中国古代四大美女 Zhōngguó gǔdài sì dà měinǚ Four Beauties of Ancient China

The Four Great Beauties lived in four different dynasties, each hundreds of years apart. In chronological order, they are:

• Xi Shi (c. 7th to 6th century BC, Spring and Autumn Period), said to be so entrancingly beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink below the surface when seeing her reflection in the water.^[1]
• Wang Zhaojun (c. 1st century BC, Western Han Dynasty), said to be so beautiful that her appearance would entice birds in flight to fall from the sky.^[2]
• Diaochan (c. 3rd century, Late Eastern Han/Three Kingdoms period), said to be so luminously lovely that the moon itself would shy away in embarrassment when compared to her face.^[3] Unlike the other Beauties, there is no evidence she actually existed.
• Yang Guifei (719-756, Tang Dynasty), said to have a face that puts all flowers to shame.

A well known idiom describes the four beauties. The exact origin of this idiom is debated.

Chinese character	Pinyin	English
西施沉魚 昭君落雁 貂蟬閉月 貴妃羞花	xī shī chén yú zhāo jūn luò yàn diāo chán bì yuè guì fēi xiū huā	Xi Shi sinks fish Wang Zhaojun entice birds into falling Diaochan eclipses the moon Yang Guifei shames flowers