Beauty (Volume One)

This book is a historical group portrait centered on women. Spanning from the primal ancestors of culture to modern times, it is divided into 11 major sections covering Mother Goddesses, Empresses and Consorts, Princesses, Palace Maids and Boudoir Sorrow, Heroines, Famous Courtesans, Female Emperors, Beauties, Republic-era Figures, Biographies of Female Assassins, and Folk Tales, portraying 315 women of pivotal importance in Chinese history. Its value lies in using rich historical, literary, and aesthetic content and forms to present credible, lovable, and admirable images of Chinese women, letting readers travel through the tunnel of time and feel women's contributions and value to the cosmos, humanity, history, the nation, and their fellow people. The book includes the political presence of empresses and female emperors, the legendary lives of famous courtesans and woman warriors, the sense of responsibility of heroines and female statesmen, and the diverse faces of businesswomen, assassins, revolutionaries, and Republic-era socialites, together forming a sweeping group portrait of women. Reading it offers both an expansion of historical knowledge and a sense of the sweat and tears these women shed in the long river of history, as well as the stubbornness and strength imprinted in Chinese genes. It is suited to readers interested in women's history, cultural history, and biographical stories, whether for systematic reading or reading by section.