In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, there were always touching legends along the Qinhuai River, among which the eight beauties in Qinhuai were the most popular, and a generation of beautiful women, either sad or crazy, had a long history for future generations to comment on.

They are no longer simply products of feudal society, but have become a symbol of women's culture in the old society. They may not have noble origins, but their personalities are like lotus flowers in the mud, and their hearts are spotless. They are brilliant, but they are born at an inopportune time, love and hate, and finally they end up with a sigh.

Although their stories have been repeated countless times, none of them have left classic roles, and now they are among the stars.

First, Chen Yuanyuan, a famous prostitute in the country

Chen Yuanyuan was originally a geisha in Kunshan, who once lived in Qinhuai. Because of her superior color and art, she was even associated with major historical events, so the Qing Dynasty listed her as one of the "Eight Gorgeous Women in Qinhuai" and said that she was a "daughter of Jinling in the previous dynasty".

Chen Yuanyuan's original surname was Xing, Yuan, with a round and beautiful word. She was adopted by her foster mother Chen, so she changed her surname to Chen. She is beautiful in color, beautiful in flowers, good at singing and dancing, and the best in color and art.

In the last years of Chongzhen, the peasant uprising army in Li Zicheng threatened the imperial court, and Emperor Chongzhen was restless day and night. Zhou Kui, a consort of Jiading Bo, wanted to find a stunning beauty for the emperor, so as to relieve the emperor's anxiety, so he left Tian Fei's brother Tian Wan to find beauty in the south of the Yangtze River. After Tian Wan found Chen Yuanyuan, he was fascinated by his beauty and took it for himself privately.

Soon Li Zicheng's troops approached the capital, and Emperor Chongzhen called Shanhaiguan in Wu Sangui Town. Tian Hao was worried about the peasant uprising army all day, so he held a

grand banquet as a farewell dinner for Wu Sangui, and Yuan Yuan led the singing team to perform in the hall. After seeing Yuanyuan, Wu Sangui was ecstatic and hugged Yuanyuan as a hostess. After drinking too much wine, the three patrolmen reported that it was protruding. Tian Yi stepped forward to Wu in fear and said, "What will happen if you arrive?" Wu Sangui said: "If you can see the gift with a round face, I will protect your family first." Before Tian Tian answered, Wu Sangui took Yuan Yuan's farewell speech.

Wu Sangui was persuaded by his father, who was in charge of the imperial camp, to leave Yuanyuan in the capital mansion to prevent his peers from causing trouble and let the emperor know.

after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, Wu Sangui's father surrendered to the insurgents, and Chen Yuanyuan was plundered by Li's men. When Wu Sangui promised to surrender to Li Zicheng, Wen Yuanyuan was occupied by Li Zhi's Ministry, and he was furious and shouted, "What can a gentleman do if he can't protect himself?" So he surrendered and the Qing army went to war with the peasant army. This is what Wu Meicun said in "Yuanyuanqu": "The six armies are all mourning, and they are a beauty when they are angry."

After Li Zicheng was defeated, he killed Wu's father and 38 members of his family, and then left Beijing. Wu Sangui took revenge for killing his father and wife, and pursued the peasant army to Shanxi day and night. At this time, Wu's Ministry will search for Chen Yuanyuan in the capital city, fly and transmit, and lead Wu Sangui and Chen Yuanyuan from Qin to Shu, and then monopolize Yunnan.

In Shunzhi, Wu was promoted to the title of King of Yunnan, and Yuan Yuan wanted to be the official princess. Yuan Yuan excused her dismissal, but Wu Sangui didn't marry her. I don't want to be jealous of the princess I married, so I framed and killed Wu's love, and Yuanyuan lived alone in another hospital. After Yuan Yuan fell out of favor, she gradually turned away from Wu. Wu had conspired to kill her. When Yuan Yuan learned about it, she begged for a haircut and embroidered Buddha in Wuhuashan Huaguo Temple.

Later, Wu Sangui declared independence in Yunnan, and Emperor Kangxi sent troops to Yunnan. In the winter of 1681, the city of Kunming was broken. After Wu Sangui's death, Chen Yuanyuan drowned himself in the lotus pond outside the temple and was buried beside the pond after his death. Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were still two frames of Chen Yuanyuan's small film in the temple, and Chi Pan left stone poems.

Li Xiangjun

Li Xiangjun, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai River, always carries a silk fan with her. The fan is white plain silk with a colorful peach blossom picture painted on it, so it is called "Peach Blossom Fan". The picture of this fan was not written by a famous artist, but why did Li Xiangjun regard it as a treasure? It turns out that the peach blossom on this fan is not painted by dye, but written by Li Xiangjun's blood, which embodies her touching and sad love story with her lover Hou Fangyu, and it is also all her hopes in this life.

Li Xiangjun is a red girl in the Meixiang Building on the Qinhuai River. This Meixiang Building is exquisitely built and stands by the water. Standing on the railing upstairs, you can see the Qinhuai River with clear smoke and clear water and colorful paintings. The owner of Meixiang Building is Aunt Li. She was also a red prostitute by Qinhuai River when she was young. When she was old, she used her savings to build this Meixiang Building, adopted several dry daughters, and entertained guests with poetry and wine. She is quite famous in Nanjing. Li Xiangjun is the one who supports Mei Xiang's face most. This girl grew up beside Aunt Li, who wrote poems, played piano and painted songs and dances. She was trained by Aunt Li to be proficient in everything, and she also learned from Aunt Li's generous chivalry in temperament, which was really cute. Li Xiangjun's appearance has her own characteristics. She is petite and exquisite, with pretty eyebrows and bright eyes. Her small lips are slightly upturned, showing a bit of playfulness. She looks like a lovely person. Because she is petite and fragrant, and her name has a fragrant word, all the guests call her a "fragrant fan pendant", which really suits her charm.

Meixiang Building belongs to the more advanced prostitute building on the Qinhuai River. Because Li Auntie is generous and elegant, the guests in Meixianglou are mostly literati and honest and loyal ministers. Influenced by dopted mother, Li Xiangjun is quite good at distinguishing good from bad and loyal traitors at an early age. When he first met Hou Fangyu and fell in love at first sight, Li Xiangjun was only sixteen years old.

Hou Fangyu was born in Shangqiu, Henan Province. His grandfather Hou Zhipu was Taichangqing of the Ming Dynasty, and his father Hou Yao was the minister of the household department. They were both upright and loyal ministers. Hou Fangyu studied poetry and calligraphy with Ni Yuanlu, a famous person in his hometown, since childhood. Minhui is versatile and has made rapid progress. < P > One is a charming and engaging teenager, and the other is a brothel girl who is tender and affectionate. After several contacts, they both fell in love and are inseparable.

Third, the character is given to Liu Rushi

Liu Rushi is a famous talented geisha who lived in the transition period of Ming and Qing Dynasties. She has a strong personality, integrity, intelligence and great courage, and her reputation is no less than that of Li Xiangjun, Bian Yujing and Gu Meisheng.

Liu Rushi's name is, the word is like this, and the small print is Fu Wu, whose real name is Ai Liu. Because I read Xin Qiji's words: "I see how charming the green hills are, and I expect the green hills to see me like this", so I named myself like this; Later, it was also called "Hedong Jun" and "Hong Wujun". She is a native of Jiaxing, born in the 5 years of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. She was intelligent and eager to learn when she was young. However, due to her poor family, she was plundered and sold to Wujiang as a maid at an early age. When she was young, she fell into Zhangtai and changed her name to Liu Yin, and she traveled between Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jinling in troubled times. Because of her beauty and talent, she became a famous girl in Qinhuai. She left behind many anecdotes and literary manuscripts, such as Grass on the Lake, Wuyinzhuo and letters.

Liu Rushi was friendly with Zhang Bin and Chen Zilong, the leaders of the Southern Ming Society, and was congenial to Chen, but Chen was unfortunately defeated and died in the anti-Qing uprising. Liu's choice of husband is very demanding, and many celebrities have failed to marry her, and some only stay in the friendship stage. Finally, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when she was in her twenties, she married Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, who was over half a century old and a famous bureaucrat. After Qian married Liu, she built a magnificent "Crimson Cloud House" and "Red Bean Pavilion" in Yushan, and the golden house was hidden in a charming place. Liu has a daughter after his death. Some "Dream of Red Mansions" believe that the crimson Yun Xuan designed by Cao Xueqin comes from the crimson cloud building of Liu.

When Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself and the Qing army occupied Beijing, a small court in Hong Guang was built in Nanjing, and Liu Rushi supported Qian Qian as the etiquette minister of Nanming. Soon the Qing army went south, and when Enemy at the Gates was there, Liu advised Qian to join him in the water to die. Qian was speechless in thought, and finally went down to the pool to try the water, saying, "It's too cold to go down.". Liu "tried his best to sink into the pool", but he gave Qian a hard hold. So the money was ashamed to meet it. Qian Jiangqing went to Beijing, but Liu stayed in Nanjing. Qian became an assistant minister of etiquette and a bachelor of Hanlin in the Qing Dynasty. Influenced by Liu's family, he resigned after half a year. Later, because of the case, I ate two lawsuits. Liu Rushi bribed him to be rescued from prison when he was ill, and encouraged him to contact Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Huangyan, Qu Shizhen and Wei Geng who were still resisting. Liu did her best to support and comfort the Qing rebels, which showed her strong patriotic national integrity. Qian Qianyi's demotion should have been criticized by later generations, but it was Liu Rushi's righteous deeds that diluted people's antipathy to him.

Yu Dafu recorded Liu Rushi's poem "I smell the room in spring" in "Miscellaneous Stories of Entertainment". As far as literary and artistic talents are concerned, she can be called "Eight Colourful Flowers in Qinhuai". After reading her poems, Chen Yinque, a famous scholar, felt "stunned" and admired Liu Rushi's "clear words and beautiful sentences". The Qing people thought that her letters were "more beautiful than the Six Dynasties, and she loved Ban Cai deeply". Liu is also proficient in temperament, long-sleeved and good at dancing, and her paintings are also famous. Her paintings are skillful and simple, and beautiful. Calligraphy won the admiration of later generations, calling it "an iron fist with a silver hook, and once collected the wonderful trace."

after Qian's death in p>1666, the villagers gathered to seize his real estate. In order to protect Qian's property, Liu's family committed suicide with silk. Although the villains were scared away, a generation of talented women ended their lives like this. After Liu's death, he was buried in Fushui Mountain Villa in Yushan. Her daughter is 17 years old and has married the son of Wuxi Yusen Zhao.

I chose her because although there is a hint of chivalry in her eyebrows, she does not lose the gentleness of women.

Fourth, Gu Meisheng, the heart of chivalry

Gu Meisheng, Mei Ku, is a native of Shang Yuan in Nanjing. According to Banqiao Miscellanies, "Gu Mei has a beautiful eyebrow, also known as the eyebrow, and she is good at holding a gentleman at night, and Zhuang Yan is beautiful and elegant, with excellent manners; The temples are like clouds, the peach blossoms are full of beard, the bow becomes slim, and the waist is light. Know all about literature and history, be good at painting orchids, follow the horse and keep the truth, and win it, and people will be the first in Nanqu. " It can be seen that she not only has the graceful demeanour of a lady, but also has literary talent and skill.

Yu Huai, a famous scholar, has a deep friendship with Gu Mei. After Gu made an appointment with Liu Fang as husband and wife, she soon broke her promise and married Gong Dingshan, one of the "Three Masters of Jiangzuo" who had already fallen to Qing Dynasty, as a concubine, and Liu died for it. Gong Mei Ku was very fond of him, calling him "Shante", and later took Gu as his wife, who was honored as a product. Gong Shi was a senior official of the Qing court's etiquette department, and celebrities in the capital were respected as masters. Whenever a guest asked for Gong's poems and calligraphy, Mei Ku ghosted them, and Gu became more and more famous. Gu Zeng used Gong's political position many times to resist the generosity of Qing people.

In p>1657, Gong and Mei Ku revisited Jinling, staying in the hidden garden of Dayoufang Lane on the Qinhuai River. One day, she told Gong, who was writing a poem, that she met Yan Ermei dressed as a monk in Wendeqiao. Gong was taken aback. It turned out that it was all a Peixian juren. When the Qing soldiers went south, he advised Shi Kefa to lead an army north to Shandong to block the enemy. In recent years, he has been advocating anti-Qing and regaining sight everywhere, in pursuit of the Qing court. Is talking about, Yan Ermei fled into the city hidden garden nakamura hall, at this time has been surrounded by the qing army black under the protection of Mei Ku wit, finally yan escape. Therefore, Yuan Mei, a great genius, praised him as saying, "Courtesy is virtuous, love is virtuous, and chivalrous is dignified.".

In the late autumn of p>1664, Mei Ku died in Gongfu, Tieshizi Hutong, Beijing, with hundreds of vehicles in mourning. Yan Ermei, Liu Jingting and Yu Bei, who are far away in the south of the Yangtze River, also held a memorial ceremony for her in Luzhou, Anhui. Gong also built a Miaoguang Pavilion in Changbang Temple in Beijing, and wrote the Legend of White Gate Willow for it, which was handed down to the world.

because of the words "the hair is like clouds, the peach blossom is full of beard, the bow is slim, and the waist is light", I chose her

5. Embroidering Buddha in Changzhai Bian Yujing

Bian Yujing Famous Tournament, also known as Saisai, was called Yujing because it came from the number "Taoist of Yujing".

She was born in an official family in Qinhuai. Her father died early, and the two became prostitutes. Bian Sai's poetry and piano paintings are omnipotent, especially in small letters, and she is also familiar with literature and history. Her painting skills are skilled, and she writes like a cloud. "She writes more than ten papers at a time", and she likes to draw graceful branches, especially orchids.

At the age of p>18, she traveled to Wumen, lived in Tiger Hill, and traveled between Qinhuai and Suzhou. She was a famous singer in Qinhuai in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Bian Sai generally sees guests who are not well paid, but when he meets a beautiful friend, he talks like a cloud, which is fascinating. Bian Sai had a marriage with Wu Meicun, a famous poet in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.

In the spring of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Wu Meicun sent his brother Wu Zhiyan to Chengdu as a magistrate on the Shengchu Building outside Shuiximen, Nanjing. Here he met the Bian Sai sisters who came to see Wu Zhiyan off. Seeing Bian Sai's noble and refined temperament, he couldn't help but think of two poems that were widely circulated in the south of the Yangtze River: "A wine cup looks for a Bian Sai, and the bottom of a flower makes a round appearance." During the dinner, Wu tried out Bian Sai's literary talent, which made Wu unable to help but fall. After that, they had frequent contacts and their feelings grew deeper.

Later, Wu got a letter from Bian in Changganli's apartment, and knew that Bian wanted to marry him, so he was ambivalent. When Wu heard the news, Tian Wan, the favorite concubine of Emperor Chongzhen and Tian Shi's brother, recently came to Jinling to choose a concubine and took a fancy to Chen Yuanyuan and Bian Sai. Wu chickened out in front of the powerful prince's maternal uncle, only played a few tunes in Bian Sai's apartment and left sadly.

Two years later, Bian Sai married a vassal, and because she was not satisfied, she gave her maid a tender offer, begged for it herself, and became a monk in Suzhou, attached to the 7-year-old famous doctor Zheng Baoyu and Zheng Zhubie. Bian Sai embroidered Buddha for a long time and kept strict precepts in class. In order to repay Zheng's kindness, he spent three years tattooing Hokkekyo for Zheng.

At this time, Wu Meicun became an official of the Qing Dynasty, feeling depressed. One day in the seventh year of Shunzhi, Bian Sai saw Wu's four poems "Feeling Old on the Qin River" at Qian Qian's home, only to know that Wu missed her. A few months later, the two finally met in Taicang. Bian Sai played the piano for Wu, but Wu did not remember it. He wrote "Listening to Bian Yujing, a female Taoist, playing the piano" as a gift. The poem tells the scene of Bian in this decade, and points out the bleak situation of the Qing army in Jiangnan and Yujing. Bian Sai later lived in seclusion in Huishan, Wuxi, and died after more than ten years. He was buried in the brocade forest of Tuo 'an in Huishan.

Six, the talented Ma Xianglan

Ma Xianglan (1548-164) can be called a poetess and painter in the Ming Dynasty. According to "Qin Huai Guang Ji", her name is true, the word is Xiang Lan, the small word is Xuan Er, and the word is Moonracer. Because she ranks fourth in the family, she is called "Si Niang". She is witty, good at poetry and painting, especially at painting Lanzhu, so she is known as "Xianglan". Although her appearance is not outstanding, she "looks like an ordinary person", but she "looks open and clean, and she is like a willow warbler in spring, and she is eager to express her words and serve people skillfully."

Ma's accomplishments in painting are very high. In those days, Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, wrote 72 poems for "Painting Orchids in Ma Xianglan" three times in succession, which were recorded in Cao Yin's "Dongting Collection". In the Biography of Painting History of Past Dynasties, her painting skills were evaluated as "imitating Zigu in blue and imitating Zhongji in bamboo, all of which can attack its rhyme". In the fine paintings and calligraphy of the Forbidden City in Beijing, there are also mixed orchid albums of Ma Shi, which have a unique brilliance. Her paintings have always been regarded as treasures abroad. Ma Shi is also quite talented in literature. He once wrote two volumes of poems of Xiang Lan Subset and the script of Sansheng Biography. Ma Shi is versatile, has a good command of melody, is good at singing and dancing, and can write and direct plays. In the teaching workshop, the troupe she teaches can perform "The Complete Story of the West Chamber", and those who learn skills with it can get a true biography.

Ma Shi was born in Nanjing, but she was unfortunately reduced to the dust since she was a child. However, she is broad-minded and despises chivalry, and often spends money to help teenagers. She lives in the victory of Qinhuai, attracting many visitors, and has a close friendship with Wang Zhideng, a talented scholar in the south of the Yangtze River. Her letters to Wang Zhideng are collected in the Letters of Celebrities in Past Dynasties. On Wang Zhideng's 7th birthday, Ma raised funds to buy a boat to carry dozens of geisha, and went to Suzhou to buy wine for his birthday. He "feasted for months, singing and dancing", but he couldn't afford to get sick after returning. Finally, he died at the age of 57. After his death, Ma was buried in his mansion, near Bifeng Temple in Egret State Park.

Kou Baimen, a romantic woman

Kou Baimen, whose name is Mei, is one of the "Eight Colourful Women in Qinhuai" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.

"Banqiao Miscellanies" says: "The white door is beautiful and beautiful.