Yang Guifei
Imperial Consort
"In life or death, I am the emperor's."
Biography
One of the 'Four Great Beauties' of Chinese history, Yang Guifei was the beloved consort of the aged Emperor Xuanzong, and her story became the great romantic tragedy of the age. Her rise brought her grasping family to power — above all her cousin Yang Guozhong, whose feud with An Lushan helped ignite the rebellion — and her hold over the besotted emperor came to symbolise the corruption and complacency that ruined the golden age. When Chang'an fell and the court fled, the imperial guard mutinied at the Mawei post station, killed Yang Guozhong, and refused to march on until the emperor gave up Yang Guifei as well. Xuanzong, powerless, consented, and she was strangled with a silk cord — dying, by legend, with dignity, at thirty-seven. Her death became one of the most retold tragedies in Chinese literature, a symbol of love, beauty, and the terrible price of a fallen empire.
Did you know?
Legends that she somehow survived and escaped — even to Japan, where sites claim to be her grave — circulated for centuries, a measure of her enduring hold on the imagination.
Key Battles
The Flight of the Emperor and the Death of Yang Guifei
Yan Rebels victoryJuly 756 · 500 total casualties
The death of Yang Guifei at Mawei became the most romantic and tragic episode of the rebellion, immortalised in poetry for a thousand years. Xuanzong abdicated soon after in favour of his son Suzong, who took up the fight to save the dynasty.
Life Journey
Timeline
719
🌅 Birth
Born in Sichuan
745
📍 Posting
Becomes the emperor's beloved consort
July 15, 756
✝️ Death
Strangled by the mutinous guard at Mawei