Xishi (c. 450 BC), famous Chinese beauty, foremost of the four legendary beauties 四大美女[si4 da4 mei3 nu:3], given by King Gou Jian 勾踐|勾践[Gou1 Jian4] of Yue as concubine to King of Wu as part of a successful plan to destroy Wu
Wang Zhaojun (52-19 BC), famous beauty at the court of Han emperor Yuan 漢元帝|汉元帝[Han4 Yuan2 di4], one of the four legendary beauties 四大美女[si4 da4 mei3 nu:3]
Diaochan (-192), one of the four legendary beauties 四大美女[si4 da4 mei3 nu:3], in fiction a famous beauty at the break-up of Han dynasty, given as concubine to usurping warlord Dong Zhuo 董卓[Dong3 Zhuo2] to ensure his overthrow by fighting hero Lü Bu 呂布|吕布[Lu:3 Bu4]
to play the xiao 簫|箫[xiao1] (mouth organ) / to beg while playing pipes / cf politician Wu Zixu 伍子胥[Wu3 Zi3 xu1], c. 520 BC destitute refugee in Wu town, 吳市吹簫|吴市吹箫[Wu2 shi4 chui1 xiao1] / to busk / virtuoso piper wins a beauty, cf 玉人吹簫|玉人吹箫[yu4 ren2 chui1 xiao1] / (slang) fellatio / blowjob
lit. cut sleeve (idiom) / fig. euphemism for homosexuality, originating from History of Western Han 漢書|汉书: emperor Han Aidi (real name Liu Xin) was in bed with his lover Dong Xian, and had to attend a court audience that morning. Not wishing to awaken Dong Xian, who was sleeping with his head resting on the emperor's long robe sleeve, Aidi used a knife to cut off the lower half of his sleeve.
(of an entrepreneur) to buy up a struggling business / (finance) to snap up shares sold off by others / (neologism) (slang) to take as a girlfriend a woman who was dumped by her ex for sleeping around
lit. the boot hits the floor (idiom) / fig. a much-anticipated, impactful development has finally occurred (an allusion to a joke from the 1950s in which a young man would take off a boot and throw it onto the floor, waking the old man sleeping downstairs who could then not get back to sleep until he had heard the second boot hit the floor)
Yueyang Tower, famous beauty spot in Yueyang, north Hunan, overlooking Dongting Lake 洞庭湖[Dong4 ting2 Hu2] / one of three famous pagodas in China along with Yellow Crane Tower 黃鶴樓|黄鹤楼[Huang2 he4 Lou2] in Wuhan, Hubei and Tengwang Tower 滕王閣|滕王阁[Teng2 wang2 Ge2] in Nanchang, Jiangxi
virtuoso piper wins a beauty / the xiao 簫|箫[xiao1] (mouth organ) virtuoso 蕭史|萧史[Xiao1 Shi3] won for his wife the beautiful daughter of Duke Mu of Qin 秦穆公[Qin2 Mu4 gong1]
lit. there is heaven above, and there is 蘇杭|苏杭[Su1 Hang2] below (idiom) / fig. the beauty and affluence of Suzhou and Hangzhou is comparable with heaven
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