In ancient China, the King of Shu weds a transgender woman
In ancient China, the King of Shu weds a transgender woman
Part 1 of "The Stone Mirror Tomb – a monument to an ancient king’s love for his transgender wife"
12th century writer Luo Mi collected records of histories, legends, customs, and peoples of China’s diverse regions in his 47-chapter Lushi.[1] Chapter 4 of Lushi contained a story from the Kaiming dynasty, which ruled the ancient Shu Kingdom (in present day Sichuan province) from 666 -316 BCE.[2]
The tomb of the royal consort of the Kaiming dynasty was located at the present-day Wudan Hillock... It was said that the consort was originally an assigned-male-at-birth individual from Wudu. Xe transformed into a woman of unsurpassed beauty. [The king of] Kaiming wanted to marry xem. [After marriage, the king’s wife] could not adjust to the climate [of the Shu Kingdom] and wanted to leave. The king composed the Song of Dongping for xem. Xe died a short time later and was interred. The tomb was marked by two stone pillars and a stone mirror.
Xiao Ji (508-553CE), the Prince of Wuling, excavated the tomb for the jade stones. The face of the beautiful woman in the coffin was as one who was still alive but xir body was like ice. They covered xem up and built a temple above. The stone mirror measured 3 zhang and 5 chi in circumference. Yue Shi[i] claimed that it was 5 inches thick and 5 chi in diameter.
[Note: The gender-neutral pronoun ‘xe’ is used in this translation. Before the 20th century, the Chinese language did NOT distinguish between ‘she’ and ‘he’.]
Chronicles of Huayang (4th c. CE)
The King of Shu’s love for his transgender wife is also described in the Chronicles of Huayang[ii], a regional history book edited by the historian Chang Qu around 348-354 CE.[3] Chapter 3 contains this account:
There was an assigned-male-at-birth individual in Wudu[iii] who transformed into a woman. Xe surpassed the mountain spirits in beauty and allure. The King of Shu married xem, making xem a royal consort. Xe was unused to the climate and wanted to leave. The king got xem to stay and composed the Song of Dongping to cheer xem up. A short time later, xe died and the king grieved for xem.
The king sent 5 men to Wudu to bring back loads of earth to build a tomb for the consort. The tomb occupied an area of several mu and was 7 zhang in height. There is a stone mirror on top of it. This is the location of Wudan in the north corner of present-day Chengdu. Later the king mourned for xem by composing the “Song of Good and Evil”, and the musical piece “Returning to the Long region” [iv]
There is an even older record of this story. We will take a look at it in the next post (which also contains a link to an article with photos of the legendary site).
Sources
[1] 路史 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 (wikipedia.org)
[3] 华阳国志（东晋时期地方志著作）_百度百科 (baidu.com)
Notes
[i] Yue Shi is a 10th c. geographer and writer 樂史 - 維基百科，自由的百科全書 (wikipedia.org)
[ii] Huayang is located in present day Sichuan province, China. See 华阳县_百度百科 (baidu.com)
[iii] Wudu is located in present day Gansu. See 武都郡_百度百科 (baidu.com)
[iv]隴歸之曲. The 隴(Long) region is at the border of present day Shaanxi and Gansu