Yang Guifei being helped onto her horse
If you like your historical figures with a little junk in the trunk — and frankly who among us doesn’t? — then this is a sad day. On July 15, 756, Yang Guifei, the imperial consort some blame for bringing ruin to the Tang Dynasty, died…either by her own hand or at the hands of Xuanzong’s bodyguards, depending on which historical account (or TV mini-series) you prefer.
Did the Rubenesque Yang have an affair with wanna-be usurper An Lushan? Did the rash actions of her cousin Yang Zhao (Yang Guozhong) bring about the disaster by provoking An Lushan to revolt? Does Chinese history have room for a plus-sized heroine?