Well, some of the best, anyway. Photos of some less publicized beauties from the Asian modeling world.
How rich and splendid
Is her pleasant-figured robe!
Her black hair in masses like clouds,
No false locks does she descend to--
There are her ear-plugs of jade,
Her comb-pin of ivory
And her high forehead, so white,
She appears like a visitant from heaven!
She appears like a goddess!
Clear are her eyes; fine is her forehead!
Full are her temples.
Ah! Such a woman as this!
The beauty of the country!
"Book of Songs" (about 800 B.C.)
How beautiful she looks
opening the pearly casement,
And see how quiet she leans,
how troubled her brow is.
You may see tears now,
bright on her cheek,
But not the man
she so bitterly loves.
--Tang Dynasty (About 700 A.D.)
Time was long before I met her
but is longer since we parted,
And the east wind has arisen
and a hundred flowers are gone.
And the silk-worms of spring
will weave until they die
And every night the candles
will weep their wicks away.
Mornings in her mirror
she sees her hair-cloud changing.
Yet she dares the chill of moonlight
with her evening song.
It is not so very far
to her Enchanted Mountain
O blue-birds, be listening!
Bring me what she says!
--Tang Dynasty (about 700 A.D.)
The mountain light suddenly fails in the west,
In the east from the lake the slow moon rises.
I loosen my hair to enjoy the evening coolness
And open my window and lie down in peace.
The wind brings me odors of lotuses,
And bamboo-leaves drip with a music of dew --
I would take up my lute and I would play,
But alas, who here would understand?
And so I think of you, old friend,
Oh troubler of my midnight dreams.
-- Tang Dynasty (about 700 A.D.)
The lovely ladies on this page are as follows: Top two photos, Tian Xin (Taiwan); third photo, Noriko Aota (Japan); fourth photo (bath), Noriko Sakai, Japan. The photos of Tian Xin, whom I've never seen before, were found on a Japanese site called "idolfan.com." The site is mostly in Japanese with just a few words in English. The best I can determine, the webmaster's photos were gathered or collected on the web, and he does not claim copyright. If I am mistaken and these are copyrighted photos, please inform me and I will take them down immediately.
The poetry is from the greatest collections of Chinese classical poetry. The first poem is from the "Book of Songs," sometimes referred to as the "Book of Odes." This book is included in what the Chinese call "the Five Classics." The poems go back to as early as the ninth century B.C., but were collected and edited by Master Kung Ch'iu much later. Master Kung is the man the British incorrectly called "Confucius."
The other poems are from a famous collection of Tang Dynasty poems assembled in the 1700's. The Tang Dynasty endured from about 625- 900 A.D. It was the high point of Chinese poetry, and included the work of Li Po and Li Bai, arguably the greatest poets China ever produced. I wish I could credit the translators by name, but I have collected these poems over a period of time from a number of academic sites on the web, and have lost track.
