Artist Lu Zhang revisits the myth of Yang Guifei 杨贵妃, beloved consort to Tang Emperor Xuanzong famed for her beauty, extravagance and jade bath. Muse and menace, she came to symbolize a court drunk on luxury. In this week’s post, Zhang chronicles the tale through the art, poetry and opera Yang inspired, ahead of the performance TāngTángTǎngTàng 湯棠淌燙 animating Yang’s world of power, seduction and peril.
Culture of Bathing has partnered with Chinatown Basketball Club for a one-night-only event, TāngTángTǎngTàng 湯棠淌燙: Performative Rituals in Flow on Wednesday, August 27th at Othership Williamsburg. More details below.
Intrigue, opulence and murder: the tale of a legendary bathing beauty
By Lu Zhang
“With one glance and a smile, she eclipses the painted faces of six palaces”
“回眸一笑百媚生，六宮粉黛無顏色”
Bai Juyi 唐白居易
Bai Juyi’s Song of Everlasting Sorrow (806) is a pinnacle of Tang Dynasty poetry and immortalized Yang Guifei as one of China’s “four beauties” whose actions dramatically affected the nation. Yang was the highest-ranking consort of Emperor Xuanzong and her allure was not just visual but ritualistic, embodying Tang sensuality and imperial spectacle.
A bath lined with jade and precious stones
Yang’s bathing rituals transcended mere hygiene, becoming a grand spectacle where power, sensuality, and artistry converged—a defining symbol of the high Tang dynasty’s decadence which supposedly led Emperor Xuanzong to neglect his duties.
“The pool was lined with carved jade and precious stones, its floor inlaid with hidden lotus motifs, from which artesian springs erupted in crystalline pillars”
“砌以文瑤寶石，中隱蓮花，湧泉成柱”
Zheng Chuhui 唐·郑处诲
To indulge her love of bathing, Xuanzong commissioned the Haitang Tang 海棠湯—a bath shaped like a Chinese crabapple blossom, fed by Mount Li’s thermal waters. Records describe Guifei’s bath as infused with a “five-scented elixir”: peony bark and apricot kernels for softening the skin; mulberry leaves and chrysanthemum for brightening the eyes; sandalwood and musk for their aphrodisiac qualities. Astrologers selected auspicious bathing dates, and medicated baths were prepared with Sichuan pepper and musk.
The eternal muse
Yang’s beauty was only part of her legend. An accomplished dancer, singer, and political strategist, she has inspired artistic genres from literature and opera to film and the video game Royal Chaos. The classic Peking Opera The Drunken Concubine tells the story of an intoxicated and bitter Yang stood up by the Emperor after one of their tiffs, and Uemura Shōen’s 1922 painting (below) reimagines her in the style of fashionable Edo-period bijin-ga - pictures of beautiful women.
Is beauty a crime?
Yang Guifei was celebrated for her tempestuous romance with Emperor Xuanzong and her dark ending. During a rebellion in 1755, mutinous soldiers blamed Yang for the decadence and corruption of the imperial court and demanded her death. Under pressure, Xuanzong ordered her murder.
But what was her crime? Enjoying thermal waters, fragrance and revelry? Being loved? These depictions of her beauty and indulgence pose a deeper question: was Yang Guifei condemned for her own actions, or for what she came to represent – the failures of a political system and a rotten court culture?
Lu Zhang, artist originally from X’ian, China, founder of Wildman Clab and co-founder of Chinatown Basketball Club.
@wetdreamsneverend
TāngTángTǎngTàng 湯棠淌燙
Culture of Bathing has partnered with Chinatown Basketball Club for a one-night-only event, TāngTángTǎngTàng 湯棠淌燙: Performative Rituals in Flow to explore and reinterpret the shared ethos of movement, ritual, and community.
This immersive evening weaves together poetic bathing rituals, interactive rhythmic breathing, and basketball-inspired Tai Chi movements—each rooted in themes of fluidity and shaped by Chinese cultural influences, both ancient and contemporary.
The event will take place at Othership Williamsburg, offering guests an exclusive first look at the new location ahead of its official opening.
Featured artists: Jiaoyang Li – Poet and multimedia artist, co-founder of Accent Society; Caren Wenqing Ye – Multimedia artist and designer; Lu Zhang – CBC co-creator and artist. Sound design by Siyi Chen and Milam.
Othership Williamsburg, 5 pm on August 27, 2025. Details and booking:
News
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One last thing
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