In the Book of Songs, a collection of poems written between 2500 and 3000 years ago, two of the 305 poems focus on describing beautiful women. Through these two poems, we can not only understand what beauties of that era looked like and how they dressed, but also what standards people at that time had for measuring beauty.
Please read the first song first, "The Wind: Gentlemen grow old together":
Gentlemen grow old together, with six hairpins. Tuo Tuo is like a mountain or a river, so it is appropriate to wear elephant clothes.
What a shame if you are unkind! //
p 玼 玼, Zhai also. His hair is like a cloud, and he disdains his hair.
The beauty of the jade is also the thorn of the elephant, and the whiteness of the Yangqi is also the emperor. //
The beauty of the beauty is its development. Mengbi's crepe is also a crepe.
The son's clear and airy appearance is also reflected in his elegant appearance. The person Zhan Ru is here, is she the Yuan of the state?
Reference translation:
The king’s beloved wife is full of love, and the hosta shakes the pearls every step of the way. The posture is as smooth as the lotus steps, as quiet as the hills and as moving as the flow, and the figure is fiery in the purple phoenix and brocade robes. But the behavior is not very good, what else can I say to you!
The literary talent is really bright, and the feather-like dress is dazzling. The black hair is as fine as a dark cloud, and it is all natural without a wig. Beautiful jade earrings hang on both sides, ivory hairpins are inserted in the hair, and the face is delicate and fair. Could it be that gods have come to earth?
The literary talent is fresh and really gorgeous, and it is a light gauze and silk concierge coat. The outer cover is as silky as cicada wings, and the transparent underwear is rare in the world. Your eyebrows are so delicate, your face is so beautiful. Although they are dressed in gorgeous clothes, their character is not so graceful!
It is generally believed that this poem describes Wei Xuanjiang, the wife of a monarch in Yong State. There is no doubt that Wei Xuanjiang is a stunning beauty: she is well-groomed and graceful in both movements and movements, she has a graceful figure and graceful manners, her skin is fair and her hair is like dark clouds, her head is full of pearls and her body is covered with beautiful flowers. In terms of appearance, makeup and clothing alone, this king's wife from two to three thousand years ago will not be inferior to the top and most beautiful models on the international fashion stage today. She is beautiful, but the poet does not like her from the bottom of his heart. On the contrary, he dislikes her quite a bit! Why? She has bad conduct and leads a promiscuous life. It can be seen that this Mrs. Wei Xuanjiang is nothing more than an embroidered pillow-like beauty with gold and jade on the outside but ruins on the inside.
Of course, there is also a beautiful woman with good heart and appearance in "The Book of Songs". "Wei Feng·Shuo Ren":
Shuo Ren has a handsome face and beautiful clothes. The son of the Marquis of Qi and the wife of the Marquis of Wei.
Donggong’s sister, Xinghou’s aunt, Tan Gong protects his own interests. //
Her hands are like catkins, her skin is like gelatin, her collar is like a caterpillar, her teeth are like a gourd rhinoceros, her head is like a furry eyebrow, her smile is charming, and her beautiful eyes are looking forward to it. //
Ao Ao, a great scholar, talked about it in the countryside. The four males are arrogant, and Zhu Kui is arrogant.
Zhai Fu came to court. The official retired early, leaving the king with no work to do. //
The river is full of water, and the north current is alive. Apply the 罛濊濊, the tuna and the tuna will be raised, and the jiapiao will be uncovered.
The common people are evil, and the common people are evil.
Reference translation:
The tall beauty has a really slender figure, wearing a bright brocade dress and a single shirt. She was the daughter of the Marquis of Qi, and she was married to Marquis Wei as his beloved wife. She was the sister of the crown prince, so if Marquis Xing wanted to call her aunt, Duke Tan would still be her sister-in-law.
The fingers are thin and tender with Imperata root, the skin is moist and creamy, the neck is as thin and white as a beetle grub (long and white long beetle larvae), the teeth are as neat as gourds, the forehead is square and the eyebrows are thin. When she smiles, her dimples become double, and her eyes turn black and white.
The beauty was tall and parked her car to rest in the suburbs. The four male horses are really majestic, with red gauze floating beside the horses' bits, and a pheasant-feathered float coming to court. The doctor is willing to leave early after his visit, and does not want to teach Mr. Wei too hard.
The river is vast and white, flowing northward with a murmur. The fishing nets were thrown with a roar, the fish jumped into the nets, and the reeds were lined up high. The dowry maids are all tall and slender, and the male servants are handsome and strong!
Duke Zhuang of Wei fell in love with a concubine. The beautiful Mrs. Zhuang Jiang was neglected and never gave birth to a child of her own throughout her life. The poet of the Wei State sympathized with the mother of the country, so he wrote this work. The poem describes Zhuang Jiang's noble status, beautiful appearance, and the splendor of his marriage in detail and detail. The section describing appearance is a classic: fingers, skin, neck, teeth, forehead, dimples, eyes, using the method of metaphor (using three or more metaphors in a row) to observe the details. From this poem, we can roughly know that the Chinese people's indicators for measuring beauty two or three thousand years ago were very specific. In addition to the tall and slender figure, they also put forward specific requirements for various parts of the head above the neck. Taking all indicators together, it is not difficult to find that such a beauty is in line with the concept of health - in today's terms, she is probably an "oxygen beauty". These indicators can be said to be even better than the physical appearance requirements of contestants in today's world beauty pageants. It is worth noting that women from the farming, animal husbandry, fishing and hunting era, who did not have the skin care and cosmetics that modern women use daily, could be so fair, delicate, and beautiful.
It can be speculated that people's living standards, diet quality, and aesthetic requirements in ancient times were much higher than we imagined