Baosi
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Baosi (Chinese: 褒姒; pinyin: Bāosì; Wade-Giles: Pao Ssu) was the concubine of the Ancient Chinese sovereign King You of Zhou. She was considered one of the most beautiful Chinese women ever.
[edit] Life
Legends record that during the last years of the Xia Dynasty, two dragons entered the palace of the king. When they left, the Xia king ordered that the dragon's saliva left inside the palace be kept in a wooden box. During the time of King Li of Zhou, he tried to open the box despite a taboo against such an act, since it had not been opened for more than a thousand years. The saliva accidentally spilled and transformed into a turtle. The turtle crawled in front of a female slave who became pregnant. Forty years later the slave gave birth to a girl whom the mother abandoned. The girl was later adopted by some people of the Bao State and raised to adulthood. She was presented to King You who liked her.
In 779 BC, Baosi entered the palace and came into King You's favour. She bore him a son named Bofu (伯服). King You deposed Queen Shen (申后) and Crown Prince Yijiu. He made Baosi the new queen and Bofu the new crown prince.
It is said that Baosi did not laugh easily. After trying many methods and failing, King You tried to amuse his favourite queen by lighting warning beacons and fooling his nobles into thinking that the Quanrong (犬戎) nomads were about to attack. The nobles arrived at the castle only to find themselves laughed at by Baosi. Even after King You had impressed Baosi, he continued to abuse his use of warning beacons and lost the trust of the nobles.
Queen Shen's father was upset by the deposition of his daughter and grandson Crown Prince Yijiu and mounted an attack on King You's palace. King You called for the nobles with the beacon but none came. In the end, King You and Bofu were killed and Baosi was captured at Xi (戲/戏). King You's death marks the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period.
After her capture, Baosi accepted a bribe from Zhou and left the capital[1]. Later, after an attack by Quanrong nomads, Baosi left it too late to escape and hung herself. Her date of death is unknown.
[edit] References
- ^ Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian • Zhou Dynasty Annals
