Xi Shi

Also known as Xi Zi · Yi Guang

Xi Shi, also called Xizi, was a byword for beauty before the Qin: the Mozi says her beauty led to her drowning, the Mencius says people would hold their noses if she were covered in filth, and the Zhuangzi tells of an ugly neighbour who copied her frown. Neither the Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan) nor the Records of the Grand Historian mentions her. Her part in Goujian's revenge first appears in the Han-era Yuejue shu and Annals of Wu and Yue (Wu Yue chunqiu): the king of Yue found two firewood sellers on Mount Zhuluo, Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, had them trained for three years and sent Fan Li to present them to Fuchai of Wu. Her end is told two ways: the Mozi line implies drowning, while a passage later quoted from the Yuejue shu has her leave with Fan Li on the Five Lakes. Wang Wei of the Tang retold her story in his Song of Xi Shi.