The Four Great Beauties of China (today)

[VoxiVoxi]

In ancient China, the four great beauties were -

Xishi - said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink away from the surface when she walks by.
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Wang Zhaojun - said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky.
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Diao Chan - said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face.
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Yang GuiFei - said to have a face that puts all flowers to shame.
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credits info to wikipedia and painting by Anniewong : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Beauties
http://anniewongart.com/web3/V2/CONTENT3/DIAO-CHAN1.htm


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Not sure if anyone realizes but the phrase,

chén yú(sinks fish)
luò yàn(lost bird)
bì yuè(lacking moon)
xiū huā(hidden flower),

comes from the descriptions of the four of them.

So according to the descriptions and from what you've already known about them, which four chinese actresses do you think would suit to portray each beauty and why(optional). Btw, from what I've known but could be wrong, the order of beauty ranking is 1) xishi 2) Wang ZhaoJun 3) Diao Chan 4) Yang GuiFei.

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Here is mine (I'm going to disregard Yang GuiFei's fleshiness for right now because I can't seem to find anyone these days abit chubby)

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Top left: Tong Liya
Top right: Liu Yi Fei
Bottom left: Yangmi
Bottom right: Tang Yan

Tong Li ya as Xishi - I feel like she possesses a superb ancient beauty. Also, her innocently seductive gaze makes her suitable for the role Xishi, whom was presented to King Fuchai of Wu to bewitch him.

Liu Yi Fei as ZhaoJun - LYF possesses a tragic beauty - innocent and a somewhat less emotional character who had never seen the King until right before she was being sent away - which suits to portray the abandoned Zhaojun. (Isn't it ironic that from what I'm hearing, Liu Yi fei played Diao Chen in the upcoming movie Bronze Sparrow Terrace.)

Yangmi as DiaoChan - Diao Chan was said to be an intelligent beauty which I've also seen in Yang Mi's bright eyes. (Ironic how she played Wang Zhao Jun before.)

TangYan as Yang Gui Fei - To be honest, I'm not sure whom to pick for this character but I saw a the picture above of Tang Yan and thought she really looks like the image of YGF.

Anyways, is it me or Tong Li Ya and Tang Yan have similar beauties? (though I think TLY is alot prettier)

[Laboomsikashod]

Tong Liya is perfect as Xishi! She looks great in ancient custumes and can totally put on the sick/fragile look. <3

I'd thought you'd put Yang Mi as Zhaojun instead since she acted her, but I actually like Yang Mi best in her more rebelious/tsundere roles like CP3 and Palace.

I find LYF or LSS more suitable for the more tragic roles like Diao Chan and Wang Zhaojun. And Chen Hao who recently acted Diao Chan I liked her better in roles like A'zi instead.

While I don't know much about Yang Guifei, Tang Yan sure looks great in that pic!

[xiaolong]

While I don't know much about Yang Guifei, Tang Yan sure looks great in that pic!

Definitely not Tang Yan for Yang Guifei. Not because Tang Yan's beauty isn't good enough, but because Yang Guifei is known to be FAT!!! And very buxomy...but I don't know of any beautiful Chinese actress who's fat enough

[ChineseChik525]

Definitely not Tang Yan for Yang Guifei. Not because Tang Yan's beauty isn't good enough, but because Yang Guifei is known to be FAT!!! And very buxomy...but I don't know of any beautiful Chinese actress who's fat enough

Well, Gong Li is definitely not fat, but she is certainly "buxomy" enough (albeit kinda old now...):
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[VoxiVoxi]

Tong Liya is perfect as Xishi! She looks great in ancient custumes and can totally put on the sick/fragile look. <3

I'd thought you'd put Yang Mi as Zhaojun instead since she acted her, but I actually like Yang Mi best in her more rebelious/tsundere roles like CP3 and Palace.

I find LYF or LSS more suitable for the more tragic roles like Diao Chan and Wang Zhaojun. And Chen Hao who recently acted Diao Chan I liked her better in roles like A'zi instead.

While I don't know much about Yang Guifei, Tang Yan sure looks great in that pic!

yeah I know. I really thought LSS suits one of the role too since she has this sad appearance but they both look too much alike and my bias was LYF haha and I thought all of 4 characters were tragic.

Chen Hao was abit old for the role Diao Chan I believe.

[mango_cake]

Good choices--except I also can't see the super-skinny Tang Yan as YGF! :P She also has more of a modern beauty than the others.

TLY definitely has a very tragic, melancholy look. Even when she's smiling, there still seems to be something sad about her. Same with LYF (...while to be honest I am not a fan of her acting she does an excellent job of looking gorgeous and sad). I did always think of YM as WZJ because she acted as the character before, but good point that, while she can do the tragic look well, she also exudes more of a playful, bright spark so perhaps Diao Chan is indeed a better fit.

WZJ has always been my favourite though (followed by DC, XS, and lastly YGF). While WZJ was the only one to actually bring peace to two warring nations, YGF only caused corruption and destruction. Like WZJ, DC and XS bravely "sacrificed" themselves for the sake of their country, but they had to bring down another one (albeit corrupt) in the process. Although I don't know much about XS since she doesn't seem to be as portrayed as often as the other 3, her story seems about the same as DC's.

All 4 ladies definitely had tragic endings though...but YGF more or less brought it upon herself, I've always felt, rather than for a sacrificing her own happiness for a greater good.

[aloysius]

If I'm not mistaken, Diao Chan is a fictional character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Whereas the other three are from real recorded history.

I definitely see Gong Li as Yang Guifei. My favourite Yang Mi role was actually Wang Zhao Jun.

[mango_cake]

Oh I didn't know that! I thought most of Three Kingdoms was based on actual history, but is a lot of it actually fictional?

Although, while WZJ and YGF have a lot of written history about them, it seems that the background of DC/XS has always been very fuzzy so I wouldn't be surprised if one or both were fictional/exaggerated from a true story. Perhaps it's because XS was the earliest of the Four Beauties, but I always had the feeling that it was more of a "based on legend" thing than the others since there aren't too many details about her life either.

[VoxiVoxi]

Good choices--except I also can't see the super-skinny Tang Yan as YGF! :P She also has more of a modern beauty than the others.

TLY definitely has a very tragic, melancholy look. Even when she's smiling, there still seems to be something sad about her. Same with LYF (...while to be honest I am not a fan of her acting she does an excellent job of looking gorgeous and sad). I did always think of YM as WZJ because she acted as the character before, but good point that, while she can do the tragic look well, she also exudes more of a playful, bright spark so perhaps Diao Chan is indeed a better fit.

WZJ has always been my favourite though (followed by DC, XS, and lastly YGF). While WZJ was the only one to actually bring peace to two warring nations, YGF only caused corruption and destruction. Like WZJ, DC and XS bravely "sacrificed" themselves for the sake of their country, but they had to bring down another one (albeit corrupt) in the process. Although I don't know much about XS since she doesn't seem to be as portrayed as often as the other 3, her story seems about the same as DC's.

All 4 ladies definitely had tragic endings though...but YGF more or less brought it upon herself, I've always felt, rather than for a sacrificing her own happiness for a greater good.

Yeah I know, Tang Yan is def not fat. but lol i couldn't find any fat or even chubby actresses these days so yeah haha but you're right about her looking abit too modern.

If I'm not mistaken, Diao Chan is a fictional character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Whereas the other three are from real recorded history.

I definitely see Gong Li as Yang Guifei. My favourite Yang Mi role was actually Wang Zhao Jun.

oh really? i've never heard of that before. after you've mentioned, i searched it up and found this thread. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...TXAuVPDodN4-7A

i'm guessing it's true that it is a fictional character but perhaps there's really a beautiful Diao chan who was exaggerated by the novel?

[wuxiagurl]

The four actresses that VoxiVoxi suggested are indeed lovely. It's hard to find someone who perfectly fits the traditional description of the Four Great Beauties.

Btw, from what I've known but could be wrong, the order of beauty ranking is 1) xishi 2) Wang ZhaoJun 3) Diao Chan 4) Yang GuiFei.

I don't know if that is indeed the order of the beauty, but that is the chronological order of their appearance. Although I did read something about Xishi being the most beautiful one.

oh really? i've never heard of that before. after you've mentioned, i searched it up and found this thread. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...TXAuVPDodN4-7A

i'm guessing it's true that it is a fictional character but perhaps there's really a beautiful Diao chan who was exaggerated by the novel?

Wow. That thread is quite long and leaves me no more enlightened whether Diao Chan is a fictional or true character.

Hmm, I wanted to bring up another point. Yang Guifei was definitely a dancer. Xishi was trained to dance too before being presented to King Fuchai. Diaochan was supposedly dancing for Dong Zhuo too. I don't know about Wang Zhaojun. So I would personally love it if the actresses portraying them have dance backgrounds too to do justice to that part of the role. The only actresses I can think of who have dance backgrounds are Tong Liya, Liu Shishi, Sun Feifei, Zhang Ziyi, and Jiang Kaitong. However, having a dance background doesn't mean they're suitable for the role either. Or that having a dance background is necessary to qualify for the role. In a lot of series, the actresses just learn the dances, have substitute dancers, and/or do a lot of posing/face-shots themselves. Not to mention that having a dance background doesn't mean they know the appropriate style of dance. For example, I can barely imagine the balletic Liu Shishi doing the provocative dance poses popular in the Tang Dynasty, although it'd be very interesting to see. But , I am totally digressing. Just saying I would love to see the cultural aspect portrayed well.

[VoxiVoxi]

Thankyou! and I also know Liu yi fei comes from a dancing background.

[jack02349]

Tong Liya is perfect as Xishi! She looks great in ancient custumes and can totally put on the sick/fragile look. <3

I'd thought you'd put Yang Mi as Zhaojun instead since she acted her, but I actually like Yang Mi best in her more rebelious/tsundere roles like CP3 and Palace.

I find LYF or LSS more suitable for the more tragic roles like Diao Chan and Wang Zhaojun. And Chen Hao who recently acted Diao Chan I liked her better in roles like A'zi instead.

While I don't know much about Yang Guifei, Tang Yan sure looks great in that pic!

Who's that on ur avatar?