)
- Wamono style begins under Chanoyu teachings (c1550-1580)
- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)
- End of Sengoku Jidai brings Stabilisation policy (1590-1615)
17th century
- Land to Currency based Economy Shift (1601-1655)
- Early Kabuki Culture (1603-1673) ; Yakusha-e or Actor Prints
- Machi-Eshi Art ( 1610 - 1710) ; The Town Beauty
- Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685)
- Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685)
Iwasa Matabei (active 1617-1650) ; Yamato-e Bijin
The Hikone Screen (c.1624-1644) [Coming Soon]
- Sankin-Kotai (1635-1642) creates mass Urbanisation
- Popular culture and print media production moves from Kyoto to Edo (1635-1650); Kiyohara Yukinobu (1650-1682) ; Manji Classical Beauty
- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties;
Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) ; Kojin Bijin
- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (1660-1690) ; rise of the Kabunakama Guilds and decline of the Samurai
- Kanazoshi Books (1660-1700); Koshokubon Genre (1659?-1661)
- Shunga (1660-1722); Abuna-e
Kanbun Master/School (active during 1661-1673) ; Maiko Bijin
- Hinagata Bon (1666 - 1850)
- Ukiyo Monogatari is published by Asai Ryoi (1666)
Yoshida Hanbei (active 1664-1689) ; Toned-Down Bijin
- Asobi/Suijin Dress Manuals (1660-1700)
- Ukiyo-e Art (1670-1900)
Hishikawa Moronobu (active 1672-1694) ; Wakashu Bijin
- Early Bijin-ga begin to appear as Kakemono (c.1672)
- Rise of the Komin-Chonin Relationship (1675-1725)
- The transit point from Kosode to modern Kimono (1680); Furisode, Wider Obi
- The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) ; Yuezen Hiinakata
Fu Derong (active c.1675-1722) ; [Coming Soon] https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater
Sugimura Jihei (active 1681-1703) ; Technicolour Bijin
- The Amorous Tales are published by Ihara Saikaku (1682-1687)
Hishikawa Morofusa (active 1684-1704) [Coming Soon]
- The Beginning of the Genroku Era (1688-1704)
- The rise of the Komin and Yuujo as mainstream popular culture (1688-1880)
- The consolidation of the Bijinga genre as mainstream pop culture
- The rise of the Torii school (1688-1799)
- Tan-E (1688-1710)
Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) ; Genroku Komin and Wamono Bijin
Torii Kiyonobu (active 1688 - 1729) : Commercial Bijin
Furuyama Moromasa (active 1695-1748)
18th century
Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1700-1750) [Coming Soon]
Kaigetsudo Ando (active 1700-1736) ; Broadstroke Bijin
Okumura Masanobu (active 1701-1764)
Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1704-1716) [Coming Soon]
Baioken Eishun (active 1710-1755) [Coming Soon]
Kaigetsudo Anchi (active 1714-1716) [Coming Soon]
Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [Coming Soon] | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=5
1717 Kyoho Reforms
Miyagawa Choshun (active 1718-1753) [Coming Soon]
Miyagawa Issho (active 1718-1780) [Coming Soon]
Nishimura Shigenaga (active 1719-1756) [Coming Soon]
Matsuno Chikanobu (active 1720-1729) [Coming Soon]
- Beni-E (1720-1743)
Torii Kiyonobu II (active 1725-1760) [Coming Soon]
- Uki-E (1735-1760)
Kawamata Tsuneyuki (active 1736-1744) [Coming Soon]
Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820)
Miyagawa Shunsui (active from 1740-1769) [Coming Soon]
Benizuri-E (1744-1760)
Ishikawa Toyonobu (active 1745-1785) [Coming Soon]
Tsukioka Settei (active 1753-1787) [Coming Soon]
Torii Kiyonaga (active 1756-1787) [Coming Soon]
Shunsho Katsukawa (active 1760-1793) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Toyoharu (active 1763-1814) [Coming Soon]
Suzuki Harunobu (active 1764-1770) [Coming Soon]
- Nishiki-E (1765-1850)
Torii Kiyonaga (active 1765-1815) [Coming Soon]
Kitao Shigemasa (active 1765-1820) [Coming Soon]
Maruyama Okyo (active 1766-1795) [Coming Soon]
Kitagawa Utamaro (active 1770-1806) [Coming Soon]
Kubo Shunman (active 1774-1820) [Coming Soon]
Tsutaya Juzaburo (active 1774-1797) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunimasa (active from 1780-1810) [Coming Soon]
Tanehiko Takitei (active 1783-1842) [Coming Soon]
Katsukawa Shuncho (active 1783-1795) [Coming Soon]
Choubunsai Eishi (active 1784-1829) [Coming Soon]
Eishosai Choki (active 1786-1808) [Coming Soon]
Rekisentei Eiri (active 1789-1801) [Coming Soon] [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukiyo-e_paintings#/media/File:Rekisentei_Eiri_-_'800),_Beauty_in_a_White_Kimono',_c._1800.jpg]
Sakurai Seppo (active 1790-1824) [Coming Soon]
Chokosai Eisho (active 1792-1799) [Coming Soon]
Kunimaru Utagawa (active 1794-1829) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Toyokuni II (active 1794 - 1835) [Coming Soon]
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (active 1799-1823) [Coming Soon]
19th century
Teisai Hokuba (active 1800-1844) [Coming Soon]
Totoya Hokkei (active 1800-1850) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunisada Toyokuni III (active 1800-1865) [Coming Soon]
Urakusai Nagahide (active from 1804) [Coming Soon]
Kitagawa Tsukimaro (active 1804 - 1836)
Kikukawa Eizan (active 1806-1867) [Coming Soon]
Keisai Eisen (active 1808-1848) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (active 1810-1861) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Hiroshige (active 1811-1858) [Coming Soon]
Yanagawa Shigenobu (active 1818-1832) [Coming Soon]
Katsushika Oi (active 1824-1866) [Coming Soon]
Hirai Renzan (active 1838ー？) [Coming Soon]
Utagawa Kunisada II (active 1844-1880) [Coming Soon]
Yamada Otokawa (active 1845) [Coming Soon] | 山田音羽子 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=10
Toyohara Kunichika (active 1847-1900) [Coming Soon]
Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [Coming Soon]
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (active 1850-1892) [Coming Soon]
Noguchi Shohin (active c1860-1917) [Coming Soon]
Toyohara Chikanobu (active 1875-1912) [Coming Soon]
Uemura Shoen (active 1887-1949) [Coming Soon]
Kiyokata Kaburaki (active 1891-1972) [Coming Soon]
Goyo Hashiguchi (active 1899-1921) [Coming Soon]
20th century
Yumeji Takehisa (active 1905-1934) [Coming Soon]
Torii Kotondo (active 1915-1976) [Coming Soon]
Hisako Kajiwara (active 1918-1988) [Coming Soon] https://www.roningallery.com/artists/kajiwara-hisako | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976
Yamakawa Shūhō (active 1927-1944) [Coming Soon]
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