The Dragon Lady is actually a Snake

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While most of us associate the Chinese dragon with men, the idea of a Dragon Lady was very popular in the West in the 30s. To the West, Asian women were dangerous, domineering, mysterious but sexually alluring at the same time, and countless films and pop culture references played on that stereotypical idea of an Asian woman. To be fair, the women of the West weren’t spared of the femme fatale stereotype either so I think it is fundamentally a female objectification issue, and in the context of America at the turn of the last century, it was complicated by racism.

The Original Chinese Dragon Lady

But the Western men were not alone in their vile objectification of women, or Chinese women. The Chinese men, too, had lots of tales of female spirits who “tempted” men and filled them with lusts. The most poignant one, personally, was the case of the Investiture of the Gods, a 16th century Chinese novel.

Image of Anna May Wong, a famous Chinese American actress in Hollywood in the 30s who was seen as the archetype of Dragon Lady on screen. Also, her biopic is in the making starred by Gemma Chan from Crazy Rich Asians.

In it, the creator of mankind, a goddess called Nüwa, was the main culprit of the downfall of the Shang dynasty (an ancient empire some 3,000 years ago). The story goes that the last king of Shang dynasty saw her sculpture at the temple, and was sexually attracted to her. He wrote poems expressing his lust and spoke of marrying the goddess. Upset by his blasphemy, the goddess brought down 3 nymphs (spirits disguised as beautiful women) to seduce him, causing him to neglect his nation and became cruel to his people and eventually the downfall of his empire.

Sounds about right for the idea of a “Dragon Lady” huh?

Except that this was a very problematic portrayal by the then extremely patriarchal Chinese society, of the goddess of creation who was an important female figure when Chinese society was still matriarchal.

The Chinese society (like many others) started as a matriarchal one which meant that kids would only know who their mothers were, and not their fathers. Thus Nüwa exemplified that far ancient part of Chinese when women ruled together as a community. It was only when the Chinese society slowly transited into a patriarchal one that a male creator Fuxi came into existence and they both came to be known as the creators of mankind.

In fact, Nüwa had a different name back then, it was Nüxi or Xihe (Xihe was also known as the Guardian of Sun and Moon way back, and she eventually was split into The Mother of 10 Suns and Chang-E The Goddess of Moon. I did a reinterpretation of her in my Sailormoon Series). She was said to have created mankind from the soil due to her extreme boredom of being alone on earth, which is a further evidence that there was no male figure at the very start. Also, it was believed that primitive societies did not associate sex with birth-giving, so they did not think that men were necessary in the birth of a child, while women could give birth to both genders.

Image from the Sailormoon x Chinese mythology series, depicting Xi He, the goddess of Time (Sun and Moon)

The Lady is a Snake

Interestingly, like the story of Adam and Eve, snakes were involved in this creation myth. And like many civilisations such as the pre-Classical Greek, snakes were often associated with the female goddess/creators. Fun fact: China formed a matriarchal society some 40,000-50,000 years ago and Greek slightly later, and China transited into patriarchal some 3,000 years earlier than the Greeks. During my research I came across this book in which the author said there is no culture where paternity was ignored in prehistoric times, I think she didn’t study Chinese texts because there were many mentions when paternity was ignored including the birth of the ancient ruler of Shang dynasty being a result of his mom swallowing the egg of a black bird.

Painting from Western Han (3rd century BCE) with Fuxi the male god holding the Sun and Nüwa the female goddess holding the Moon.

Eastern Han (1st century CE) wall engraving with Fuxi holding a tool to draw square, and Nüwa holding a tool to draw circle

Tang Dynasty painting from Astana graves (8th century) with Fuxi holding a tool to draw square, and Nüwa holding a tool to draw circle

After transiting into patriarchal society, subsequent Chinese artworks/records depicted the male and female creators as having the body of a snake. Now snake has been an important and highly regarded creature in ancient societies, and was present as a totem across civilisations. A far cry from its villain identity today.

The dragon, seen as the ultimate symbol of the Chinese ruler, was based primarily on the body of a snake (with many accessorising features from other animals such as the deer’s antlers, bull’s nose, Eagle’s claws, Tiger’s palms etc.). While some ancient Chinese tribes saw themselves as descendants of a bird, others saw their ancestors as snakes, and it is for this reason, the creator of mankind were depicted as snakes.

The modern Dragon with her snake body, eagle claws, beatle shell eyebrows, gill-like ears, and antler-inspired hair and accessories.

This styling was designed in collaboration with Aaron Han (@aharw) assisted by gabby @ga.bae.be
Makeup assisted by Danny @chenlingx0 with Jamie as model
Photo by Aaron and I

Symbolism of an Emerald Dragon

Yes, I call it Emerald, although prevalent sources translated it as Azure because of the context of its name.

Languages and words take on the meaning of the context, and in this case, the Emerald Dragon represented the regeneration of life in Spring. While the word Qing 青 could refer to blue and green (as in the case of the same character ‘aoi’ 青い in Japanese) in Chinese culture and at times even Black, it would make sense that the Qing Long would be green like the colours of Spring leaves. The ancient people saw colours quite differently from us today, which probably explains why humanity didn’t have separate words for green and blue way back.

The emerald dragon’s boots is a reference to its green/blue scales of the snake. A Tang period hairstyle to exaggerate the shape of the head to look like a dragon. An a vintage Gucci green jacket to signify the luxury and royalty of the dragon as an auspicious animal.

The Emerald Dragon represents Spring, when flowers bloom and butterflies flock from one bush to another. This costume from the Legend of Miyue is obviously a copy of the Japanese dress, which I will go into detail another time.

Japan and China

The East, where the Sun rises, is also associated with the Emerald Dragon. And of course, the land of the rising sun in our modern memory, also refers to Japan. So I’m going to share w a few funny stories about Sino-Japanese historical relations, and muse over how the Chinese inverse-appropriates the Japanese culture these days.

One of the most hilarious accounts I’ve read about Japan and China relations was one that happened in 607CE. The Japanese diplomat of Asuka period Japan Ono no Imoko presented a letter from the Japanese female emperor (Yes, it was a female emperor!) to the Sui dynasty emperor with the following line:

日出处天子，致书日没处天子，无恙

Greetings, from Son of Heaven where the Sun rose, to Son of Heaven where the Sun set.

Clearly I was bored and wanted to try a few different renditions with different mood for this portrait. Which is your favourite?

Now, I don’t know how you understand it, but I thought that is HILARIOUSLY APPALLING! Because as romantic as it sounds with the mention of sun set and sun rise, of heaven and all, I can totally imagine how offended the Sui dynasty emperor must’ve felt upon hearing it. The general consensus today was not that he was offended by the “sun set” part, but by the fact that Japan saw itself as an equal with China (Chinese emperor had always thought of themselves as the superior one to its neighbouring countries). And true enough, he told his liaison officer that he did not wish to hear from the “Barbarians” if they continued sending such rude letters.

I have styled the Dragon Lady in a Japanese-Chinese fashion also because Chinese pop culture depiction of ancient Chinese women over 1,000 years ago have always been extremely influenced by the Japanese aesthetics. And the Chinese liked to claim that it was because the Japanese were influenced by Chinese aesthetics at that point in time. I find this inverse-appropriation by the Chinese extremely interesting because instead of looking at their own artefacts to uncover the original Chinese look of the period, they decided to turn to the Japanese’s interpretation and evolved adaptation of the Chinese culture.

The long flowing hair was indeed valued by the ancient Chinese, but in nowhere could we find women draping it down like the Japanese during the Heian period although women did drape a little of their hair down with a knot at the neck area.

Have a look at the Han Chinese style vs the Heian Japanese styling of hair:

Chinese Han Dynasty female figurine

Chinese Han Dynasty female figurine

Japanese Heian style female

The Han woman would not have long flown hair, or loose hair (unlike what has been portrayed in shows). It is a very Japanese-influenced aesthetic. So is the multi-coloured, layered robes with a long tail, like their juni-hitoe.

Even though the TV produces and stylists of China refuse to acknowledge it, they have been extremely influenced by the HK period drama creators of the 80s and 90s, who were in turn influenced by the Japanese aesthetics greatly. And fast forward a few decades, the Chinese period drama stylists and consumers have naturalised this Japanese aesthetics, blending what seems Chinese but essentially very Japanese aesthetics into their mix, creating a new fusion aesthetics today.

This topic is fascinating and a fun exploration to go into for a future post.

Yes, I should probably also talk about the recent/age-old debate about Korean vs Chinese dressing in modern Chinese period shows too, some day.

Emerald Dragon, Symbol of Spring, and the East where the Sun rises. It was a creature full of vitality.

From Hanfu to Cheongsam: The Missing Link

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While Hanfu is the ‘woke/vogue’ Chinese idea of a traditional dress, Cheongsam is the conventional idea of one. Somewhere between these two, lies the missing link of the late Qing dynasty/early Republican Han women fashion like the invisible middle child.

So I’ve introduced the Manchurian Qing dressing with all its hair, accessories and hierarchies, which is what 90% of us are familiar with through TV series and of course the latest craze Yanxi Palace and Legend of Ruyi. Since most TV shows are more obsessed with the royalties and imperial family, naturally not much is shown on the Han Chinese dressing even though they form the majority.

For men, there’s no difference between the Manchurian and Han Chinese because it was the law for all to convert their way of dressing to the Manchurian style. This was supposed to be for the women and children as well, but rumour had it that during the implementation process, the Han Chinese felt very strongly about their traditional way of dressing as part of their cultural identity (and rightfully so), that they had several bloodshed protests! Eventually, there was an unspoken agreement that the men had to adopt (the Manchurians probably felt that once you emasculate the Han Chinese men with their cultural identity, you controlled the women and children naturally anyway), but left the women and children (and a few other exceptions) alone.

Han women and children continued wearing the traditional Han way without the need to adopt the Manchurian style of dressing.

As such, the Han Chinese women had different sartorial choices from the Manchurian women, and they continued binding their feet according to their own/parents’ aesthetic beliefs while Manchurian women were forbidden to do so by law even though they were drawn to such aesthetics at some point.

Women’s body were and are never our own it seems, and how we wish to treat our body has all along been politicised and moralised by society and the ruling class.

Eurocentric scholars and writers at the turn of last century liked to dismiss the Chinese as devoid of fashion, as if Chinese women were so oppressed by their rulers and system that they were accorded with little means nor awareness of beauty and dressing up.

[The] variations in Chinese dress from dynasty to dynasty… [occur] at the speed of a rather hesitant glacier.

Quentin Bell, 1910–1996, English art historian and author

A visual summary of Chinese fashion in the last 2,000 years. It’s definitely not comprehensive because it depends on how much items from those periods were uncovered through archeological digs, and it did not cover all the different regions in China with their individual practices and habits of dressing. Also, it did not cover the different hierarchies, seasons, and occasions.

[The mandarin’s robes] Scarcely changed in the course of centuries, but then Chinese society itself scarcely moved at all.

Fernand Braudel, 1902-1985, French historian

Left one and two are probably what is considered Classical period dress, and Right is the 19th Century one. I find them very different! Could it just be me?! How can they be seen as looking very much alike!??!

[T]he Chinese family of the last [i.e. 19th] century looked very much like a Chinese family of the Classical age.

Quentin Bell, 1910–1996, English art historian and author

In reality, all these quotes were really fashion historian’s equivalent of saying “All Asians look the same”–All Chinese dresses look the same.

But they’re not alone in that view. The Eurocentric Chinese novelist Eileen Chang also lamented in 1943 that “Generation after generation of women wore the same sorts of clothes without feeling in the least perturbed.” Yikes.

While the general form of top blouse and bottom skirt is maintained from the Ming (left) to the Qing (right) dynasty, the weaving, decorative techniques, colours, embroideries, cutting, and collars have completely changed. In fact, the Ming dynasty (14th-17th Century) alone was known at its time for over 100 styles of dresses, and that is taking into consideration the slow pace of production and consumption compared to the later periods.

Because a Chinese literati said so, it must be right? Were there just the same old Hanfu vs the new Cheongsam, these 2 types of existence and form?

I’m not comfortable with that assumption. Would you assume that quantitative change is more important than qualitative change? Or that the type of change that is more visually apparent is more valuable/legit than the subtle, fine and nuanced change?

To me, it is really the difference in culture. Just the other day, I was reading our friend Eustacia’s post on the different types of Kimono and what to wear for various occasions. And it struck me the Western eyes or the Modern eyes were so overstimulated by their own visual differences that they were unable to appreciate or identify the subtlties in the Chinese or Japanese culture. And which also explains the success of designers like Guo Pei in capturing their attention with the loud and archetypically Chinese designs.

While the most common style was the Mamian skirts (horse face skirts), there were tonnes of variations either within that category, or different styles altogether. They go by the names of “Hundred Pleats Skirt”, “Lunar Corona Skirt” (rainbow pleated skirts, like the rainbow around the moon), “Railing Skirt” (then solid colour stripes at each pleat look like railings), “Phoenix tail skirt” etc.

Fashion, to the ancient Chinese, was more of an exercise of artistic creativity within the appropriate boundaries that ensure that they adhere to the changing seasons, occasions, and hierarchies. Constraints are necessary to create meaningful and artful end products. And that, was what the ancient Chinese women were really capable of as they innovated on the types of weaving, motif, embroidery, dyeing techniques, decorative methods of the dresses.

A large part of this could be due to Chinese women’s training in embroidery. As Professor Marsha Weidner, a modern-day Chinese art historian noted, that through embroidery “women trained their hands and eyes, became attentive the smallest details, refined their colour sense, and mastered a large repertoire of motifs and compositional formulas.”

Qing Han fashion was definitely not the invisible middle child you’d imagine. It was bold, dramatic, yet intricate and sophisticated. It’s hard to pull off those complementary colour matchings but they did. Effortlessly.

If you look unclose at any of the apparels, you would realise that instead of just clothes, they were really works of art. Just like kimono. And while the form remained similar, the embroidery work, colour matching, even the direction of the thread made a lot of difference. Images really don’t do them justice–I just went to the Sun Yat-Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall to see actual pieces and you could really see how intricate the needleworks were, and how each of those dots in black in the images below were made up of hundreds of strands of silk, and which went through hundreds if not thousands of manhours to be extracted, spung, dyed, designed, and finally emboidered in accordance to considerations like occasion, hierarchy, season, aspirations and symbolic meanings.

I know I’m very Asian in my consumption of fashion when I buy all the different colours of the same design if I really liked it, because even just a change in colour, meant a big change for me, especially if it’s the design I like. Whereas I wouldn’t look twice at an ‘ugly’ design even if there were 1,000,000 dramatic variations of that design.

Quality over Quantity, anytime.

If you’d just zoom in to one small part of their dresses–the edges of their sleeves, you would notice a small band of embroidered motif, which usually would’ve be just about 5cm by 30cm or so, and the amount of details in embroidery they put into that is just incredible:

I went to the Modern Women of The Republic: Fashion and Change in China and Singapore exhibition today, at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Singapore (not Taiwan!). And came across this intricately embroidered pink Cheongsam in early 20th century (should be circa 1910s-1920s), and photos really do not do these embroidery justice:

If you ever get to see them in person, do take note of the size of the forbidden knot/stitch, the uniformity of them all, and also the uniformity of the spacing between the knots, and the gradient of colours in the flowers and leaves. All so effortlessly elegant.

My companion asked me why was it called the Forbidden Knot/Stitch. This romanticised name is given by western marketeers/sellers of Chinese goods to link it to the Orient/Forbidden city (sounds exotic right?) and, to make this craft sound really exclusive for the luxury market— claiming that because it would make embroiders blind with the tiny knots and details (sounds like they could command a super high price with this), it was forbidden in China by orders of the imperial court. But it’s nonsense. You can still go blind from doing many of the other embroidery works if done in poor lighting and the emperor wouldn’t care less!

At the turn of the 20th century, men were cutting their cues and adopting western fashion while the more traditional/good wives would continue their Qing era Han style dressing while the more progressive ones would adopt the western dresses as well.

Because there has been so little attention paid to the Qing dynasty Han women fashion until recent years, this part of Chinese female fashion history has been an extremely underrated invisible middle child despite it being the bridge between the Hanfu of Ming period and the Cheongsam of the 20th century.

Next up, I will look at the early eras of Cheongsam, before it became the Cheongsam we are familiar with today.

Till then, have a think about what is your definition of Fashion, and let me know your thoughts!

Ruffling up some feathers the Chinese way

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The Chinese has an almost pathological obsession with beautiful feathers.

The Tang dynasty emperor from the 8th Century fell in love with a piece of Indian music called the Brahmin Tune and decided to adapt it into his Chinese court to be played and danced to. He renamed the dance and music Raiment of rainbows and feathers. Instead of kingfisher feather as what most sources said, I think the dancer (Lady Yang) probably wore an outer coat made of different coloured feathers such as peacock, pheasant, and perhaps even parrot (I will talk about parrots in the 8th century in detail the next time)!Nevertheless, the craft of kingfisher feather accessories remains a highly mysterious and valued craft unique to China.

Tang dynasty China was one of the earliest periods with documented proof that feathers were used widely for decorations. It was such a ‘fashion statement’ that even the Japanese adopted this technique in their art from the same period.

I thought of doing one entry related to feathers in particular. And the wonderful brilliance of colours adored by the ancient Chinese (men and women alike, mind you~!).

Example of an antique Kingfisher accessory and you could see the slight change in colour because of the different angle of light that is reflected from the feather. It varies a little when you tilt it.

The oldest use of feathers in Chinese textiles (and accessories) was said to date to as far back as 2,000 years ago during the Han dynasty where the use of the word 翡翠(feicui) which refers to Jadeite today, was originally used to refer to the Kingfisher feathers. Jadeite, actually has a very short history in Chinese culture, as it was from Myanmar and was not very valued by the Chinese until mid to late Qing dynasty (last 300 yrs or so). Nephrite was the kind of jade highly valued by the ancient Chinese.

Anyway, while there were brief mentions of such in poems from about 2,000 years ago, and an excavation discovery from the period belonging to the Xiongnu nomadic tribes revealed textiles made of silk and kingfisher feather–definitely a Chinese influence:

Although it’s not a physical dress made of kingfisher feather that we could get hold of from China itself, or any accessory during that period, but we could definitely see hints of it on paintings or from certain use of feathers in artefacts. Nobody ever confirmed it, but it definitely looks probable that the blue tinge on the crown of the courtesans from Tang was from the kingfisher feathers.

There is no surviving physical kingfisher feather from that period in China, but we could still find remnants of feather decoration on the screens of Shosoin (Collection of the Japanese emperor in the 8th century) below:

It’s interesting to note that the women depicted on the screens look very much like Tang dynasty women, but it was an item made in Japan in a Tang style. How do we know? The feathers of course! Scientists have managed to examine whatever feather was left from the 8th century on the screen, and concluded that they were taken from a bird native to Japan! So it is likely that the Japanese got inspired by the crafts and practices in Tang dynasty China (since they were really quite big on Chinese culture then), that they decided to do a local interpretation of it!

Back to the Chinese imperial use of kingfisher feathers, the Song dynasty emperor was known to award his court officials with robes made from a wide range of materials including one which was made of kingfisher feathers. The practice of making fabric from kingfisher feather dates to about Tang dynasty (some 1,300 yrs ago) as mentioned in famous poet Wang Wei’s poem from that period.

During the Qing dynasty, we could find emperor’s robes made from peacock feather threads. Yes, that’s the peacock feather threads mentioned in the Yanxi Palace drama show as well, except that the one they used in the show looked nothing like the actual one:

One thing about beautiful things such as the shine and colours of silk threads and feathers, is that cameras have problem capturing them in their full glory. The texture is just really hard to captured in a 2D image since the colours of feathers tend to change with the varying angles of light. So the actual imperial robe with the peacock feather looks rather underwhelming in an image:

But if you look unclose, you could probably imagine how exquisite it would’ve been if you see it in person up close and personal:

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Just now I mentioned the Chinese opera-like kingfisher feather crown in the Tang dynasty painting. Perhaps it is pure coincidence, but traditional Chinese Opera singers would break their back to get their hands on an entire full hair decoration made of kingfisher feathers.

It was said that the most famous opera singer in the early 20th century, Mei Lan Fang, owned a kingfisher feather full set of headdress made from ‘soft’ kingfisher feathers. Kingfisher feather accessories are divided into ‘hard’ feathers which are coarser and ‘soft’ feathers which are finer. There are altogether 4 types of kingfisher feathers often used in Chinese traditional accessories (mainly for the imperial family or aristocrats in the distant past, and whoever could afford it in the recent hundred of years).

As you can see above, the hard feathers are a lot larger than the soft ones, but even that is not too large at only about 7cm long. The small one’s about 2-3 cm long. Out of which, 60% of them can’t be used due to the existence of black or grey parts or other ‘less pure’ colours.

That is why it was highly controversial lately for Chinese opera singers to admit to owning real kingfisher feather crowns.

In case you think only the Chinese is capable of thinking up such a way of decorating themselves, hold my baijiu while I whip out the dark history of the West’s use of birds as accessories (includes kingfisher too). It went as far as using an entire bird (completely indiscreet I know, hurts my Asian aesthetics *hairtoss moment*).

 

Towards late Qing dynasty (the last 200 years), there was a switch to use cloisonne in place of kingfisher feather accessories–cheaper and less fragile. But the kingfisher feathers still has its fan. The last kingfisher factory in China closed in 1933 due to poor economic performance (not so much of the ban).

Like the West, there are laws against capturing kingfishers as they are considered endangered species or protected species. But it was not enforced by the government.

Dyed goose feather (dyed is not dead, no goose is harmed in the process)

Silk or synthetic coloured threads

Well, at the end of the day, it’s really a personal choice. If you wish to YOLO or you wish to do your part in preserving this endangered species of bird.

I am working with a silk-threads craftsperson to recreate certain antique kingfisher pieces, and you can order them from my online shop from November onwards. Yes, will be working on a few items for the shop to raise fund for the performance I’m putting up next year. So stay tuned~!

Meanwhile, here’s a visual feast of the many paintings and artefact of ancient empress and palace women in their beautiful kingfisher feather accessories. Also, beyond accessories, they even made fans, screens and decorated cups with the feathers!

If you’re interested in knowing more about this craft, I have also done up a few “Fact or Fiction” clarification at the end of the article because I do realise that people like to sensationalise things they don’t know much about, or they villainfy things they don’t agree with. Both of which are not useful in understanding this craft.

even the cup is decorated with kingfisher feather

crown made of kingfisher

kingfisher feather fan

Statement: Practitioners pluck the feathers out from birds while they were alive to ensure that the colours of the feather remain brightly coloured.

Verdict: Fiction. People of different agenda tend to sensationalise this trade or craft. The businessmen trying to make it seem like it’s a mysterious colour that has to go through certain “ritual” that’s somewhat mystical to get the colour. Animal rights people trying to make it seem like it is a really cruel trade. The truth is somewhere in the middle especially if you are meat-eater. Since ancient times dead birds have been given as tribute from southern cities or southeast asian region to China and feathers were taken from these corpses.

Statement: The newer kingfisher feather accessories used leftover feathers from the Qing dynasty, leftover feathers from opera troupes or feathers from people who got them before the last kingfisher factory closed in 1933. So it was not killing new birds.

Verdict: Fiction. They are just statements to make you feel better about buying these items. Unlikely to have such abundance of feathers to support so many accessories with such large surface area. Also, it is much more economical to kill new birds than to buy from antique dealers. So if you buy any kingfisher feather accessories that are made in recent years, or antique kingfisher feather accessories that are newly repaired, do know that they’re probably newly killed birds. Although, there are also officially sourced (so not illegal) kingfisher feathers which the Chinese government would get for purposes such as repair of artefacts, or making special items as dignitary gifts etc.

Statement: The vibrant colours on the kingfisher feather does not fade with passing time.

Verdict: Fact. Provided you keep it in pristine condition away from dust and other physical touch etc. Never touch the surfaces with your hands. It is tempting, but resist you must. Dyed goose feather and dyed silk would fade over time (but it’s probably over a long time) especially with constant exposure to sunlight. Cos we all know how fragile silk can be. Feathers, on the other hand, are used to such exposures.

Statement: Kingfisher feather accessories demand is as bad as ivory.

Verdict: Tricky question. Fact if you look at it from the angle of unnecessary killing of a life for one’s vanity. Fiction if you are looking at this being the main cause of bird extinction. Lost of habitat is often the larger concern for the survival of this beautiful bird. The average lifespan of a common kingfisher (there are over 120 species of them) is 5-7 years, although a rare few could live up to 16 years. The reproduction/replacement rate of the bird is also a lot faster than elephants. Plus, the demand for kingfisher feather really isn’t very high as there are many substitutes that are 1/10th the price around. The resale value of kingfisher feather is also not as high as ivory (since actually there are also a lot of kingfisher birds around so there’s no limited supply at this point) so there is not much incentive for people to stock up and sell at higher value.

Artefactually Speaking: Changxin Palace Lamp 长信宫灯

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Lately, I’ve been rather inspired by the stories behind artefacts, and I thought of doing a series which personifies artefacts and use that as a basis to tell their stories. Initially, I thought the lamp would have an interesting story on its own, but I realised that the story of its owners and their relations is far more interesting.

This is the first of the lot, and I’ll do more as I find the time and the right people to do them with.

So to get the ball rolling, the first story is that of the Changxin Palace Lamp–one of the earliest form of exhaust/range hood (抽油烟机) lamp that was created about 2,200 years ago during the Han dynasty.

What’s interesting to me isn’t just its engineering ingenuity (I will come to that at the end), but the idea of reimagining its life journey through history–from its original inspiration till its eventual entombment. With just one artefact, it brought out the story of the first recorded empress and empress dowager in the history of China, her viciousness, and the rise and fall of a family within one generation.

The Muse

The Han dynasty was considered the definitive period in Chinese history which laid the foundation of a significant part of the Chinese identity. It was during this time, that there was a great deal of cultural, technological and scientific advancements. As such every advancement in Science and Technology, I believe, a reduction in manpower wastage was probably one of the top priority. And with a greater emphasis on arts and culture, aesthetics also became the main driver for many of the daily items, especially for rulers.

While the burning of incense for scenting the room and spaces has started way before Han dynasty, it was during this period that it has spread to be part of the daily lives of the average men on the street. The rightmost incense burner is a typical style of incense burner that was made to look like spirit mountains and when the smoke rose, it would look like the view atop a mountain surrounded by mists.

Remember the terracotta soldiers? They were made out of necessity as much as they were a mark of progress. Human sacrifices were the norm for rulers in ancient societies more than 3000 years ago, until the Warring State which lasted more than 500 years, causing a huge drop in population. So there’s really not many people to sacrifice if the rulers wished to maintain a healthy population of workers and soldiers! That, coupling with a more progressive and humane approach to life after death, resulted in the ‘invention’ of terracotta soldiers in Qin dynasty which was about 100 years before Han dynasty–the period where this lamp was made. So it is entirely possible (according to my own wild guess) that besides having this in the form of a human for aesthetic purposes, it could very well have replaced the role of an actual person holding a lamp and at the same time satisfying the users’ preference for human presence (as in the case of terracotta soldiers).

During the Han dynasty (2,000 years ago), mirrors were exchanged between men and women as tokens of love. Mirrors were traded like high-value artworks within China and even exported to the West. It was even possible for archaeologists today to gauge the year of the tombs unearthed based on the style of the mirrors in the tombs!

Part of me also wanted to imagine, perhaps the commissioner was in love with a lowly servant girl, and she was the muse for the lamp. Or perhaps, she was a muse for the blacksmith/goldsmith. Either way, it has to be based on a real person. That person would’ve been a real servant, carrying out her daily routines such as dressing up, serving her lord or husband, before being immortalised in the form of a bronze cast gilded in gold.

The Original Owner

There were several engravings of ownership on this artefact, but it is believed that it was originally commissioned by Lord Yangxin (阳信夷侯) although there are other academics who argued that it would’ve belonged to another royal household–the household of Princess Yangxin (two different households). There were many other artefacts uncovered from the same period from the princess’s tomb that has the Yangxin engraving, but this one, in particular, was not from her tomb but another, yet it bore the engraving Yangxin.

Yangxin was actually just the name of a region, located in modern-day Shandong area (near Beijing and Tianjin) and several households in that region were given the royal title Yangxin XXXX (be it princess, lord etc.)

The original owner, Lord Yangxin, got his royal title after he helped defeat the evil forces of the first Empress Dowager recorded in the history of imperial China–Empress Dowager Lǚ. She was originally a “Good person”, but power and jealous corrupted her and she was most famously (and gruesomely) known for the way she treated Lady Qi–a legendary dancer and choreographer, also a love rival.

[GORE WARNING]

Dowager Lǚ basically chopped off Lady Qi’s arms and legs, dug out her eyes, disfigured her face, deafened her using fumes, cut away her tongue and destroyed her vocal chord using poison and dumped Lady Qi into a faeces pool until she died a natural death (still feeding her food to keep her alive meanwhile).

She was the one who invented this cruel punishment called Ren Zhi (人彘) which literally translates to Human Pig (Ren being Human, Zhi being Pig). Why pig? Because their limbs were chopped off (like pigs have really tiny limbs), and in some instances, special chemicals/concoctions would be rubbed over their body to damage their hair follicles such that they would never grow any hair. Then, pluck out each strand of hair… If the executioner didn’t do it properly and caused the sufferer to die during the process, or took the easy way out by plucking a few strands of hair at one go, then the executioner would lose his job.

The act was so grotesque that when the proud Empress Dowager Lǚ brought her own son who was the new emperor to witness the stage of Lady Qi, he cried in great anguish, refusing to believe that his own mother could be capable of such cruelty. He was so traumatised by that and a few other horrors under Empress Dowager’s rule that he stopped caring about the matters of the court, indulging in wine and sex and became quite ill. It was not long before he passed away.

So the Empress Dowager grew more powerful as she got in more of her family into the royal court, removing everyone else who was against her in the process. After she died, the supporter of the original royal family rose against her family, and so the Lord of Yangxin was amongst those who successfully overthrew her family. And it was through this that he was awarded his lordship.

The Confiscation

As with everything in politics, one can easily become a royalty/statesman or a prisoner in an instance. While Lord Yangxin gained his lordship by helping to rebel against the evil forces of Empress Dowager Lǚ’s family, his own son continued his rebellious streak later on. However, it was not a successful rebellion which he participated in and the family’s fortune and properties were all seized and confiscated, including this lamp. His son was also stripped off his title.

This is why there were other engravings on the lamp. It was transferred from the family of Yangxin, to Changxin palace–the place of dwelling of the new empress dowager–Empress Dowager Dou.

Empress Dowager Dou’s road to becoming an empress dowager was really quite unexpected. Almost comical in my opinion, cos it was kind of an accident.

The Witness

So the lamp was gifted with new engravings that indicated its placement in the bath of Empress Dowager Dou’s palace–Changxin Palace.

Empress Dowager Dou was born in a peasant family and served as a palace attendance under Empress Dowager Lǚ in her youth. It is even possible that in her youth, she carried out similar activities and served in similar functions as the original muse of the lamp.

But life has its twists and turns, and nobody would have thought that an attendant girl would one day become the most powerful woman in the country.

At one point, the old Empress Dowager, Lǚ, wanted to marry off some of her attendants to the various lords and kinds under her rule (get rid of old blood, get new blood, and gain favours in the process amongst the various lords and kings–good plan!). Dou was amongst the group to be released from palace, and she requested the officer in charge of this matter to marry her off to the Zhao king, as the kingdom of Zhao was closer to her hometown.  She probably didn’t bribe the officer, so surprise surprise, he forgot all about it and sent her to the Dai king instead!

She. Was. Distraught.

She cried and begged for him to change the plan, but it was already confirmed in the royal edict and she was forced to marry the Dai king.

Turned out she struck a goldmine and that the Dai king was a blue-chip! He was made the new emperor after the court got rid of the old Empress Dowager, and eventually, he made Dou his new Empress. After his death, her son became the new emperor and naturally she became the empress dowager.

The Gift

Empress Dowager Dou must have really loved and treasured this lamp, and that’s why she kept it so close to her and it could witness her most intimate moments in the bath.

It was also one of the items that she gifted to her granddaughter-in-law, Dou Wan, as a wedding gift.

The fact that both Empress Dowager Dou and her granddaughter-in-law (wife of her grandson) shared the same surname was in no way a coincidence. The ancient Chinese, especially the royalties and people of high status placed great emphasis on marriage between people of comparable social status. This practice and belief is still rather prevalent today in many societies. The Dou family was extremely powerful and influential thanks to the Empress Dowager, so there would be no other possible candidate for the Prince other than someone from the Dou family.

According to academic’s analysis, Dou Wan was likely the Empress Dowager’s grand niece. Dou Wan would have treasured this lamp a lot, out of gratitude and respect for her powerful grand aunt.

The Forgotten

Dou Wan continued to treasure this lamp even until her death, and this lamp was buried alongside with her, in the main hall of her tomb. It was forgotten for 2000 years until uncovered by archaeologists in 1968.

When it was first found, it was crushed by the collapsed roof of the tomb, with parts scattered all around.

Its Engineering Feat

The lamp was originally made into small pieces and pieced together with an interesting function–to absorb the choking and dark exhaust fumes created by burning animal fat-based fuel or candle. Its base was filled with water, and its sleeves formed the top of the lamp which is hollow and would funnel the smoke from the fire into its body and filter the exhaust particles when they reached the water at the bottom. The lantern portion is also mobile and could be adjusted to have a wider or narrower opening so the light intensity was adjustable. The panels could also be rotated to change the direction of the light emission!

All these were created some 2,000 years back, and there were several other artefacts from the same period made using the same filtering/ self-purifying mechanism!

If you’re interested to listen to the entire story (in Mandarin), you can watch a really short documentary on youtube (only about 20 mins):

国宝档案（上）

国宝档案（下）

BONUS DID-YOU-KNOW

Because you persevered till the very end, you shall be rewarded with a piece of knowledge that you can show off to everyone else who get their info from TV and not from reading this :P. Yes, learning from Marvel.

In TV shows you would always see women using bronze mirrors that had a bronze reflective surface which they would look into to see their reflections.

Well, apparently as far back as 2,300 years ago or so, the ancient Chinese have been using mercury coated over the bronze mirror to reflect their image. Mercy is also what is being used in today’s mirror-making. The difference is that the ancient Chinese didn’t combine glass with it, and the resulting reflection and mirror quality is more blackish.

The running joke amongst my friends and I when we do authentic ancient Chinese make-up is that perhaps this was the reason why they had to paint their faces so white, cos it’s hard to see their faces in the mirror reflection!

Image from the web to illustrate the look of the mirror surface.

Ceci n’est pas Asian Beast（我不是迪斯尼版匈奴單于）

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BONUS BUY 1 GET 1 FREE EDITION–THE BEAST! lol

I know this kind of looks like a Bollywood Beauty and the Beast… and you probably would never imagine my Beast to be a non-Chinese. But that’s the reality of history and culture! This is a BONUS edition of Hanfugirl–one that’s neither about a girl nor about a Chinese. But cultural/ethnic diversity pervades the entire history of China, and one whose very existence has often been overlooked or simply brushed aside. Belle Wang’s definitely not the first high-profile interracial royal marriage of the ancient world, just like how Meghan Markle’s not gonna be the last!

I’m trying very hard to be serious for this! Sharon said I should be fair and create posters for all the other princesses, but I guess I’m sexist that way. Special male privilege in this one cos, diversity rocks.

For thousands of years, China has struggled with warfare at its borders with its nomadic neighbours such as the Xiongnu and Turks. Because it is an entirely new area of knowledge, with massively confusing narratives and limited written records, I am definitely not able to say much about them individually at this point. It is definitely on my to-learn list, but one thing at a time!

So we have established that Belle Wang was married to a “Barbarian”, the equivalent of the Beast in the story–gentle giant with lots resources and money at her disposal! Oh yes, and treats her like a goddess. Although I’m not a fan of Belle, I personally love the Beast the most amongst all the Disney princes because of his complexity. My Tibetan guide told me–BE an interesting person with stories (to tell about yourself). And Beast is definitely someone with a story.

The “Beast” in question today, is Huhanye, the chief of Xiongnu about 2,000 years ago. Xiongnu was a really vague term to describe the confederation of nomadic people who spanned from Siberia and Mongolia all the way to Central Asia. Till today, people are still debating their ancestry and histories, so that’s an issue beyond me and I’m just going to imagine him looking somewhat like Central Asian x Gypsy of sorts.

The legendary Chief who re-united all 5 fragments of Xiongnu under one

The Beast was not just a random untamed chap, but a powerful, strategic ruler. When the 12th Chief passed away, the Xiongnu tribes broke into 5 fragments each with someone claiming to be its chief (or Chanyu as they call it). It was Huhanye who defeated the rest with the help of Chinese troops and reunited Xiongnu under his rule as the 14th Chanyu. He was also of true blue blood, just like the Beast in the original story, as the direct descendant of the 12th Chanyu, unlike a few of the others.

However, he was the underdog because he was also in contention with his elder brother Zhizhi Chanyu for the throne. The Xiongnu civil war of that time was full of drama, with stories of various political marriages, murder of envoy, and infighting between the two brothers.

Eventually, with the help of the Chinese who favoured the Beast, Huhanye won and ended the civil war that lasted for some 20+ years. Huhanye Chanyu must have been extremely politically savvy and strategic to be able to gain the favour of the Chinese (Zhizhi Chanyu tried too, to no avail and the Chinese favoured Huhanye), and won over his elder brother. His political savviness would make him a matching candidate for Belle since she’s kind of strategic as well.

Judging from the drama and stories of struggle for power, he was probably super badass and domineering, just like the Beast.

How I re-imagined the “Barbarian”

It would seem extremely un-PC to call the nomadic tribes Barbarian, but not calling them so would be untruthful to the historical Chinese attitude towards anything beyond their turf and to pretend the world is perfect just by not mentioning it.

The Han dynasty of Chinese was one of the most economically and culturally developed periods in Chinese history, and it is like how the urban city people in China still look down on the rural area folks and farmers as uncouth and underdeveloped, and that was the same attitude the Chinese had towards their nomadic neighbours–barbaric.

According to my very brief research, some of the descriptions of Xiongnu were things like chunky earring on one ear, moustache and beard, shaved head or braided ones depending on the era and tribe, and donning their riding wear/robes with bows and arrows. All these features were considered barbaric by ancient Chinese standards because the Chinese didn’t pierce their ears until the Tang dynasty (which was also an influence from the nomadic tribes), they didn’t cut their hair at all, and guys rarely braid them if at all. The Chinese also didn’t really have much of a beard, for sure.

It certainly seems exotic to me, but I didn’t want it to be baseless. So I actually got him to wear a Tang dynasty male robe, which was influenced by nomadic tribes and also worn by the nomadic tribes as depicted in Tang dynasty paintings. Of course that’s about 600-700 years after, but there has got to be some level of relevance. Unlike the Central Chinese, the nomadic tribes wore pants way before the Chinese adopted it, and they also had belts and metal hooks to secure their dresses, unlike the Chinese who typically used draw-strings. The Xiongnu and Hu people also had narrow sleeves as compared to the traditionally wide sleeves as one could see in Belle Wang.

They also probably wore fury hats and somewhat triangular top ones.

Chinoiserie in a foreign culture, 2,000 years back

While everyone today seems to think that Chinoiserie in 18th-century Western art is probably God’s gift to fashion and design,  by now I think we all would have realised that cultural exchanges and appropriation/adoption have been happening for thousands of years, and we were as cosmopolitan in the past as we are now.

Huhanye actually went to China in person to ask for the Han emperor for a Chinese Princess as his wife. It was an act of submission and willingness to make peace with China.

As such, I wanted some elements of fusion with Chinese, because Huhanye Chanyu was a king who had high regard for the Chinese culture. He would’ve been inspired by the Chinese and would have some elements of “Chinoiserie” in the use of scent ball, the ceramic cup in the shape of Panda (teehee~ the talking cups~), and the delicately looking flower accessory in the shape of Camellia that binds him and Belle together.

Unlike the Chinese who saw haircutting as sancrilegious, the nomadic tribes had theirs in long braids or shaven so as to make it convenient for horse riding and other outdoor activities. And of course like Beast, he has a gentle side!

From Beast to Prince

In many Chinese writings/poems, perhaps partly due to ethnocentrism, and partly due to the need for dramatic effects, the fate of Wang Zhaojun marrying the Xiongnu king has often been portrayed as tragic. That’s probably how the evil sisters of Belle felt too when she left for the Beast.

But plot twist–She found her pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Turned out the old king died a few years after their marriage, and she married his son, who is of similar age as her. He would’ve been young, powerful, handsome (cos mix ancestries :P, ah, assumptions!!), and most of all, love and respect her.

To understand why people would love and respect her as a Chinese princess, we have to understand that being married to a Chinese princess was a mark of prestige and achievement to the nomadic tribes. It is like Meghan Markel marrying Harry–an outsider that’s deemed to be of a less sophisticated culture marrying up into a more “prestigious” culture (note the use of inverted commas because I feel that cultures aren’t supposed to be so hierarchical). So there’s bound to be a lot of feel-good moments and fanfares.

Also, she was the Miss Universe of her time! She represented world peace! And I understand that the people loved her (both Mongolians and Chinese) because of that prolonged period of peace between the two nations.

Perhaps it’s fitting to share that my model is Romanian–very close to my idea of Xiongnu/Huns/Turks. And he spent some 1 year living in Hunan, which is in the ancient kingdom of Chu–same place as where Belle Wang Zhaojun’s from! What are the chances right! I love how the universe brings me so many interesting surprises and coincidences. It simply must mean that I always pick the right models for their roles!

Could I have this dance

Of course I won’t forget that iconic dance scene where Belle and Beast forged their bond! But it gets a bit tricky because I don’t think that Chinese had couple dance back then… So it is more likely that Belle Wang would’ve performed as a dancer FOR the king or emperor if the occasion ever arose. So.. Voila~

Interesting Observations on the concept of Beast

When I was looking for the Beast model, I came to a dead end cos there’s NO WAY ANY Chinese guy would be OK with being called a BEAST. In Chinese, Beast literally translates to a wild, savage, crass animal, which really sounds quite derogatory. It’s not like in the Western culture where the idea of BEAST is like some really sexy, pheromone-filled alpha male. The Asian culture has always preferred a more muted display of attractiveness, and focus more on finesses and gentle expressions of intellect over physical prowess.

It’s also interesting how 2000 years have passed, and the Chinese mentality towards sexuality, masculinity and ethnic superiority still didn’t seem to change too much.

Anyway, I got stood up by a male model TWICE before I finally decided, Nah, he’s probably not beastly enough anyway. Takes a real beast to be the Xiongnu Chief! Move on! Yes, I get rejected by guys too you know.

Interesting how cultures affect language and in turn affect one’s attitude towards concepts!

THE BARBARIC BEAST!

To end off, another pop-artish pic~

Ceci n’est pas Chinese Belle （我不是迪斯尼版王昭君）

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I realised that many around me have a special love for Belle. When asked, they rationalised that it’s because Belle has the most character–the least damsel-in-distress. Oh, of course, there’s also Mulan, but she’s already “one of us” so… not gonna cover that (sorry for the disappointment but you can wait for Disney’s live-action movie!) 😛

I absolutely love the French film version of the Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête 2014), and if you do have a chance, try to catch it!

A BIG disclaimer on the term “Barbarian”. You will see in a separate post with more explanation but basically, it’s not that I agree with that term, but that’s really how the ancient Chinese perceived anyone beyond its land.

But firstly, on to Belle Wang.

Background

There’s a short English animation on youtube that does a good job at telling the conventional story–you can watch it HERE. But its verity in history is questionable, so will do my best to provide a more balanced story.

Essentially, the story set in an era of frequent warfare between China and its western and northern neighbour for the last 100 years, about 2000 years ago. When Han dynasty China was still powerful, the nomadic confederation Xiongnu was having internal strife and divided into 5 tribes, and the Chinese army eventually defeated the remaining one tribe that opposed the Chinese rule, bringing peace to the region for a while. However, as we all know, political stability between nations is never guaranteed unless there are tangible things that bind them together, or if there are some sort of alliances made between them.

Wang Zhaojun, in this case, was seen as the icon of sacrifice that the Chinese made in exchange for peace and stability at its border for some 60 years.

So let’s have a look at the parallel universes.

The righteous one with a strong sense of integrity

The flower in her hands is not just any flower but a Camellia. There’s a special breed of camellia in Japan that’s named after Wang Zhaojun (Camellia Japonica ‘Osyokun’ 王昭君).

Very much like Belle, Wang Zhaojun grew up in a comfortable household (nothing dramatic) and was recruited into the palace as a palace attendant, or as some other version of the story goes, she was the lowest level of royal consort.

So it was true that he never knew about her because there are hundreds and thousands of attendants and consorts. There was an old wife’s tale version of how she refused to bribe the court painter when he went around painting portraits of the various consorts, and therefore he painted an unfavourable portrait of her by adding a mole on her face. As such, the emperor just dismissed her portrait without much thought.

In reality, I am inclined to believe that it is yet another romanticised story to illustrate her virtuous side, instead of a real event. Paper was said to be one of China’s biggest inventions modifications, and it first surfaced some 100 years before Wang Zhaojun’s story. But looking at artefacts from the era, most paintings were still done on silk scrolls or on walls. One roll of silk cloth (measuring about 1m x 10m) would have the equivalent value of 720kg of rice in those days–THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY! And the emperor would have had hundreds of attendants/consorts to be painted, so it would’ve not only cost him a fortune, it would also most likely cost him his empire!

Part of a painting about 200 years before Wang Zhaojun’s story

Painting about 400 years after Wang Zhaojun’s story

Furthermore, it was not fashionable to do photo-realist works in those days, and paintings from that era were mainly made up of lines and large areas of colours–extremely stylised. Above are parts of two paintings which spanned from 200 BC to 400CE, and you could see how it is impossible to judge one’s looks from a painting. So it is also unlikely also that the emperor would trust a painting for the assessment of someone’s beauty, and also unlikely that a mole’s going to make a difference if anything! The story of the painter was not found in historical records of that era, instead, it was found in a fictional novel written some 200 years later.

The selfless strategic girl who considered her options and volunteered to be sacrificed as a hostage of sorts

Strategic. That’s how I would describe Wang Zhaojun over and above her apparent altruism. Pretty much like how Belle thinks that she could find a way to escape, Wang Zhaojun wanted to escape from the Han royal court too and she figured that by going to the land far far away, she would have a chance at freedom.

According to the Book of Later Han, Zhaojun spent such a long time in the palace without a chance to meet the emperor, that she became frustrated. So when the opportunity arose for her to leave, she was quite decisive about it. She probably figured that it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. But because this record was written some 300 years after, we might only be able to take this with a pinch of salt.

The tough one who was not afraid of the harsh environment

Old wife’s tale would have you believe that one of the “physical flaws” of Belle Wang is her slopey shoulders, and that’s why she often liked to wear a hoodie/cape to hide her shoulders. But… the irony is that was kind of the defining features of beauties back in the ancient times! So this old wife might’ve been a new wife’s tale instead! Also, if it’s cold and windy, you would naturally put on hoodies/cape. Not everyone’s like me/us–wearing hoodie/cape in hot and humid Singapore and turning on the aircon just to take pictures!

It must be said, however, that besides this aspect of pragmatism, altruism had to be the underlying force for her decision as well. One has to understand that to the Chinese, everyone else is/was (I’ll let you decide on the right tense :P) barbaric, and the living environment with the nomadic tribes would’ve been quite harsh due to the climate and their limited resources. Throughout the history of China, one of the more benevolent punishments  (which coincidentally was formalised during Han dynasty, the period Wang Zhaojun’s in), was to exiled the criminals. So for Wang Zhaojun to decide to brace the harsh environment and marry the Xiongnu king, it would be akin to self-exiling and banishing to a god-forsaken place.

Very much like how Belle decided to face the Beast in a godforsaken palace hidden away from civilisation.

There are others who believe that since the records never mentioned that she volunteered to be given away, she was simply just executing what the emperor told her to. Especially since being a woman, and one from a humble background, meant that she really wouldn’t have much say in those days, let alone when it’s got to do with the fate of a nation.

Back in those days, any pluck-string instrument is called Pipa, and it was believed that pipa took the shame of Ruan (round shape) instead of the tear shape, so perhaps Sanxian is my compromise! I’m not a music instrument historian, so please feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken!

In popular culture, it’s always been said that Wang Zhaojun was carrying a pipa and playing really sad songs on her way to marrying the “Barbarian” king. And a modern pipa in the shape of an arc-shape tear-drop is often used. But it is also likely that she might be carrying an instrument closer to the Sanxian, which was said to be an instrument indigenous to China. Especially since pipa in its current shape probably didn’t date so far back. So while Belle dances, Wang Zhaojun plays the instrument!

Clearly my model didn’t know how to play the San Xian… and I overlooked it in this shot! Well, what can I say–Fake it till you make it!

Well, maybe not.

Clearly my model didn’t know how to play the San Xian… and I overlooked it in this shot! Well, what can I say–Fake it till you make it!

The one who supposedly married a beast

It might seem racist/cultural supremacist to call the nomadic tribes like Xiongnu Barbarians/Beast, but that’s the reality of what things were like 2,000 years ago when the Middle Kingdom pride itself on its state of development and regarded anything beyond as barbaric. China was to continue having this mentality for the next 2,000 years despite multiple invasions and rule by the nomadic tribes.

Loving the Beast before the last petal falls

Literature romanticised the episode of Wang Zhaojun leaving the Middle Kingdom with series of associations such as the woeful melodies of pipa, the fallen migrating geese, and the camellia flower! Wang Zhaojun is regarded as the guardian goddess of November’s flower which is the camellia (the Chinese dedicate each month of the year to a type of flower, and with that, a guardian goddess/god).

It was said that she brought a camellia flower on her way to the bleak environment beyond China, and the flower symbolised her love for her country and her strength.

Most of the female characters in traditional Chinese painting did not look into the viewer’s eyes. Similar to the idea of the male gaze in western art, I have decided to have her looking at the camera directly.

The one whose beast turned into a prince, and they lived happily ever after

Most mainstream narrative of Wang Zhaojun would talk about her sacrifice and how she probably lead an unhappy life, away from her family, the comfort of her home etc. There were even saying that she requested to return to the Middle Kingdom after the demise of the Xiongnu King and that the Chinese emperor who gave her away died of a broken heart a few months after.

The truth couldn’t be further from the truth. Belle Wang was only about 20 years old when she was sent to marry the Xiongnu king, and the emperor of China was about 42 when he passed away–people those days didn’t live very long. In the entire history of China, since the first emperor Qin Shi Huang, only about 30 lived to beyond 60 years old. Most of them had a lifespan that spanned from 20 to 40 years old.

But when Wang Zhaojun married the Xiongnu king, he too was in his 40s and passed away some 2 years later after their marriage. According to Xiongnu’s custom then, Wang Zhaojun then married the next king, who would be about the same age as Wang Zhaojun. Belle not only had a wonderful husband of comparable age, she would’ve also enjoyed a great amount of respect being a Chinese princess to Xiongnu, and also the empress to two kings. The new king and Belle Wang lived happily ever after with 2 lovely daughters.

And because Belle is so legendary, she deserves a pop-art picture too~ ❤

Did you know, my model shares the same hometown as Belle Wang Zhaojun! What are the chances~ 🙂 Now, you can imagine seeing her as the reincarnation of Wang Zhaojun!

Also fun fact, apparently Rouge was brought in to China around Han dynasty (2000 years ago) through Hungary. And its popularity and widespread use was thanks to the Beast’s cordial relationship with the Chinese!