红颜祸水

紅顏禍水

hóngyánhuòshuǐ

phrase

Meanings

1 femme fatale
2 a beautiful woman blamed for bringing disaster

Characters

face, complexion

disaster, calamity

Examples

古人常把亡国的责任推给红颜祸水。

Gǔrén cháng bǎ wángguó de zérèn tuī gěi hóngyánhuòshuǐ.

The ancients often blamed the fall of dynasties on 'femmes fatales'.

把杨贵妃说成红颜祸水，对她并不公平。

Bǎ Yáng Guìfēi shuō chéng hóngyánhuòshuǐ, duì tā bìng bù gōngpíng.

Calling Yang Guifei a 'beauty who brought ruin' isn't fair to her.

Tips

culture

Built from 红颜 (hóngyán, 'red face' = young beautiful woman) + 祸水 (huòshuǐ, 'disaster water' = source of calamity). Traditional historiography pinned dynastic collapses on women — 妲己 (Dájǐ) for the Shang, 褒姒 (Bāosì) for Western Zhou, 杨贵妃 (Yáng Guìfēi) for Tang. Modern usage is often ironic or critical of that framing.

register

Carries baggage. Use it to invoke or critique the trope; using it sincerely about a real woman today comes across as misogynistic.

In Pop Culture

妲己 Dájǐ

Daji

Consort of the last Shang king Zhou; archetype of the 红颜祸水 in Chinese folklore.

Stroke Order

红 hóng

颜 yán

祸 huò

水 shuǐ