Death of the Queen

Author: Bei Yang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Facing Chinese history, profound insights, sarcastic expressions. This book includes three works: The Echo of Shoes in Suzhou, The Gentleman's Palace, and The Long-haired Robe. It boldly interprets the fates of 39 queens whose deaths were the most tragic in history. Bei Yang believes that "injustices" are a part of traditional Chinese culture, and noble queens are often directly connected to them. The lives of women living in the deep palace are centered around the endless "struggle for the bed," and the essence of "struggle for the bed" is nothing but power. It's not about whether they are beautiful or not, but about being beautiful and more beautiful. Every beautiful rival is another beautiful one. These beauties are thrown into a treacherous court, and in turn, they become treacherous. Yet, their ultimate fate is still to be bitten to death by other treacherous creatures. These seemingly noble and beautiful women, whether they are killed, hanged, suffocated, or throw themselves into rivers and wells, are merely tragedies and farces of the era.
As a famous modern and contemporary Chinese writer, Bei Yang's representative works fall into two categories: one is essays, and the other is historical works he wrote while in prison. Regarding The Death of Emperors and The Death of Queens, Bei Yang boasts them as "genuine and well-structured" "historical notes," which in reality combine the characteristics of both historical studies and essays—they are both historical works that reconstruct and disseminate historical knowledge, while also possessing the qualities of satirical, humorous, and sarcastic essays. In these two works by Bei Yang, you can see a completely different picture from the official history that has been followed for thousands of years.
Bei Yang believes: From the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan to the last emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty, China has had 397 emperors and 162 kings. Among these 559 rulers who claimed the titles of emperor or king, about one-third died unnatural deaths. Whether they died fortunate deaths on the dragon bed after "sleeping with the countless beautiful women in the palace day and night," or、、, it is all due to the self-inflicted system structure. In a world where men compete for power, political factors are paramount. And queens are often directly connected to "injustices." "Injustices" seem to be part of traditional Chinese culture, and even noble queens are not immune. Behind every tragic death of a queen is nothing but the "struggle for the bed," and the essence of "struggle for the bed" is nothing but power. "It's not about whether they are beautiful or not, but about being beautiful and more beautiful. Every beautiful rival is another beautiful one." "These beauties are thrown into a treacherous court, and in turn, they become treacherous. Yet, their ultimate fate is still to be bitten to death by other treacherous creatures." Whether she is killed, hanged, suffocated, or throw herself into rivers and wells, it is all a tragedy of the era, a farce of the era.