Notes on Wang Zhao Jun

WANG ZHAO JUN 王昭君
a.k.a. Wang Qiang 王嫱/Wang Mingfei 王明妃
c. 40BC


Descriptions:

1. loveliest woman of the imperial harem
2. confident enough of beauty that she refused to pay the court painter
3. plays pipa

Background:

1. native of Hubei 湖北 province
   
2. entered Imperial Harem of Emperor Yuan
   

Related Characters:

1. Emperor Yuan of Han 汉元帝 a.k.a. Liu Shi 刘 奭
2. Court Painter Mao Yan Shou 毛延寿
3. Xiong Nu Chieftan Hu Han Xie 呼韩邪
   

Story:

1. Emperor Yuan chose his concubines by looking at their portraits. Palace ladies typically bribed the court painter. Wang Zhao Jun refused to pay the painter Mao Yan Shou, so he painted her in as ugly a way as possible.
2. To help relations with Xiong Nu chieftain, Emperor Yuan agreed to seek a beauty for chieftain Hu Han Xie. He asked for the plainest girl of the harem, and he approved of Wang Zhao Jun's ugly painting.
3. Emperor Yuan realized that Wang Zhao Jun was actually most beautiful woman of his harem. He discovered Mao Yan Shou's fraud and put the court artist to death.
   
4. It was too late. In beautiful regalia and with her pipa, she left the Han court and never returned.
   

Reorganized from this source.