Bao Si

Legends record that during the last years of the Xia dynasty, two dragons entered the palace of the king. When they left, the Xia king ordered that the dragon's saliva left inside the palace be kept in a wooden box. During the time of King Li of Zhou, he tried to open the box despite a taboo against such an act, since it had not been opened for more than a thousand years. The saliva accidentally spilled and transformed into a black lizard. The lizard crawled in front of a seven-year-old slave girl. Eight years later she became pregnant while still a virgin, and gave birth to a girl. The mother abandoned the baby, who was later adopted by a couple who escaped to the State of Bao^[zh] and raised her to adulthood. She was later presented by the ruler of Bao to King You.

In 779 BC, Bao Si entered the palace and came into King You's favour. They had a son named Bofu.^[1] King You deposed Queen Shen (申后)^[zh] and Crown Prince Yijiu. He made Bao Si the new queen and Bofu the new crown prince.

Bao Si was of a melancholic disposition so King You offered a thousand ounces of gold to anyone who could make her laugh. Someone at the court suggested lighting the warning beacons of Mount Li usually used to summon armies from the surrounding vassal states in times of danger. The nobles duly arrived at the court only to find themselves laughed at by Bao Si.^[2] Even after King You had impressed Bao Si, he continued to abuse his use of warning beacons and so lost the trust of the nobles.

 

Queen Shen's father the Marquess of Shen was upset by the deposition of his daughter and grandson Yijiu and mounted an attack on King You's palace in conjunction with Quanrong nomads. King You called for the nobles with the beacons but none came as they no longer trusted him. In the end, King You and Bofu were killed and Bao Si was captured at Xi (戲/戏) for the Quanrong leader. King You's death marks the end of the Western Zhou^[3] and the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.^[4]

After her capture, the Marquess of Shen managed to get Bao Si for himself. Bao Si accepted a bribe from him and left the capital.^[5] Later, during another attack by Quanrong nomads, Bao Si was unable to escape and hanged herself. Her date of death is unknown.

The story of Bao Si and King You of Zhou is amongst the most well-known and iconic of love stories from ancient China, and serves not only as a demonstration of extreme love but also as a cautionary tale of how one beauty can topple a nation. But this story is controversial, according the record of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, King You of Zhou attacked the Marquess of Shen, the Marquess of Shen allied with Quanrong to defeat King You of Zhou. However, warning beacons didn't exist in Zhou dynasty, with the earliest warning beacons appearing during the Han dynasty. Professor Liu Guozhong of Tsinghua University believes this story is fabricated.^[6]

Through the few references available, it can be presumed that Bao Si was born in 792 BC (three years younger than King You) and died in 771 BC (assuming that her death happened by suicide shortly after the Quanrong attack).

One of her many legacies remains in the epic historical novel Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, written by Feng Menglong, a late Ming dynasty writer. A poem pertaining to Bao Si is recorded as follows, translated from the original text by Olivia Milburn:

"First in her brocade silk bower she was called the mother of the nation, Then in a stinking yurt she became a traitorous slut. In the end she could not escape the pain of the tightening noose; Would it not have been better to accept being a mere concubine."^[7]

This legacy provides insight into how Bao Si may have been initially seen as a virtuous woman, but in the end, she was a factor that is attributed to the mythical fall and degradation of Western Zhou.

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