Madame Huarui

Consort Xu (徐惠妃) (c. 940 – 976) was a concubine of Later Shu's emperor Meng Chang during imperial China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. More commonly known as Madame Huarui (花蕊夫人), she was also a notable poet.

Madame Huarui
An illustration from a Chinese book named as 《百美新詠圖傳》
Chinese花蕊夫人
Literal meaningLady Flower Bud

When Emperor Taizu of Song defeated Meng Cheng, Madame Huarui was captured. Emperor Taizu had heard of her fame as a poet and asked her to compose a poem for him. Madame Huarui immediately sang (as translated by Anthony C. Yu):[1][2]

君王城上竪降旗 The king on the rampart flies the white flag.
妾在深宮那得知 Deep within the palace how could I know?
十四萬人齊解甲 One hundred forty thousand all disarmed!
更無一個是男兒 Among these was there not a single man?

References
  1. Quan Tangshi, ch. 798.
  2. Chang & Saussy, p. 85.

Sources
  • (in Chinese) Quan Tangshi (全唐詩) [Complete Tang Poems]. 1705.
  • Chang, Kang-i Sun; Saussy, Haun, eds. (1999). Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-804-73231-0.
  • Rexroth, Kenneth; Chung Ling (1972). The Orchid Boat: Women Poets of China. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
  • "Huarui Furen", Mountain Songs, last accessed June 8, 2007
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