Yang Guifei, Precious Consort Yang (Tang) -❀- 杨贵妃

Art by 陸曼陀 Danling★Lu

Music: Xu Hezi's Singing

The fabled Rubenesque Tang dynasty beauty Yang Guifei (719- 756) - lit "Yang, the precious consort" with the hairdo of High Tang period. She wears a translucent silk gauze over her silk dress and reaches for a plate of freshly transported lychees from an ornate lacquered bowel with exotic Central Asian designs.

A BEAUTY AT THE HEIGHT OF THE HIGH TANG PERIOD

She was the fatal beauty who happened to the zenith of Tang's golden age. The Eve before the Fall, the Chinese Marie Antoinette between the twilight crest of a decadent age and one of calamitous ruin. One whose beauty not only captured the greatest man in the empire, but of endless infatuated ages in her wake. 

HIGH TANG 盛唐 - ONE EMPEROR'S GOLDEN AGE

The beautiful Yang Guifei - lit "Yang, the precious consort" 's life was inextricably linked with the prosperity and decadence at the zenith of the Tang dynasty- to a period that was known by later historians as the "High Tang" period (713－766) pegged to the reign on one man, that of the Xuanzong Emperor.

Perhaps the most significant Tang Emperor of all, Xuanzong Emperor Li Longji's long reign alone marked the period known as "High Tang" 盛唐- the apex and golden age of the dynasty. 

The once young Prince Longji came from a minor branch of the Tang imperial line of succession, because of his painful childhood where his mother was wrongfully slain by his paranoid grandmother- the notorious Empress Wu Zetian, he actively took up the leadership of his father's household- often dragging his own shy and inept father to political victories over the other branches of the Tang imperial clan until his father- then him respectively became Emperors. 

The image was exactly that~ a teenager dragging his own father kicking and screaming toward the limelight of power, a kingmaker so unstoppable that in his audacity and decisiveness, that he already acted like a proactive monarch before he had even put his father on the throne with his bare hands.

THE SALVATOR EMPEROR 

When he ascended the throne after the abdication of his father, the Tang was teetering, its ministry was bloated with corrupt and inept sycophants, on the frontiers, the empire had suffered a series of defeats against the rival Tibetan Empire and the resurgent 2nd Gokturk Khaganate. To all within the empire it was as if the empire had already entered an irreversible period of terminal decline. But Li Longji- now Xuanzong Emperor saved the day, instead, the falling dynasty shot up into a golden age which lasted for half a century.

By appointing able ministers and diligently ruling his empire, the Xuanzong Emperor vigorously restructured the entire empire's bureaucracy, clamped down on corruption, kicked out useless officials, greatly lowered taxes, prevented famines, rewarded all manner of talents, reduced cruel and capital punishments, heavily patronized arts and speech, while at the same time dealt several fatal blows to Tang's enemies on the frontier. And to the astonishment of both the Tang's citizens as well as its many neighboring kingdoms- The waning Tang instead soared into a new golden age and reached unachieved virgin height of prosperity and influence: one which Xuanzong continuously presided for over 5 decades in vigilance.  

However, behind the long vigilance of the Emperor, by the time the Emperor reached his 50s, he was a man who felt the cracks in his spirit. In 737- when the recently widowed Xuanzong visited the hot spring retreats near the imperial capital, he was wracked with a broken heart and tendrils of frailty. And it was also there, in a brief private moment, he transfixed by a naked vision of loveliness. 

THE BEAUTY ASCENDING FROM HER BATH 

In 737, Xuanzong's then- favorite Concubines, Concubine Wu died. The attached Emperor, struck with immense grief would not come to any of his harem women, which at the time was numbered in the thousands. Instead, Xuanzong sought solitude and retreated to 华清池 the Huaqing Pool Palace- his geothermal hot spring resorts outside the imperial capital beneath the green mountains of Mount Li. It was there- at the Huaqing Pools that an eunuch introduced him to a young beauty that frequented the bath. According to court gossip, the eunuch witnessed the full fleshed beauty ascending nude from the translucent pink jade rimmed pool and directed the Emperor's attentions to her. 

A vision of loveliness: the young Yang Yuhuan 杨玉环 (Yang Guifei's birth name) had been a member of the imperial household without the Emperor knowing. That is- until she was introduced to him in a moment of pure femininity. 

Xuanzong was immediately infatuated with the great beauty though he was in his early 50s and she only 18, and she quickly became infatuated (or at least greatly sought to attach herself) with him as well. It was there that their blossoming infatuation turned not only to strangeness, but also to bizarre dimensions as well. For the young beauty was already married, and she was married to none other than Li Mao, one of Xuanzong's 30 princes. 

To be precise, Li Mao was Xuanzong's 18th son, someone whose existence was so outside of Xuanzong's existence that he likely had never met the girl in person as a "Princess" or daughter- in- law considering that Princesses and Imperial concubines of his children would nave numbered in the hundreds. Despite this technical detail, the two were both very well aware of the great impact of damage that could be done to them both if they were to initiate a tabooed affair with each other.

Music: Tang Music Collection

THE LOVERS MADE ARRANGEMENTS

Lady Yang was especially favored because she possessed a very fleshy beauty which was highly prized during the High Tang era. At the time, the Tang nobility delighted in Rubenesque beauties who were educated, socially graceful and opiniated.

In order to pave the way for their affair to proceed, the two of them would have to clear the way both legally as well as politically. Xuanzong first approached his son about the matter and Li Mao- who had always been a submissive insignificant member of the household did not object at all to the matter, after feeling out his father's intentions he quickly divorced Yang. A favor, for which he was generously rewarded for in promotions and treasures. Then~ in order to spiritually "restart" her previously attached status, and make her a "new" woman in the eyes of the court, the law, and spiritual matters, Xuanzong stealthily arranged for Lady Yang to become a Daoist nun with the tonsured name Taizhen (太真) - since- by entering into the priestess-hood required unattaching- thus disassociating herself from her past life, including relinquishing her possessions, status, and property, in this way she was "cleansed" of her past life and consecrated with a fresh slate. With this technicality, this newly cleansed woman would be free to start a fresh life anew.

Consort Yang became so favored that whenever she rode a horse, the eunuch Gao Lishi would attend her. 700 laborers were conscripted to sew fabrics for her. Officials and generals flattered her by offering her exquisite tributes

Lady Yang then stayed for a brief while as a Daoist nun in the palace itself, before Xuanzong officially elevated her into an imperial consort after bestowing his son Li Mao a new wife from another respected family and seeing the new couple married off. Lady Yang henceforth became the favorite consort of the emperor like Consort Wu before and was given the endearing moniker of Yang "Guifei" 杨贵妃 meaning the "Precious Consort" Yang. From all records it seemed the two really enjoyed each other's company, and from that day on, the Emperor would have no other woman but her and the two became inseparable. 

SOUTHERN BELLE~ EMPEROR'S FAVORITE 

Lady Yang was so adored that when she missed favorite fruit~ lychees, 荔枝 which were only grown in her homeland in the extremities of southern China, Xuanzong established an empire wide version of the Pony Express where hundreds of riders would take shifts day and night at a breakneck cycle to transport lychees at the peak of their freshness into Chang An solely for her enjoyment. It was an extravagant gesture of devotion not unlike that of Shah Jahan...or befitting that of a Pompadour or Marie Antoinette.

The Tang imperial capital of Chang' An was a metropolis in the 8th century, boasting well over 1 million of the empire's 70 million populace, the secondary capital of Louyang would also boast around 1 million citizens. At the time Tang China composed of nearly 1/4 of the total global population.

SPARKS: AN LUSHAN THE IMPERIAL COURT

In the decade of bliss shared between Consort Yang and Xuanzong, a great stirring began to boil in the imperial court in Chang An. During this time, an ethnically Sogdian and Turkic general named An Lushan made his name as one of Tang's best generals in the northeast. During his rise he would curry great favor from both Xuangzong and Consort Yang. 

An Lushan was continually supported not only by Xuanzong and Consort Yang, but also most critically by the High Chancellor Li lin-fu, who favored foreign generals because he feared that native Chinese generals might usurp his authority at court.

By the time An Lushan first visited Xuanzong's court 743, the Emperor was restored to his happiness and always had the great beauty around him. For the last 6 years since 737 all within the imperial court had treated her as his new Empress, and bowed to her as if she was the most powerful woman in land. But underneath the surface, the complications of the entire affair was lost on no one. The Tang- for their part were extremely liberal in terms of their sexual politics even by 20th century standards. But for all those who were told of the nature of the Emperor's new union with his former daughter-in-law, it was not uncommon for there to be plenty of stunned extra blinks.

And it was this gnawing tension that stemmed from gossip and whispers that weighed somewhat on Xuanzong and Consort Yang both. And it was the ignorant barbarian who came to their rescue. For in 743 it became immediately apparant to An, that the way to even greater favor beside the emperor lies in ingratiating himself to the one and only Precious Consort Yang.

Once, as An was allowed to freely enter the palace, he was reported by the ministers to have asked that he become an adoptive son of Consort Yang Guifei, and Emperor Xuanzong- who couldn't resist laughing, agreed. Thereafter, after this little farce, before seeing the Emperor again, he bowed to Consort Yang first before bowing to Emperor Xuanzong, and stated, "Barbarians bow to mothers first before fathers." Consort Yang was greatly amused, and began to call him, "my son." Xuanzong, now believing An was as submissive to him as an adopted son to a father, or a harmless pet, showed him even greater favors, and from that moment on, even began to call him, "dear son," along with Consort Yang.

In 744, An Lushan was already a star- studded general with a long record of great victories against the Khitans (one of Tang's bitter enemies) in the north-  at An's request, An was made the military governor of three frontier Provinces—Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong (modern Hebei), the warden (节度使 jiedushi) of the whole of Manchuria. In effect, An was given control over the entire area north of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, including garrisons about 164,000 strong, nearly of 40 percent of the Tang forces. He would go on to more victories against the Khitans, and in time, making his own forces one of the most experienced Tang armies on the field.

In 751, following An's escalating series of decisive victories, An was personally invited by Xuanzong back to the Capital and An was presented with a massive palace designed and outfitted just specially for him which befitted a royal Prince of the blood. The favor of the Emperor was such that the luxury palace was furnished with court luxuries such as gold and silver furniture, the livery worthy of a nobleman of the highest order, and a pair of ten-foot-long by six-foot-wide couches appliqued with rare and expensive sandalwood and gild threaded silk. Alongside these impressive possessions were also a staff of court musicians and troupes of dancing girls.

It is characteristic of the robust and cosmopolitan spirit of the period that one of the favorite pastimes of its aristocratic ladies and gentlemen was polo, a game which originated in Persia. The participation of women in such athletic activities and their fondness for riding are worth emphasizing in the light of the very different ethos that was to prevail in post-Tang times.

On An's birthday, 20 February 751, Emperor Xuanzong and Consort Yang awarded him with clothing, treasures, and a week of elaborate banquets. On 23 February, when An was summoned to the palace, Consort Yang, in order to please Emperor Xuanzong, had an extra-large infant wrapping made (it should be mentioned that these large white bandages looked like a giant diaper) and wrapped An in it, causing much explosion of laughter among the ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs. By this point An Lushan was not only the Generalissimo, warden of the north, but also the most powerful military figure in the entire empire with direct command of over 164,000 troops, and the fact that the 48 year old was running around in a giant white diaper while making a racist fool of himself in front of a laughing harem was one of the strangest moment in all of Chinese history.

FIRE: TURN

An Lushan struck from his home base in the northeastern frontiers and quickly overrun the imperial heartland in the areas of modern Hebei and Henan provinces- taking the twin Tang capitals of Luoyang and eventually Chang An in rapid succession.

Despite these great rewards, by late 751 An was very worried. And if we were to look at An's world from his perspective, he had every reason to be. Since his long time protector and patron- the Chancellor Li was quickly loosing his paramount status at court, his health was also swiftly deteriorating. An's stairway to power, his primary pillar his at court would soon be replaced by strangers. Without Chancellor Li~ An was just one of the many expendable chess pieces on the board.

But the worst news of all was the fact that the man who would replace the aging Chancellor Li was not only someone who completely loathed him, but also someone who he in turn utterly could not touch. The new Chancellor was none other than the cousin of the beloved Consort Yang: Lord Yang Guozhong 杨国忠. It was the rivalry between these two men that would tear the empire apart- for the new Chancellor Yang did everything he could to have An sent to the chopping block. 

The New Chancellor: Yang Guozhong was Consort Yang's cousin, and became an implacable enemy of An Lushan at court. He spent much time uprooting An's allies at court and tried multiple times to summon An back to the capital and have his power stripped. The feud between the two men eventually led to An's rebellion.

While at court, the two frequently traded verbal jabs and did not respect the status of the other. Naturally, as Yang further consolidated his position and began to turn the Emperor against An, the general became paranoid and rebelled with the whole of his 160,000+ veteran soldiers.

INFERNO: AN LUSHAN REBELLION EXPLODES 

The massive rebellion of the northeastern troops could not have came at a worse time for the Tang- for the vast majority of the empire's troops were deployed in the west along the boarders of the Tibetan Empire- An's massive rebellion, of a new kingdom called "Yang" was not only the largest army Tang had in the northeast, but also the LARGEST army Tang had on the field with some 40% of the empire's best and most experienced soldiers. To compound the matter, An's army was also the closest army- of any major army in the empire in distance to the imperial capital at Chang'An. An Lushan made lightning advances into the undefended Central China and quickly rolled over Tang garrisons there. In order to reduce any chance of obstruction in his path to the imperial capital, An began a propaganda campaign where he promised all the local Tang administrators and garrisons that they would keep their positions in the new regime (a move that was ironically directly inspired by the Tang's founders.) The informal 2nd imperial capital of Luoyang was quickly taken, and the Yan army was well on a warpath right into the Tang capital. 

An Lushan used the pretext of claiming he had received "a secret edict" from Emperor Xuanzong to advance on Chang'an to remove Yang. It was at that moment- where 40% of the empire's best and most experienced troops barreled down toward the capital with nothing at all to stop them that Xuanzong and the entirety of the Tang court realized that for the last 12 years they had underestimated a consumate predator whose entire career consisted of deceiving his foes and leaving wakes- no whole fields of corpses.

THE TANG ABANDONS THE IMPERIALCAPITAL

In order to muster a desperate defense, the Tang court gathered an massive impromptu army which numbered some hundreds of thousands of soldiers and placed them in the narrow and mountainous Tong Pass which was the only narrow channel between An's Central Plains and the imperial heartland in Shaanxi, although the troops were green and their challenges were insurmountable, Tang placed 2 of its best generals leading them, Gao Xianzhi (the Tang commander at the battle of Talas River) and Feng Changqing guarding it. 

However, because both of them offended a powerful eunuch at court, that eunuch- along with Chancellor Yang smeared them Xuanzong and blamed their strategic inaction as "cowardice" as a result, In 756 Chancellor Yang Guozhong ordered that both of the generals- Tang's best were executed and the army go on the attack. Instead, An Lushan and his massive army massacred the whole Tang army and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Tang soldiers, leaving nothing between An Lushan's army and the imperial capital. With the situation becoming desperate, Yang Guozhong suggested fleeing to Chengdu, the capital of Jiannan Circuit. On 14 July, Emperor Xuanzong, along with Consort Yang, her family, and his immediate clan members, secretly left Chang'an, heading toward Chengdu, in their wake followed the rest of the disheveled Tang court, the ministers, and hundreds of thousands of frightened refugees. The route of travel from Chang'an to Sichuan was notoriously difficult, requiring hard travel on the way through the intervening Qin Mountains. 

THE SACK OF CHANG AN AND THE TORTUOUS ESCAPE

The Sacking of Chang'An In July 756 An Lushan and his rebel forces captured Chang'an and sacked it, Before the revolt, the census in 742 recorded 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons. Much of the population fled at the approach of the rebels. Then the city was captured and looted by the rebel forces. The whole rebellion would cause massive famines that claimed tens of millions of lives and would remain one of the most devastating events in human history in terms of death tolls until the 20th century. Even by conservative historians the Rebellion claimed the lives of some 13 million people, nearly 13% of the global population at the time. More liberal historians even estimated that some 36 million people died from the conflict, nearly 1/6 of the world's total population at the time, although this figure was highly unlikely.

A snapshot of High Tang before its fall: Map of the 10 major Jiedushi and their military strengths during Emperor Xuanzong's reign (as of 745 AD.) The Anxi Protectorate guards the Tarim Basin while Beiting Protectorate guards the north of the Anxi Protectorate. 

On 15 July, Xuanzong's cortege reached Mawei Courier Station (马嵬驿; Mǎwéi Yì, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi). The imperial guards were hungry and furious at Yang Guozhong. Tibetan emissaries, who had followed the emperor, were also complaining to Yang Guozhong that they had not been fed. Tang General Chen Xuanli believed that Chancellor Yang Guozhong's actions had provoked this disaster- both in forcing An Lushan to rebel, and also getting some hundreds of thousands of Tang soldiers killed and prepared to turn on Yang.

THE IMPERIAL GUARD MUTINIES 

In this tense situation, soldiers of the imperial guard declared that Yang Guozhong was planning treason in collaboration with the Tibetan emissaries. They brutally killed Yang Guozhong, his son Yang Xuan (杨暄), Consort Yang's sisters, Yang Guozhong's wife Pei Rou (裴柔) and his son Yang Xi (杨晞), along with Consort Yang's sister, the Lady of Guo, and her son Pei Hui (裴徽) tried to flee, but were killed. The soldiers then surrounded Emperor Xuanzong's pavilion and refused to leave until he let Consort Yang be put to death, even after the Emperor came out to comfort them and then, as the situation became more and more tense, desperately ordered them to disperse.

Emperor Xuanzong then sent his faithful eunuch to ask the hateful General Chen Xuanli for his advice. Chen's reply was to urge the Emperor to put Consort Yang to death. Xuanzong stubbornly refused this, but at last, with repeated urgings from Chen and several other key ministers, relented. 

Music: Ghost Patrol

He had his faithful eunuch take Consort Yang to a Buddhist shrine and had her hang herself. When Consort Yang's dead body was shown to Chen and the other imperial guard generals, the soldiers finally had their murderous moods placated, and they dispersed back to their camps and prepared to continue the journey toward Chengdu. Consort Yang was buried at Mawei, without a coffin, but with masses of fragrance and perfume wrapped in purple blankets.

THE BROKEN OLD MAN AND HIS MEMORIES 

Later, one of Xuanzong's sons took direct control over a Tang army and proclaimed himself emperor, Xuanzong offered no objection at this move against his position, and willingly retired to became a Retired Emperor or Taishanhuang, a completely broken man, with no power, and no empire, merely memories of the man he was, and the woman that he lost. Xuanzong had risen to his throne to protect his family, but in the end, just like with his executed mother who was buried without a coffin, in his last he was unable to protect his woman in the same matter, or that of his empire. When his son, the new Emperor Suzong took Chang'An back from the rebels, Xuanzong was invited back to the old capital. 

On the way back to Chang'An, Emperor Xuanzong went through Mawei Station on his way back to Chang'an. He wanted to locate Consort Yang's body and rebury her with honor. The official Li Kui spoke against it, pointing out that the imperial guard might again mutiny if he did so. However, Emperor Xuanzong secretly sent eunuchs to rebury her with a coffin. When they found the body, it had long decomposed, but the fragrance bag buried with her was still fresh. The eunuchs returned with the fragrance bag, and upon its presentation to Emperor Xuanzong, he wept bitterly. When he returned to Chang'an, he had a painter create a picture of Consort Yang in a secondary palace, and often went there to view the portrait.

ASSESSMENT

Music: Xu Hezi's Singing

On every matter, the An Lushan Rebellion marred the names of both Xuanzong and that of Consort Yang. For if Emperor Xuangzong had died before the eruption of the An Lushan disaster, he would have been known as one of China's absolute best emperors- even eclipsing that of his progenitors like Taizong. In terms of raw achievement Xuanzong's long reign was 2 of Taizong's combined, and for most of it Tang was both well led and its challenges ably tackled. His long reign would have easily ballparked with that of Wu of Han and the Kangxi Emperor- and in terms of the respect and love he garnered from his subjects was better than both. To put his reign into perspective, it was as if Rober J Kennedy had taken office during his charming youth and ruled till the age of Google as the sole autocrat. Unfortunately for Xuanzong- he lived enough to see himself- and all of his achievements fall, his Greek Tragedy's hamartia flaw?- at least in the eyes of Romatic narratives: His love. 

Conversely the same also befell upon Yang Guifei's fate- for her context will always be that of what happened to both Xuanzong and the Tang at its absolute zenith of power and flourishment- she was- at least conservatively speaking, what tilted both at their highest crest before the rollercoaster- like fall. Yet still, her story was still inextricably linked to the best of Tang as well, one could argue, her resplendent beauty was that of the dynasty's as well, at its height, and with her died all that was beautiful in that bygone Golden Age. Like the jade ring which bellies her name, her story was forever fastened to the crest of that high winsome wave. 

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