{"id":58510,"date":"2026-06-06T14:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=58510"},"modified":"2026-06-06T14:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:10:43","slug":"who-was-yang-guifei-the-beautiful-chinese-princess-blamed-for-toppling-the-tang-dynasty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=58510","title":{"rendered":"Who was Yang Guifei, the beautiful Chinese princess blamed for toppling the Tang dynasty?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">From Helen of Troy in Greek mythology to historical figures such as Anne Boleyn and Marie Antoinette, influential women were often viewed through a misogynistic lens in premodern and early modern societies.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This was especially true for women whose power was tied to their relationships with male rulers, or who were scapegoated during times of political crisis.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Things were no different in imperial China, where society was shaped by strict customs and hierarchies. At the centre of this skewed narrative was Yang Guifei (\u201cImperial Consort Yang\u201d), a doted-on concubine whose beauty and charm are said to have caused the downfall of the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Tang dynasty<\/span> (618-907).<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Born Yang Yuhuan in 719 to an aristocratic family and a descendant of Sui (589-617) and Tang dynasty officials, Yang grew up in modern-day <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Shanxi<\/span> and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Sichuan<\/span> provinces. Her father, a census official, died when she was young, and she was entrusted to the care of her father\u2019s brother, himself an official in Luoyang, in Henan province. There, she received a \u201cfeminine\u201d aristocratic education, excelling in music and dance.<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A painting of Yang from the early 19th century. Photo: Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images via Getty Images\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/04\/2a544dfc-34c8-404f-b68f-79c1adc7a743_47a5fb1d.jpg\" title=\"A painting of Yang from the early 19th century. Photo: Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images via Getty Images\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">A painting of Yang from the early 19th century. Photo: Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In 736, at age 17, Yang was chosen to marry Li Mao, Prince of Shou, the young son of Emperor Xuanzong, and entered the palace as Princess of Shou. The pair did not have any children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3355932\/who-was-yang-guifei-beautiful-chinese-princess-blamed-toppling-tang-dynasty?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Helen of Troy in Greek mythology to historical figures such as Anne Boleyn and Marie Antoinette, influential women were often viewed through a misogynistic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8999,2004,107,4584,24267,12121,5529,24268,3180],"class_list":["post-58510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-beautiful","tag-blamed","tag-chinese","tag-dynasty","tag-guifei","tag-princess","tag-tang","tag-toppling","tag-yang","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}