Yang Guifei 杨贵妃
Princess Yang Kwei Fei is remembered above all through the verses of Bai Juyi. In his poem, after her death the emperor orders a search for his beloved even beyond the bounds of the mortal world. In the Tang chronicles she also appears as a relative of the chancellor, whose rivalry with a frontier general preceded the great rebellion. Mizoguchi Kenji and Li Han-Hsiang each told the same legend on screen in their own way. In Mizoguchi's version Yang was played by Kyo Machiko, in Li Han-Hsiang's by Li Li-Hua.
Yang Yuhuan (楊玉環) was born around 719 into the family of an official. She lost her father early and was raised by an uncle. The chronicle says little about her as a person, but it is known that she understood music and sang and danced well. Her first husband was Li Mao, a son of Emperor Xuanzong. After the death of his mother, the emperor's beloved consort Wu Huifei, Yang Yuhuan caught Xuanzong's eye. She left Li Mao's household and for a time was registered as a Daoist nun under the name Taizhen. In 745 Xuanzong bestowed on her the title of guifei — one of the highest titles an emperor's consort could receive. It is by this title that she is known.
Yang's relatives rose along with her. Her three elder sisters received honorary titles and access to the court, and a distant relative, Yang Guozhong, became chief chancellor in 752. One of his opponents was An Lushan, who commanded the troops on the north-eastern frontier and enjoyed the emperor's favour. In 755 An Lushan raised a rebellion. When Luoyang fell and Tongguan, the pass that opened the road to Chang'an, was lost, the emperor fled the capital with his court.
At the Ma-wei post station the guards mutinied. The soldiers killed Yang Guozhong and demanded the death of Yang Yuhuan. Xuanzong gave in, and in 756 she died there, on the road to Sichuan. The soldiers believed it was thanks to her that the Yang family had gained power at court. In the accounts of the rebellion this accusation over time grew into the story of a beauty who destroyed a dynasty. Far less is known about the role Yang herself played in the court intrigues than about her relative's career.
In 806 Bai Juyi wrote The Song of Everlasting Sorrow about her. In the poem Xuanzong returns to the palace, where everything reminds him of the dead woman. The Daoist priest he sends finds her on the island of the immortals. There she again bears the name Taizhen and gives the emperor part of a golden hairpin as a keepsake. This story of separation outlived the court strife from which it grew and became the basis for new versions of Yang's fate.
The film Princess Yang Kwei Fei (1955) was Mizoguchi Kenji's first colour film. It was made by the Japanese studio Daiei and Sir Run Run Shaw's Hong Kong company. Kyo Machiko plays a woman whose position is exploited by her relatives, and Mori Masayuki plays the emperor who cannot save her. Li Han-Hsiang also based Yang Kwei Fei (1962) on Bai Juyi's poem. Shaw Brothers worked on the film for three years. The emperor was played by Yan Jun, and Yang by Li Li-Hua. In the scene where the heroine goes to her death, Li Han-Hsiang shows the dignity with which she faces those demanding her execution. The film received the technical grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which was awarded to several competition entries at once.
Fan Bing-Bing played Yang twice — in the series Tang Paradise (2007) and in the film Lady of the Dynasty (2015). And in Legend of the Demon Cat (2017) Chen Kaige made Bai Juyi himself one of the main characters. Together with the Japanese monk Kukai, the poet tries to find out what happened at the Ma-wei post station several decades before their meeting. In the court scenes of Xuanzong's reign, Yang is played by Sandrine Pinna.
