ISABEL MARANT AND THE KING OF QI

Earlier this month I was under siege from several vendors of shoes, boots, handbags, designer clothing, sneakers, sun-glasses, and other high-priced stuff, who all wanted, desperately needed, to seed the comments with their advertisements and their links. For nearly a week I waded through several hundred dense url-rich texts mentioning Michael Kors, Isabel Marant, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Guicci, Bvlgari, and more. Usually rather unreadable, and extremely transparent.

My blog has not a thing to do with any of that stuff.
Obviously the spam-bots failed to grasp that verity.

One comment, however, was utterly brilliant. Completely insane, but also most magically marvelous. And kudos to the berserk genius who wrote it.

I reproduce a large part of it here.


THE STATES OF QIN AND CHU

QUOTE: "Wu Yan continued and said that the states of Qin and Chu both progress and their armies are getting stronger. Our state is on a knife's edge, one side is life and the other is death but you are unaware of it, as you are stuck in your luxurious life style. King Xuan was dumb struck at these words and dismissed her isabel marant sneakers. However he continued to review her words and took her advice. He withdrew from his sheltered and luxurious life style and concentrated on improving the state of Qi isabel marant shoes. He looked for Wu Yan and offered her to be his concubine and so she is famously known as the ugly Concubine."
END QUOTE.

Well now.
I'm fascinated by the linking of ancient Chinese history with Isabel Marant footwear.This is something I had never even considered before.


齊宣王之醜女王后鍾無艷

King Xuan of Qi (齊) was one of the famous rulers during the Warring States period. The person known to history as the "ugly concubine" was Zhong Li-chun (鍾離春), who in her forties was yet unmarried (年過四十未嫁) . She is described as having a mis-shapen head, deep set eyes that were never-the-less protuberant, a long nose, and a presence withal frighteningly unappealing (貌醜), perilous indeed (殆哉！殆哉！).

In speaking to the king, she said: 今王之國，西有衡秦之患，南有強楚之讎，外有二國之難，一旦山陵崩弛，社稷不安，此一殆也。
[Today your nation bears the overweening pressure of Chin (秦) to the west, to the south Chu (楚) is bellicose; once the mountains fall, there will not be peace, (but instead) grave danger. ]

Upon hearing her words, the king realized the peril to his kingdom from his careless pursuit of pleasure, and as a first step closed the court women's musical academy. Subsequently he did away with fripperies and useless luxuries.
He then appointed Zhong Li-chun as foster mother (嫡母) to the crown-prince.


About King Xuan we know this: 孟子曰、 臣聞之胡齕曰、王坐於堂上、有牽牛而過堂下者、王見之、曰、牛何之。對曰、 將以釁鐘。王曰、 舍之、吾不忍其觳觫、若無罪而就死地。對曰、 然則廢釁鐘與。曰、 何可廢也。以羊易之。
[Mencius said: “I heard this from Hu-the gnawing ("bucktoothed Hu"), who said that you were in your great hall, and a fellow passed outside leading an ox. Upon seeing it, you asked his purpose. he responded that it was for a sacrifice to consecrate a bell. Whereupon you entreated him to release it, as you could not stand to see the misery in its face, which was like an innocent man going to be executed. The man then asked whether the consecration should be cancelled, and you answered : 'How can it possibly be forgotten? Substitute a sheep'!"]

The point of the substitution is not that King Xuan begrudged the expense, but that, having seen the intended victim, he could not bear that it should suffer. This is held up as an example of humane behaviour. The substitute sheep, we must presume, was kept out of his sight.

Of course, what we witness when reading Mencius is often hued diplomatically. The sage cannily couched his lessons with examples that would please his audience, even while they prompted introspection.

Qi arose in 1046 BCE as one of the vassals of Zhou (周). It was the last state to fall to Qin (秦), in 221 BCE.
King Xuan ruled from 319 BCE to 301 BCE.



Right about now, you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with Isabel Marant. Or fancy shoes. Well, nothing. At least not anything that I can figure out. There is no record in Mencius (孟子) or the Biographies of Famous Women (列女傳) of a single person in China wearing Isabel Marant much before the current age. Yet the spambot cunningly saw that this blog on occasion discusses matters Sinitic and historic, and attempted to join in the discussion. A valiant effort!

But entirely off the wall.

Bravo. But no dice.


I remain enchanted with the wondrous charm of the concept.
Isabel Marant and ancient Chinese History.
Subject for a seminar.


If you are in Hong Kong, and desire to purchase Isabel Marant, I would direct you to this address: 香港、中環、雪廠街、10號。
Number 10, Ice House Street, Central District, Hong Kong Island.
I believe that there might be a boutique there that you would like.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================