The legend of Wang Zhaojun
Wang Zhaojun 王昭君 was born to a prominent family of Zigui, Nan county (now Xingshan county, Hubei) in the south of the Western Han empire. In a legend, Wang Zhaojun left her hometown on horseback and began a journey northward. Along the way, her horse neighed, making Zhaojun extremely sad and unable to control her emotions. As she sat on the saddle, she began to play sorrowful melodies on a stringed instrument. A flock of geese flying southward heard the music, saw the beautiful young woman riding the horse, immediately forgot to flap their wings, and fell to the ground. From then on, Zhaojun acquired the nickname "fells geese" or "drops birds."
She entered the harem of Emperor Yuan probably after 40 BC. During her time in the Lateral Courts, Wang Qiang was never visited by the emperor and remained as a palace lady-in-waiting. When choosing a new wife, the Emperor was first presented with portraits of all the possible women. Wang Zhaojun’s portrait was either never viewed by the Emperor, or was not in its true form, and therefore the Emperor overlooked her.In 33 BC, Huhanye visited Chang’an on a homage trip, as part of the tributary system between the Han and Xiongnu. He took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. Instead of honouring the chanyu with a princess, Huhanye was presented with five women from the imperial harem, one of them who was Wang Zhaojun.
A story from the History of the Later Han relates that Wang Zhaojun volunteered to join the Shanyu. When summoned to court, her beauty astonished the emperor’s courtiers and made the emperor reconsider his decision to send her to the Xiongnu.
Wang Zhaojun became a favourite of the Huhanye shanyu, giving birth to two sons. Only one of them seems to have survived, Yituzhiyashi. They also had at least one daughter, Yun, who was created Princess Yimuo and who would later become a powerful figure in Xiongnu politics. When Huhanye died in 31 BC, Wang Zhaojun requested to return to China. Emperor Cheng, however, ordered that she follow Xiongnu levirate custom and become the wife of the next shanyu, the oldest brother(or her stepson, born by her husband’s first wife) of her husband. In her new marriage she had two daughters.
Wang was honoured as Ninghu Yanzhi (寧胡閼氏 "Chief-Consort Pacifying Hu").
In legend, she commits suicide after her husband dies, seeing it as her only resort in order to avoid marrying his son. Historically, it is not known how or when she died.
Wang Zhaojun was a symbol of the cohesion for the Chinese nation. Her deeds are respected by the later people. Her tomb is repeatedly renovated by the later generation in memory of her. And the story of Zhaojun going out of the frontier strongly attracted numerous artists of every dynasty, who created thousands of works based on her story in a variety of artistic forms, such as music, painting, poetry, drama and novels.
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