Desert Pipa: A Tale of Love and Courage beyond the Great Wall in Ancient China

ISBN-13: 9781502981912 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 136 str.

Teresa Ng

Opis

"Desert Pipa" is the story about Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Legendary Beauties in Ancient China, during Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 8 AD). She was chosen by Emperor Yuan to marry Huhanye Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire. This was the story of how a courageous young woman took on her fragile shoulders the responsibility to ensure everlasting peace and harmony between Xiongnu and Han, on China's northern border beyond the Great Wall. To honor her great personal sacrifice, Emperor Yuan changed the name of his reign to "Peaceful Boundary." Wang Zhaojun was in her teens when she entered the palace as one of the hundreds of ladies-in-waiting, from which Emperor Yuan chose his royal concubines. She was intelligent as well as beautiful, but because she refused to bribe the court artist and he painted an unflattering portrait of her, Emperor Yuan did not notice her until it was too late. By then she had already been promised to become the yanzhi -- chief wife -- of Huhanye Chanyu and the Xiongnu chieftain refused to give her up even in exchange for a genuine royal princess. With a pipa in her arms and wearing a red cape, Wang Zhaojun sat on her horse to begin a journey of no return beyond the Great Wall. However, the dreaded destination did not quite turn out as she expected...