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Su Xiaoxiao (???, died c. 501), also known as Su Xiaojun and sometimes by the appellation "Little Su", was a famous courtesan
Courtesan

A courtesan is mainly what one may call a high-class prostitute. A courtesan would offer her charms and sexual pleasures, generally and more usually to people of substantial wealth, in return for a good and respectable living, especially during hard times of poverty....
 and poet
List of Chinese language poets

?Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language....
 from Qiantang city (now Hangzhou
Hangzhou

is a sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China, and the capital of Zhejiang Provinces of China....
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang

Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of China of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital....
 province, China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
) in the Southern Qi Dynasty (479-502). She had a sister named Su Pannu.

Well known for her intellectual talent and great beauty, Su Xiaoxiao pursued the values of love, beauty and humanity, as reflected in her writing and in popular stories.






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Su Xiaoxiao (???, died c. 501), also known as Su Xiaojun and sometimes by the appellation "Little Su", was a famous courtesan
Courtesan

A courtesan is mainly what one may call a high-class prostitute. A courtesan would offer her charms and sexual pleasures, generally and more usually to people of substantial wealth, in return for a good and respectable living, especially during hard times of poverty....
 and poet
List of Chinese language poets

?Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the Chinese language....
 from Qiantang city (now Hangzhou
Hangzhou

is a sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China, and the capital of Zhejiang Provinces of China....
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang

Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of China of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital....
 province, China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
) in the Southern Qi Dynasty (479-502). She had a sister named Su Pannu.

Well known for her intellectual talent and great beauty, Su Xiaoxiao pursued the values of love, beauty and humanity, as reflected in her writing and in popular stories. There are many stories attached to the life of Su Xiaoxiao, with no way of knowing the accuracy of any single story. One such story has her meeting a young scholar travelling in a state of dire poverty, hoping to reach the capital to sit for the official examinations. She gave the scholar several nuggets of silver from her purse, but sadly he never returned to her after completing the examinations. In any event, it seems that she did not wish to be a man's wife or mistress, preferring to share her beauty with the common people while showing a certain contempt for the wealthy.

In her late teens, Su Xiaoxiao developed a terminal illness, during which she took the view that heaven was giving her the special opportunity to leave a legacy of beauty in her memory through her death at a young age. She died at a mere 19 years of age. For more than a thousand years, her tomb was situated at the Xilin Bridge beside her beloved West Lake
West Lake

Xi H? is a famous fresh water lake located in the historic center of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province of eastern People's Republic of China.The lake is divided by three causeways called Su Di , B?i Di , and Y?nggong Di ....
.

Su Xiaoxiao's life and poetry provided much inspiration for later Chinese writers and artists. She was the romantic heroine of Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
 poets Bai Juyi
Bai Juyi

Bai Juyi was a List of Chinese language poets of the Tang dynasty. His poems are not cheerful, they were themed around his responsibilities as a governor of several small provinces to sympathise with his people....
, Li He
Li He

Li He , courtesy name Changji , was a short-lived Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty, known for his unconventional and imaginative style....
, Wen Tingjun, and Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling Dynasties in Chinese history of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty....
 writer Zhang Dai
Zhang Dai

Zhang Dai was a Ming Dynasty writer.Born in Ming Dynasty Wanli Emperor 25th year in Shanyin , now Shaoxing of Zhejiang province, China. He died in Qing Dynasty Kangxi Emperor 28th year at age 93....
, also the heroine of the story "Romantic Trails of Xilin" in Fine Stories of the West Lake. A woodcut of unknown provenance was used to illustrate during the Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling Dynasties in Chinese history of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty....
 and early Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, followed the Ming Dynasty in History of China, and was the last ruling Chinese Dynasties of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 ....
. The woodcut was based on the short story "Dreaming of Qiantang", which told of the scholar Sima Yu, who, while visiting Hangzhou, wrote a poem about a dream he had in which Su Xiaoxiao was brought by three gusts of wind to come and sing at his window. Su was also a frequent figure for portrayal in Chinese theater.

Su Xiaoxiao Tomb
Su Xiaoxiao's tomb was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the People?s Republic of China was a period of widespread social and political upheaval that led to nation-wide chaos and economic disarray, which would engulf much of Chinese society between 1966 and 1976....
, but it was rebuilt in 2004, complete with a brand new pavilion decorated with twelve poetry posts handwritten by famous calligraphers. Su Xiaoxiao's tomb is now again a major tourist site in Hangzhou. Su Xiaoxiao is also the heroine of TV series Loving Courtesan Su Xiaoxiao.

Poem by Su Xiaoxiao

This poem is variously known as "Song of the West Tomb", "Song of Xiling Lake", "Song of Su Xiaoxiao" (in a collection of Music Bureau poems) and "Song of the Same Heartbeat". It became very well known and inspired many future poets including those named above. In the original text, the poem is a quatrain composed of four lines of five words each.

I ride in a decorated carriage,
My darling rides a blue-white horse.
Where should we tie the knot for our heart?
Under the Xiling pine and cypress.


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