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In practice the term "bijin" means "beautiful woman" because the first kanji character, bi (), has a feminine connotation. The character expressed the concept of beauty by first using the element for "sheep", which must have been viewed as beautiful, and was combined with the element for "big", ultimately forming a new kanji. [2]
The importance of feminine beauty in China has been deeply ingrained into the culture: historically, a woman's livelihood was often determined by her ability to find an eligible husband, a feat aided by fitting into the cultural ideals of beauty. [2] Black hair that is long, thick and shiny is seen as particularly beautiful among Chinese women.
One of the earliest references to qualities later associated with the canonical Four Great Beauties appears in the Zhuangzi.In one chapter, the women Mao Qiang and Lady Li are described as "great beauties" who "when fish see them they dart into the depths, when birds see them they soar into the skies, when deer see them they bolt away without looking back".
Chinese brides also used a type of moon-shaped tuanshan in traditional Chinese wedding called queshan. [6] The ceremonial rite of queshan was an important ceremony in Chinese wedding: the bride would hold it in front of her face to hide her shyness, to remain mysterious, and as a way to exorcise evil spirits. [6]
They are commonly depicted in bird-and-flower paintings, a broad category of classical Chinese art, and they are particularly popular subjects for ink wash painting. The Four Gentlemen are a recurring theme in art because of their long history as symbols of traditional Chinese virtues , such as uprightness, purity, humility, and perseverance ...
Title page of the novel Ping Shan Leng Yan Title page of the novel Haoqiu zhuan. Caizi jiaren (Chinese: 才子佳人; pinyin: cáizǐ jiārén; Wade–Giles: Ts'ai-tzu chia-jen; lit. 'scholar–beauty' [1] [2] and "scholar and beauty") [a] is a genre of Chinese fiction typically involving a romance between a young scholar and a beautiful girl.
[1] [2] Chinese symbols often have auspicious meanings associated to them, such as good fortune, happiness, and also represent what would be considered as human virtues, such as filial piety, loyalty, and wisdom, [1] and can even convey the desires or wishes of the Chinese people to experience the good things in life. [2]
However, Chinese proverbs are primarily not these high literary forms, but rather the product of thousands of years of an oral culture of peasant people, often illiterate. [2] The informal and oft-quoted proverbs of everyday conversation are largely not the sayings of Confucius, but are rather of anonymous origin. [11]