China / Japan: Yang Yuhua (719-756 CE), better known as Yang Gueifei, the favourite consort...

Consort Yang Yuhuan (1 June 719-15 July 756 CE), often known as Yang Guifei (Guifei being the highest rank for imperial consorts during her time), known briefly by the Taoist nun name Taizhen, is famous as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was the beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang during his later years. During the Anshi Rebellion, as Emperor Xuanzong was fleeing from the capital Chang'an to Chengdu, she was killed because his guards blamed the rebellion on her powerful cousin Yang Guozhong and the rest of her family. The story of Yang Guifei and the poem also became highly popular in Japan and served as sources of inspiration for the classical novel 'The Tale of Genji' which begins with the doomed love between an emperor and a consort, Kiritsubo, who is likened to Consort Yang. A Japanese rumour states that Lady Yang was rescued, escaped to Japan and lived her remaining life there. In Japanese, she is known as Yokihi.