English Title: Zhaojun Departs the Frontier
Pinyin: Zhao Jun Chu Sai
Wang Qiang, also named Wang Zhaojun, was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was born to a prominent family of Zigui country, Nan County in the south of the Western Han Dynasty. In her teens she entered the palace as one of the numerous candidates from whom Emperor Yuan chose his concubines.
During her time in the Han Empire, Wang Zhaojun was never visited by the emperor and remained as a palace lady-in-waiting. When choosing a new wife, the Emperor was first presented with portraits of all the possible women. Wang Zhaojun's portrait was either never viewed by the Emperor, or was not in its true form, and therefore the Emperor overlooked her.
In the year 33BC the Huns, a nomadic people of the north, wanted to establish friendly relations with the Han Dynasty through marriage. When Huhanxie, the Chanyu (Khan) of Hun, came to the Han capital to request a Han princess as a bride, Emperor Yuan agreed.
The emperor asked for volunteers. The idea of leaving their homeland and comfortable life at the court for the grasslands of the far and unknown north was abhorrent to most of the young women. But not to Wang Zhaojun: she saw it as a chance to leave the empty palace life and possibly play a more important role than she ever would. She applied. When summoned to court, her beauty astonished the emperor's courtiers and made the emperor reconsider his decision to send her to the Xiongnu. He wanted to find a substitute for her; however, it was too late for the Emperor to change his decision. The fate of Wang Zhaojun had however been sealed. In anguish and sorrow, he parted with Wang Zhaojun.
Under the escort of Han and Hun officials, Wang, in a beautiful red dress and with a pipa in her arms, set off from Chang'an on a white horse for her long journey to the distant land of the Huns.
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