Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw a beauty.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw a beauty. The year of his death is unknown), his surname was Shi, and his given name was Yiguang. He was named Xian Shi, also known as Xizi. She grew up in Zhuluo Village, Zhuji, Zhejiang (now Huansha Village, south of Zhuji City), and was a beauty in the late Spring and Autumn Period of China.
Xi Shi was born into a poor family, and she often wandered in the stream. She was born with beauty and outstanding beauty. After the defeat of the State of Yue, it was forced to surrender to the State of Wu and seek peace. King Gou Jian of Yue selected all the beauties in the country to offer to King Wu Fu Chai, and the naturally beautiful Xi Shi was also one of them. Fu Chai doted on Xi Shi in every possible way. He first built the Chunxiao Palace in Suzhou, and then built a pavilion and memorial pavilion for Xi Shi to perform singing, dancing and banquets.
Xi Shi was good at dancing the "ringing clogs dance", and Fu Chai built a "ringing clogs gallery" specifically for her. At the same time, King Gou Jian of Yue worked hard to make Yue strong and prosperous, and finally defeated Wu. After the fall of the Wu Kingdom, Xi Shi's whereabouts are unknown. Some say that he died by sinking into the sea, while others say that he and Fan Li went boating on the five lakes to live in seclusion.
Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan, and Yang Yuhuan are known as the "Four Beauties" in ancient China, with Xi Shi ranking first. Later generations said that the four beauties had the "appearance of a sinking fish and a wild goose, and an appearance of shy flowers under the closed moon." Among them, the "sinking fish" refers to Xi Shi, which comes from the legend of Xi Shi's Huansha.
Xi Shi was born in Zhuluo Village, Zhuji, Yue State at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. Zhuluo had two villages, the East and the West. He lived in the West Village, so he was named Xi Shi. Descendants of the surname Shi live by the Huansha River. His father sells firewood and his mother washes yarn. Xishi often washes yarn in the stream, so it is also called Huansha River.
The first of the four beauties in ancient China, she is the embodiment and synonym of beauty. The "Sinking Fish" in "The appearance of the moon that shames the flowers, the appearance of the sinking fish and the falling geese" tells the classic legend of Xi Shi's Huansha.
In Zhuji, where Xishi Huansha was built, there was a large ashlar stone, simple and pale brown, with the word "Huansha" engraved on it. It was written by Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Kong Lingfu's "Kuiji Ji" of Liu Song Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties said: Zhuji Zhuluo Mountain has the West Huansha Stone. "Yu Di Zhi", "Ten Dao Zhi", and "Jiatai Kuaiji Zhi" also record: "Gou Jian asked for beautiful women to offer to the King of Wu, and got a salary-selling girl from Zhuji Luo Mountain, named Xi Shi. There is a Xi Shi Huansha stone at the foot of the mountain."
Literature scholars in the past dynasties like to sing and sing. Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in his poem "Wish You Ba Zhi Jiangdong to Wansha Stone": "The girl crossing the stream in Xishi, the sea of ??bright light and clouds... has not yet entered the palace of King Wu. At that time, the ancient stone of Huansha is still there today.”