2 Questions Every Girl is Asking Herself

Chapter 10

One of the great joys of traveling is being transported to a different world. Like magic. As though entering a parallel universe, back in time, to the lives of great kings or queens, poets or peasants, warlords or damsels, and experience for a moment what life was like for them. To be enchanted and enthralled and enveloped in another realm. The destination will provide the setting, and your mind the imagination.

Shortly after the trip to Yunnan, I signed up for a tour of Jiangnan, literal translation: the south of the Yangtze river, namely: Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai. The place that gave China both Bi Luo Chun and Dragon Well tea.

Many poets have compared  Suzhou and Hangzhou to heaven.  The crown jewel of Hangzhou is, of course, Westlake. It is said to be the incarnation of Xi Shi, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. Xi Shi grew up in a village in the province of Zhejiang, which was divided into the East and West side. Most villagers had the last name "Shi", and she was from the west village, so people called her Xi Shi. (Xi literally means west). Her job was to wash silk gauze in the river. Xishi's beauty was so extreme it is said that when she looked at the fish in the river, the fish would be so dazzled that they forgot to swim, and sank to the bottom in silent wonder.

Xishi did have one fatal flaw though, she had big feet. Which is a relief.

But it's not beauty alone that makes her a legend. The ancient Four Beauties didn't make it to the "Hall of Fame" unless they'd done something that impacted the fate of a nation. In the case of Xi Shi, she was instrumental in the revival of a kingdom.

Around 490 BC, the Kingdom of Yue was defeated by the Kingdom of Wu, and was put into slavery for three years by the Prince of Wu. When the King of Yue was finally released, he vowed to avenge for his nation. For ten years, he slept on prickly wood, and drank bitter gall before every meal. He did this so that he would always remember the humiliation that he suffered at the hands of the Wu Prince. Later the King of Yue sent forth men to search for the most beautiful girl in the land. His plan was to send her as a tribute to the Prince of Wu, but not before she agreed to help bring down the Kingdom of Wu and remove the humiliation of the Yue King. Xi Shi was chosen for the task, and agreed to give her life to restore the honor of her people. She was trained in the arts of singing and dance, ways of royal court etiquette, dressed in the finest robes and sent to the capital of Wu with Fan Li, one of the King's ministers.

During the long journey, Xi Shi fell in love with minister Fan Li, and they both pledged their love for each other. But this changed nothing of the important mission that Xi Shi was partaking in. Once in the Wu capital, she was given to the Wu Prince who gladly took the beautiful "Trojan Horse" as his own. He was enchanted by her looks, and proud of his new trophy. Over time, the prince began to neglect his political duties, choosing instead to take carriage rides around the capital city to show off Xi Shi. He would even tell the crowd that if they wanted to see Xi Shi, they would have to throw gold coins into his coffer.

Xi Shi stayed on her mission to enchant the prince in such a way that his subjects would become disgusted with him, and his friends would desert him. The ultimate goal was to create political chaos which would allow the King of Yue to invade, and take Wu.

Eventually this came to pass, and the state of Wu was annexed by the King of Yue.

Xi Shi disappeared from public life, and minister Fan Li resigned his post, became a successful trader. Eventually, he was rejoined by his beloved, and lived out his life with the beautiful Xi Shi in obscurity.

There is a house in Wuxi that is said to be the house of Fan Li and Xi Shi when they chose to live out their lives in obscurity. I, of course, went to see it. It's such a dreamy little place. Surrounded by water on all three sides, courtyard gardens and meandering paths. I wonder how they lived in that place, what their day to day life was like? Xi Shi could be combing her hair in the long covered corridor and Fan Li would be watching from the main house, admiring her beauty from afar. And then I started fantasizing, if I get to play house in this place, how would I do it?

I would spend the afternoon in the summer pavilion. Eat sweet pickled plums while sipping West Lake Dragon Well tea. Read an ancient scroll. Write a few lines of rhyming couplets in Chinese calligraphy. Play Gu Zheng in a silk robe. Feed goldfish in the ponds. Take the canoe out and row it around with the boyfriend, and watch the sunset on water. We'd discuss politics over a warm bottle of green plum wine. Stand on the arched stone bridge and admire the full moon's reflection in the lake of water lilies. Fall asleep in the dragon's bed.

The Xi Shi and Fan Li Love Story Honeymoon Package - live in the fairy tale, for at least a while.

I might have a business plan in the making here.