The Beautiful Ladies

This is a very old-fashioned tale of grudges, love, power, and beauty.

Yet every old-fashioned theme has a timeless vitality.

The heroine is named Gong Yin. Yin is an uncommon character, but I've decided not to change it. Yin is pronounced like "yin," and means quiet and gentle, still and profound. The character repeated, Yinyin, suggests a deep, hushed stillness, which is why Ji Kang wrote in his Rhapsody on the Qin: "The qin's quiet virtue is beyond measure."

I originally intended to revise an old draft, but when I started, I realized its framework was already in place and it would be difficult to rework. So I've made a few changes and posted the entire old story, which I couldn't publish in full when the magazine requested it years ago. Enough time has passed that it shouldn't affect the magazine. This is my way of thanking all my longtime readers. (Though, to be fair, most of the people who find their way here are probably longtime readers.)

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