Extravagant "Short" Life of China's Consort- Yang Guifei | Four Beauties of Ancient China (1)

Yang Guifei was known as one of the four beauties of ancient China. Before she became the imperial consort, Yang Guifei was originally named Yang Yuhuan. She was born in 719 during the Tang dynasty, early in the reign of Emperor Sun Zhong. She grew up in Yongle and had three older sisters. Her father died when she was still very young. She was loved in the care of her uncle, who was an official at court. She was extremely beautiful and was nurtured very well. She was excellent in pipa, a Chinese musical instrument, and good at dancing. Because of her beauty and talent, at 14 years old, she got chosen to marry Prince Li Mao, the son of the Emperor Sun Zhong and consort Wu. She became the princess. Four years later, consort Wu passed away. She was one of the favorites of the Emperor, and the Emperor was deeply saddened by her death. Eventually, he stepped out of the sorrow. He was attracted by Yang and decided to take her as a consort. However, Yang was already married with his son, so the Emperor was afraid that there would be a criticism at court. Therefore, he bestowed his son a new wife and arranged Yang to be a nun and she resided in the Taoism temple in the palace for a temporary time. Over the period, she continuously disguised herself to make visits to the Emperor. In 745, the Emperor finally achieved his goal of making Yang an honored imperial consort. She was given the title Guifei. In the ceremony, the Emperor put a gold dangling. It was expansive and exquisite that showed the status of Yang Guifei. Yang Guifei soon became the favorite of the Emperor. With the growing power, she began to promote her family. Her sisters were favored and were given titles as well. Her cousin became high officials and later prime minister, but he was not competent. This made the government more corrupted. Its reputation collapsed. With the favor from the Emperor, Yang Guifei and her family had led a privileged and extravagant life for a long period of time. Yang Guifei had over 700 people to make just one garment for her. She also loved lychees. But the most delicious lychees were in cities hundreds miles away from the capital. So the Emperor sent many officials to deliver the lychees by rampant horses, so that the lychees were still fresh by the time they were served. This made the officials extremely tired and some were even died on the way. Yang Guifei also received many expensive presents from the Emperor. The Emperor developed a palace for her, which is Huating Palace. It has a complex of hot springs located in the area and was a luxurious place for both. Yang Guifei did not have any children. It was suspicious that this was caused by her skincare products. She loved using a special magic cream to maintain her beautiful skin. It made her skin healthy and it contained a very nice fragrance. Some said it was the ingredients of this skincare made her infertile. Despite this, the Emperor still adored Yang Guifei. For once, he got mad with her because she took a jade fruit that belonged to a relative of the She was then banished from the palace. But then Yang Guifei cut part of her hair and sent it to the Emperor. Receiving this, the Emperor was afraid she could hurt herself and immediately called her back to the palace. Because of Yang Guifei's great influence on the Emperor, many officials tried to win her support in the hope of getting promotions. One of them was An Lushan, a general and military governor of the frontier districts. He knew how to please Yang Guifei and gradually won her trust. An Lushan was 16 years younger than Yang Guifei. Believing that he was genuine and harmless, Yang Guifei promoted him and even adopted him as her son. He had the control over an army of 200,000. However, An Lushan desired more than that. He wanted to build an imperial throne for himself. Secretly, he began to enlarge his own army. In the winter of 755, An Lushan launched a rebellion with an excuse to breach the court of the evil minister. His rebelled army took over the capital city of Chang'an and An Lushan proclaimed himself Emperor. The Emperor, Yang Guifei and Prime Minister fled the palace to Sichuan. Unfortunately, the army kept chasing them and finally they got caught near Mawei Quartier station. The army killed the Prime Minister and forced the Emperor to kill Yang Guifei. It was said that Yang Guifei hung herself and died at only 38. But did she really die there? Some legends suggest an alternative ending. The woman who died was the lady-in-waiting, not Yang Guifei. The real Yang Guifei managed to escape to Japan. She fled China on a boat and landed on the Mukatsukan Island. A Japanese rumor states that Yang Guifei has been rescued and lived her remaining life here in Japan. In Japanese, she was known as Yokihi. She has remarried and has lived peacefully for 30 years. Finally, she died from illness at 68 years old. Clearly, Yang Guifei was one of the most influential women in Tang dynasty. But perhaps we will never know which was her real ending of a dramatic life.