Anonymous (2nd century C.E.)
In the first year of Chien-ho (147 C.E.), the fourth moon, the ting-hai day, Maid Wu of the Court of Serving Women went with the edict of the ping-shu day 1 to the house of Chamberlain Chao. The edict says, “We hear that the first poem of the Classic of Odes celebrated a royal marriage, and that the choice of a good royal spouse has ever been the concern of good rulers of the past. The chaste reputation of the bereaved young daughter of the late General Cheng Shang has reached our ears. Let the Chamberlain go with Maid Wu to the late general’s house, and examine her deportment and all intimate details and report faithfully. We intend to select her for the palace.”
Bringing the letter of authorization, I [Maid Wu] and Chao went to the house of the late General Shang and found the family just having dinner. Our arrival created a great excitement in the house. The girl, named Nu-ying, left the hall and went to her inside quarters. Chao and I followed the instructions of the edict and studied her deportment carefully and were satisfied. Chao then went out and I went with Ying [the girl] to her private room, where I sent away all attendants and closed the door. At that time, the sunlight came through the shell windows and shone upon Ying’s face, which radiated a brightness like the morning cloud or snow, so that I instinctively avoided looking at her directly. Ripples of light came from her eyes and her eyebrows were curved. She had red lips and white teeth, a long pair of ears, and a pointed nose. Her cheeks were full and her chin well-formed, all in proper proportion. I then took off her long, bending hair ornament2 and let down her hair, which was jet-black. I felt it in the palm of my hand, and it reached the ground, with more to spare.
This done, I asked her to loosen her underclothes. Ying blushed all over and refused, and I said to Ying, “It is a palace rule, which must be complied with. Please let a poor old woman see it. Loosen the belt knot and I shall be very careful.” Ying’s tears came to her eyes and she turned her face away and closed her eyes. I then loosened her belt knot, and turned her toward the light. I smelled an exquisite smell. Her skin was white and fine and so smooth that my hand slipped as it touched it. Her belly was round and her hips square. Her body was like congealed lard3 and carved jade. Her breasts bulged out, and her navel had enough depth to permit a half-inch pearl to go in. Her mons veneris rose gently. I opened her thighs and saw that the vulva was bright red, while the labia minora slightly protruded. I was satisfied that she was a chaste virgin. In general about Ying’s body, her blood well nourished her skin, her skin well covered her muscles, and her muscles well concealed her bones. Her dimensions were right. She stood seven feet one inch,4 her shoulders were one foot six wide, her hips three inches less [sic] than her shoulders. She measured two feet seven inches from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers, and her fingers were four inches from the tips to the palm, looking like ten pointed bamboo sticks. The length of her legs from the thighs to the feet was three feet two inches, and her feet measured eight inches. Her ankles and arches were round and full, her soles smooth, and her toes small.5 The tight silk and close-fitting socks were gathered in as with ladies in the palace. For a long time she stood speechless. I urged her quickly to thank His Imperial Majesty, and she bowed and said, “Long Live6 the Emperor!” Her voice was like a wind moving through a bamboo grove, very pleasant to the ear. She had no piles, no bad marks, no moles, and no sores, or defects in the mouth, the nose, the armpit, the private parts, or the feet.
I am a stupid humble woman and cannot express properly what I saw or felt. I make this secret report, properly sealed, knowing that my life depends upon Your Imperial pleasure.
Translated by Lin Yutang
This is one of the most curious fragments to have survived the ages. The title of the document, “Miscellanies, Secret H” (Tsa-shih mi hsin), seems to indicate that it came from the secret archives of the Han palace, the word hsin having no meaning unless it serves as a symbol in the Chinese cycle for labeling a series, like the letter H in the alphabet standing for “Number 8.” This is a court record of the queen of Emperor Huan (reigned 147–167 C.E.) of the Later Han dynasty, beginning with a report of the physical examination of her when she was a girl of sixteen, given by a woman servant of the palace. The rest deals with the formal six ceremonies of engagement (first set of presents; asking for the name of the girl, her age, and her ancestors; divination; second set of formal gifts, which signified the formal engagement; asking for the date of the marriage; and finally the wedding itself), and ends with her “coronation” as empress. The woman’s report is full of realistic details. The phrases she used, not found in literary language, are part of her spoken language. Here only the woman’s report is given.
1. The day before. The designations ting-hai and ping-shu are based on a cycle of sixty.
2. A hairpin several inches long, made of light, soft metal so that it bobbed as the girl walked. Hence the name used here, pu-yao, which means “Shaking at every step.”
3. Literally, “constructed fat.” Such phrases are evidently from the woman’s patois.
4. The foot in Han days was probably about seven-tenths of a modern English foot, which means that the girl was just under five feet tall.
5. This line contains evidence that her feet were not bound. Bound feet cannot have smooth soles, for the soles are bent and folded over. Footbinding did not become a custom in China until nearly a thousand years later.
6. Literally, wan-sui (= Japanese banzai), which means “ten thousand years.”