Xi Shi

Common card · No. 224484

Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; Chinese: 西施; pinyin: Xī Shī; Wade–Giles: Hsi1 Shih1, lit. '(Lady) Shi of the West'), also known as Xizi, sometimes named Shi Yiguang (施夷光), was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was said to have lived in a small Yue village (in present-day Zhuji) toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period. Originally a local beauty known for washing silk by the Huan Sha River, she was discovered by the Yue minister Fan Li and later presented to King Fuchai of Wu as a concubine by King Goujian of Yue in a sexpionage operation, which contributed to the downfall of Wu in 473 BC. The story of Xi Shi first appeared in Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, published five centuries after the conquest, and is absent in earlier works such as Guoyu, Zuo zhuan, and Records of the Grand Historian.

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