Yang Guifei's appearance is not recorded in detail in the official history. In the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty and the Book of the New Tang Dynasty compiled by the Song Dynasty, only words such as "stunning" and "purple wealth" are used to describe them. But ""and "abundance" do not mean obesity and fullness. According to the book, a prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong, clearly stated that women should be "slender in Bai Jie", that is to say, women should be fair-skinned and slender.
The romantic emperor Tang Xuanzong had a high appreciation of beauty. Even if he chooses a concubine for his son, he should follow his own standards.
Among the literati who describe Yang Guifei's beauty, Li Bai has the most say, but he did not describe Yang Guifei's appearance in detail, but used such imaginative words as "clothes make the clouds, flowers make them look good". Du Fu is much simpler. In "Two Walking Together", he truly described: "With soft and delicate skin and well-proportioned bones ..... beads press the waist and keep the body steady".
Because Du Fu was once called into the palace to "call Wen", I probably met Yang Guifei. In his article, Yang Guifei is a tall, thin-skinned beauty, which has nothing to do with being fat.
Somehow, Yang Guifei suddenly began to gain weight after the death of Ma.
After the Anshi Rebellion, Yang Guifei suddenly began to gain weight. The promoter is Zhou Fang, a native of Chang 'an. He is good at drawing beautiful women, and likes to draw all the ladies as fat beauties. I don't know why he has such a preference, but Yang Guifei has not escaped the fate of becoming a fat beauty in his works.
Because China had never integrated the painting style of "Fat as Beauty" into his paintings before, in the Song Dynasty, scholars severely criticized Zhou Fang's painting style, but they also summed up two reasons: First, a lady is expensive, mainly because rich children have to show it in their bodies; Second, the women in Guanzhong are relatively large, and there are fewer slim beauties like Yang Guifei, so they are "processed in batches".
Of course, Zhou Fang is an exception. Since ancient times, scholars have always liked the beauty of thinness, such as Bai Juyi and Chen Hong. Bai Juyi explained in Song of Eternal Sorrow that Yang Guifei's slender waist and weak posture are the morbid beauty of "and because of her laziness, a maid is helping her". Chen Hong wrote in Song of Eternal Sorrow that Yang Guifei is a typical temperament beauty.
Scholars in China usually like slim beauties, such as Song Yu's Ode to Luoshen and Cao Zhi's Ode to Luoshen. The ideal beauty is a long neck with bare shoulders and a slim waist. Even the later Wu Tongyu and the Palace of Eternal Life never deviated from the traditional aesthetic appreciation.
However, it is the world's malice towards fat people that makes Yang Guifei change from a delicate and symmetrical woman into a chubby beauty, and Yang Guifei suddenly feels wronged.
It can be traced back to the criticism of Yang Guifei in the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, which basically laid the foundation for scholars to attack Yang Guifei in previous dynasties. Du Fu's "Second, Taoism" is a further development of the argument of "Old Tang Book". Because of the Ma Yili incident and Yang Guifei's identity, women's idea of national subjugation began to sprout.
In the Song Dynasty, all the literati described Yang Guifei as a fat beauty, and her image was fixed at this time. "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" recorded some trivial matters in the palace during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and there was evidence that Yang Guifei was obese, saying that she was not only fat, but also sweaty.
According to the book, the sweat from Yang Guifei's body is red, because ancient women like to splash red powder on her body. When the sweat and powder are mixed and dyed on her clothes, there is a saying that it is "fragrant and sweaty". This was originally a very common thing for aristocratic women, but after it was recorded in The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao, many people began to attack Yang Guifei.
What women care about most is appearance and figure. It is best to attack a woman from this aspect, so later generations attacked Yang Guifei in various articles and poems. From "the world of mortals laughs when riding a princess, no one knows it is litchi" to "people have to laugh too fat." If you want to break the eternal hatred, you must wait for thousands of ancient poems. "It seems that Yang Guifei will be sorry for these literati if she doesn't get fat.
Su Zhe wrote in "Painting Beauty in Zhou Fang" that "drinking and eating meat is fun ... thin people swallow princess Fei Yu", and then the word "fat and thin" has been passed down to this day. What's more, some people made up stories on the grounds that their brains were wide open, which appeared in The Biography of Yang Taizhen: Tang Xuanzong read Zhao Chuan, saying that Zhao was physically fit, afraid of being blown away by the wind, and he could dance in the palm of his hand. He also joked with Yang Guifei that if it was you, could it be blown away by the wind? This is laughing at Yang Guifei's fatness.
Scholars in Song Dynasty vilified the image of Yang Guifei in various ways, which can be summarized as Old Tang Book and New Tang Book. But in any case, whether Yang Guifei is thin or fat mainly depends on the attitude of the literati towards her. If you like her, you will be portrayed as a symmetrical beauty with a slender figure and a slender waist. With a critical attitude, Yang Guifei became a fat beauty in Zhou Fang's works.
Interestingly, the ancients in China had all kinds of critical attitudes towards Yang Guifei, while Japanese literati liked her surprisingly. In order to make her "alive", many works named Yang Guifei as a fairy from Penglai fairyland, and some Japanese novels thought that Yang Guifei was a goddess and became a dewdrop. In short, the Japanese do everything possible to beautify Yang Guifei in order to maintain the best image.
There is also a saying that Yang Guifei did not die in Mayi, but smuggled into Japan. The Japanese were very excited when they saw this beautiful woman. Until now, there is a memorial site for Yang Guifei in Japan.
Generally speaking, with the passage of time, the image of Yang Guifei in literati's works is no longer her original image, which is mixed with political factors and aesthetic changes of the times. In ancient times, beautiful women were victims of politics.