"It is difficult to give up on natural beauty, and it is chosen on the side of the king."
Bai Juyi described in detail the beauty of Yang Guifei in "Long Hate Song", Yang Concubine was noticed by Tang Xuanzong because of her natural beauty, and then changed from his daughter-in-law to a concubine, this affair even affected the historical trend of the Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that this hero is sad to be beautiful, not just talking.
Vanilla beauty since ancient times is the theme of literary singing, caizi because of the beauty is more passionate, Jiangshan because of the beauty is more tempting, and when it comes to the beauty in the history of the Qing Dynasty, probably many people will think of the famous Ye He old woman for the first time, that is, the Dongge in the TV series. It is rumored that this old woman of Yehe "can rise up the world and perish the world", but she died of illness in 1616, when Emperor Taiji had not yet inherited the Khan's throne, let alone changed the name of the country to Qing.
In many black-and-white old photos of the late Qing Dynasty, we can see that the concubines of the Qing Dynasty are not all outstanding, such as the empress of the Guangxu Emperor, that is, Cixi's niece Longyu, who is not proud of her appearance, which makes people feel that the difference between TV dramas and reality is too big. However, this does not mean that there were no beauties in the late Qing Dynasty, and the four grids that often appear in the old photos of Empress Dowager Cixi are famous beauties, known as the first beauty of the late Qing Dynasty.
In fact, beauty or not, different people seem to have different standards, but from the old photos, this four-grid face is indeed very in line with the oriental aesthetic, "clear water out of the hibiscus, natural to carve", eyebrows are stable, but there is always some sorrow, in many photos left by Cixi she maintains a sad temperament, can not help but make people wonder, why is she so beautiful always an unhappy look?
In fact, this is related to the life experience of the four grids. Si Gege's father was the infamous Prince of Qing, Yi Li,whose grandfather was Ai Xin Jueluo Yongxuan, the half-brother of the Jiaqing Emperor, and "Concubine Ling" was the 17th son born to the Qianlong Emperor, the Prince of Qingxi. Yi Li was on a high level in the late Qing Dynasty, not because of his ability, but because he was good at pleasing Cixi.
Yi Li wrote well, and was good at welcoming Cixi, he had 12 daughters, of which the fourth daughter was born beautiful, beautiful and extraordinary, and her demeanor was appropriate, and she was favored by Cixi at a palace banquet, and since then, the four grids have become a tool for her father to please Empress Dowager Cixi, and she has stayed in the palace to accompany the empress dowager, since Yi Li has even been able to let the little wives enter the palace every day to accompany Cixi to play cards and deliberately lose money to coax the empress dowager to be happy, it seems that it is not a rare thing to sell a daughter.
Only pity the four grids, life in the palace is not free, Empress Dowager Cixi is in charge of power alone, coercing and intimidating, in front of her can not be loudly and atmospheric, every move must conform to the etiquette of the court, Princess Zhen is slightly bad, Empress Dowager Cixi will reward her with a board, even if the four grids are careful to please the empress, so that the empress dowager is very satisfied with her, but she is very tired in her heart, under long-term pressure, the original lively four grids gradually lost their smiles.
Si Ge Ge could have had a happy marriage, but also because Empress Dowager Cixi was destroyed, she was promised to the 9th son of the governor Yu Lu at the age of marriage, and the two families were also considered to be the right ones, Yu Lu and Yi Li had a bad reputation but the officials were big, they both served as the prime minister of state affairs in the late Qing Dynasty, and the affairs of the imperial court had nothing to do with Si Ge, and she could not influence it, she only hoped to get a stable life and live with her husband.
But Cixi really liked the four grids, plus after 1901 she became more and more enthusiastic about Western things, such as taking pictures, singing and dancing, phonographs, etc., she loved to be lively, every time she enjoyed it, she always had to pull a bunch of people to accompany her, and after the marriage of the four grids, she was always shouted to the palace by her, and could not go home, and the father of the four grids advised her to seek perfection in order to make the empress happy to keep her official position, and as a result, the four grids completely lost their freedom.
During the few months of the new marriage, si ge ge was only a few days at home, and the rest of the time was spent with Cixi, because si ge ge was liked by empress dowager, and her husband did not dare to come to cixi, let alone have any opinion on Cixi's practices, so that depression became a disease, and he gave up at a young age, si ge should have kept filial piety for her husband, but Cixi still passed her to the palace during this period.
Originally, Si Ge Ge thought that Cixi had something important, and the result was to take pictures and act as Cixi's green leaves, in some of the old photos left behind, it can be clearly seen that Si Ge Ge was not happy, full of sorrow, she accompanied Cixi to play, when Cixi played Guanyin, she was responsible for playing the dragon girl, it can be said that most of the youth was paid to Cixi alone, and Cixi did not respect her at all, treating her as a tool to relieve boredom, puppet.
The four grids are undoubtedly beautiful, at least very in line with the aesthetics of modern people, goose egg face, full face, some photos of the lips are more prominent, this look is very blessed and very pleasing in the eyes of the old man, and may also be a reason why Empress Dowager Cixi likes her.
After Cixi's death in 1908, Si Gege did not remarry, but died alone. Perhaps it was that marriage that gave her a great blow that year, and the culprit of all this was Empress Dowager Cixi, who not only deepened the country's turbulent crisis in those years when she was empress, but also the fate of countless people was tragic because of her, which can be described as selfish to the extreme, and it is no wonder that she left a name.