褒姒

Bāo Sì
proper noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Bao Si (8th century BC), consort of King You of Zhou, blamed in legend for the fall of the Western Zhou

Examples

HSK 2
Bāo Sì hěnshǎo xiào.
Bao Si seldom laughed.
HSK 7-9
Wèile ràng Bāo Sì xiào, Zhōu Yōuwáng diǎnrán le fēnghuǒ.
To make Bao Si laugh, King You of Zhou lit the beacon fires.

Tips

history
The story is told in the 《史记》: the lords rushed to the capital with their armies, found no enemy, and Bao Si laughed at last. When the Marquis of Shen and the 犬戎 really attacked in 771 BC, no one came. King You was killed at the foot of 骊山 and the Western Zhou came to an end. Many historians now doubt the beacon story.
culture
With 妲己 of the Shang and 杨贵妃 of the Tang she is the stock example of 红颜祸水, the beauty blamed for a ruler's ruin. The beacon episode is remembered as 烽火戏诸侯 'making sport of the lords with beacon fires'.

Stroke Order

褒 bāo
姒 sì