A summary of pp. 89-93, 141-144 in Jin Wenxue 金文学, Kōshoku to Chūgoku bunka: Chūgoku no rekishi wa yoru ni tsukurareta 好色と中国文化：中国の歴史は夜に作られた [Kawaguchi-shi, Japan: Nihon kyōhōsha, 2004].)
When one thinks of famous Chinese beauties, Yang Guifei comes to mind. But Zhao Feiyan 趙飛燕 of the Han is on a par with Yang. Indeed, each represents one of two different ideals of female beauty in China. Yang is the voluptuous, vigorous type, and Zhao is the thin, graceful type. There is a saying that “Yang Guifei left behind a stocking; Zhao Feiyan left behind medicine.” Yang's physical vigor was a major component of her beauty, yet Zhao's physical frailty was a major component of her beauty. What is going on here?
From a male point of view, a basic division in Chinese sexual culture was women who were pleasing to look at versus women who were skilled at sex. The same woman could be in both categories, but often they did not overlap. Books like The Carnal Prayer Mat explain these distinctions in detail. For example, should women be hefty or slim? The ideal (visual) beauty in premodern texts tended to be extremely slim, and light, models of classical elegance but not robust health. On the other hand, literary accounts of ideal sex partners reversed these preferences. Such women were robust, vigorous, and tended to be relatively large. A description of an especially beautiful woman in the novel Jin Ping Mei brings to mind the classic Chinese preference for “willow branch” women. The representative exemplar of this type would be Zhao Feiyan. The best example of the ideal sex partner would be Yang Guifei.
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Part of the basic biography of Zhao Feiyan, from Cai Zhuozhi, 100 Celebrated Chinese Women, (Singapore: Asiapac Books, 1994), Lu Yanguang, ill., Kate Foster, trans., p. 71:
Dance is a magical art which can dazzle, enchant, and awe the audience. Zhao Feiyan and her sister made full use of their charms to gain the undivided attention of Emperor Cheng [37-2BC—Western Han]. Before long, they were both awarded the title “Beautiful Companion” denoting that they were a concubines of the second rank. After Emperor Cheng has cast out his former favourite, Zhao Feiyan became his empress and her younger sister [合徳] was given the title Zhaoyi, making her a concubine of the first rank. It is said that for the next decade, the emperor favored only Zhao Feiyan and her sister. He kept company with them every day, but, unfortunately, neither of them bore him any children.
Emperor Cheng [成帝] died suddenly as a result of his dissipated lifestyle. His younger brother, Emperor Ai, ascended the throne, and he too became besotted with the sisters. Throughout his reign, he was always at their side. When he too, died a sudden death, Zhao Feiyan and her sister were immediately stripped of their positions.
Having received imperial favour for two reigns and having been appointed mothers of the nation; the sisters were mortified by their sudden fall from grace. Ashamed to show their faces in public, Zhao Feiyan and her sister committed suicide together.
The common folk, however, had little sympathy for the sisters for it was widely believed that they had used their dancing to bewitch the emperors and brought harm to the country. Few realized that the emperors had brought the destruction upon themselves.
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