Xishi (西施) — "Lady from the West." **The first of the Four Beauties of ancient China** (5th c. BCE) — **a peasant girl whose beauty was so great that, when she washed silk in the river, the fish forgot to swim and sank to the bottom**. **King Goujian of Yue used her to overthrow the rival King Fuchai of Wu** — sending her as a tribute concubine, where she distracted the king from governance until Wu fell.
Featured in countless Chinese paintings and operas.
Xishi reduces to three — the number of Chinese Four Beauties.