Beautiful women are called in China flowers, or jade jewels, or still better, the destroyers of the empire, or the destroyers of cities. The latter nicknames originated in a poem of the celebrated Li-Yan-Nein, of the dynasty of Han, thus conceived:
“A beautiful woman lives in the north,
Whose beauty has never in any age been rivalled;
To see her is to lose the empire.
If one sees her twice, the kingdom no longer exists.
But I may add, that one prefers to lose both empire and kingdom
Than to renounce the beautiful woman whom one will never see again.”
The poem fell under the eyes of the Emperor, who immediately asked if such a woman really did exist, or was only the creation of the poet’s imagination. On receiving an affirmative answer, he expressed his desire to know this beauty, and it was upon her that he afterwards bestowed his exclusive favour. An Emperor is no less a man.
One of the favourites of Emperor Han-Wou-Ti, named Li-Kiang—pretty girl—conquered the heart of her sovereign at the age of fourteen. Her beauty was perfect, and her body was of extreme delicacy. She clothed herself alone in the lightest tissues, for fear that coarser stuff might injure her very delicate skin. Her master built for her a crystal palace, so that, as he said, no dust should come to stain the whiteness of her darling person. Her breath was so sweet, that when she sang all the flowers in the garden danced.