The theory of “beauty is a curse” can be put to rest

Idioms are concise and meaningful words refined by our ancestors according to their own experience. But there are also some idioms created by the ancients, such as this “beauty is a curse”. Open the pile of old papers in Chinese history, and the idiom “beauty is a curse of water” appears quite frequently, which roughly means that beautiful women spoil the country.

Mei Xi of the Xia Dynasty was the first “beauty disaster” in history. She was the daughter of the Shi family. After marrying Xia Jie, the two indulged in sex, built a palace, split their clothes and silk, and ignored the sufferings of the people. Finally Shang Tang overthrew the Xia Dynasty.

History is always strikingly similar. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Daji, the daughter of the Su family, entered the palace and was deeply favored by King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. She built deer platforms, set up wine pools and meat forests, and enjoyed severe punishments such as canning all day long. Finally, King Wu of Zhou led his army to defeat the Shang army in Muye. King Zhou set himself on fire and the Shang Dynasty perished.

History has a third “sequel”. When you king of the Western Zhou Dynasty was in power, people of the state of Bao presented a cold beauty Baosi. In order to make the beauty laugh, king you of Zhou actually adopted the bad trick of “playing princes in the war”. The beauty laughed, but since then, the great rivers and mountains of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been buried, the soldiers have invaded, and the royal family has moved eastward, and China has fallen into the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period for 500 years.

The decline of three generations in ancient times was related to beauty, so the ancients summed up this historical law of “beauty is a curse”. However, this law cannot stand the scrutiny of modern people. The origins and experiences of the three beauties are so similar that people can’t help wondering who is plagiarizing who. To say the least, even if these are true, the social status of women in the three generations of ancient times is low, and their influence is close to zero, not to mention much. If their power is overwhelming, why are there no records of these three relatives in history books? You know, most of the Hougong’s politics in later generations took their relatives as strong foreign aid. So did empress Lu, Jia Nanfeng and Wu Zetian. Moreover, these three kings are not ordinary people. Jie and Zhou are both excellent in martial arts. Although king you of Zhou has little ability, he is not a fool. How can he sit and watch beautiful women to ruin his country? “Things must rot first and then be eaten by insects.” These kings slack off, pursue pleasure, and destroy the country, which has nothing to do with beautiful women.

Similar unjust cases continue to emerge at the top of history. For example, among the four beauties, Xi Shi is a “secret agent” of the state of Yue. She herself shoulders the mission of subverting the state of Wu, which is undoubtedly a “disaster” for the people of the state of Wu; Wang Zhaojun’s situation is somewhat special, but it is also uneven. It is the monarchs and ministers of the Han Dynasty who are exporting “disastrous waters”; Diao Chan is the most important pawn of King Sikong Yunqiao’s serial plan. Of course, it is the “scourge” of fighting against traitors; Yang Guifei and her cousin Yang Guozhong were also pointed out by many as the culprits for the end of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

In fact, the ancients also had different views on this. Tang poetry describes the poetry of Yang Guifei, including Li Shangyin’s “vicious” writing “can’t help but be praised and laughed by him, and only teach the son of heaven to be temporarily covered with dust”, Du Fu’s “mourning the river head” and Bai Juyi’s “song of everlasting regret” place sympathy on it, and late Tang poet Zheng Zhen, pointing the spear of irony at Tang Xuanzong: “Xuanzong returns to Ma Yang Fei’s death, clouds and rain will never forget the sun and moon. It’s the matter of the son of heaven, and who is Jingyang Gongjing.”

When we read history, we must not follow the pattern of history. The theory of “beauty is a curse” can rest!