YANG KUEI-FEI

died 756, Ma-wei, China Pinyin Yang Guifei notorious beauty and concubine of the great T'ang emperor Hsan Tsung (reigned 712756). Because of her the Emperor is said to have neglected his duties, and the T'ang dynasty (618907) was greatly weakened by a rebellion that ensued. Her story has been the subject of many outstanding Chinese poems and dramas. The daughter of a high official, she was one of the few obese women in Chinese history to have been considered beautiful. She became a concubine to Hsan Tsung's son, but the 60-year-old emperor found the girl so desirable that he forced his son to divorce her. Soon her two sisters were admitted into the Imperial harem, and her brother Yang Kuo-chung became the first minister of the empire. Through Yang's influence, An Lu-shan, a cunning young general of Turkish origin, rose to great prominence. Yang adopted him as her legal son and is said to have made him her lover. With such powerful patronage, An Lu-shan came to control an army of 200,000. Jealous of the power of Yang's brother, An Lu-shan soon turned against the Emperor and led a great rebellion against him. When the capital was captured in 756, Hsan Tsung and his court were forced to flee to the south. On the road the Imperial soldiers became enraged with members of the Yang family, whom they thought responsible for the debacle, and executed both Yang and her brother.