Few women in Chinese history have been as scorned – or as misunderstood – as Bao Si. For nearly three millennia, the queen has been remembered not as a person, but as a symbol: the beautiful femme fatale whose cold heart and unparalleled beauty brought down a dynasty.
According to legend, Bao Si was a queen so aloof she never smiled.
Desperate to amuse her, King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771 BC) is said to have played a deadly prank: he lit the kingdom’s sacred beacon fires –…