I like visiting art museums and galleries.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is called MOMAT.
MOMAT is one of the best places to visit because the museum has 15 important cultural heritages.
My favorite painting is this one…
I couldn’t take a picture at that time, so here is a drawing I made based on a real picture on the Internet.
The title is 王昭君（Ou-shou-kun.）
It is the name of a woman in a Chinese palace.
She is the leftmost woman in the painting.
She is leaving the Chinese palace to marry a foreign King.
The other women in the palace are seeing her off, some women are crying, and other women are looking at each other and they are whispering something.
Why does she have to marry a foreign King?
Because the Chinese Emperor thought that she was the ugliest woman in the palace. But it was not true, actually she was the most beautiful one.
Why did he think so?
Why was the ugliest woman supposed to marry a foreign king?
To explain, I need to tell you a long story.
In 100 BC, 1,000 beautiful women lived in the Emperor’s palace.
1,000… this is too many. The Emperor could be with a different mistress every night for two years and 270 days.
At least, he didn’t spend time with all of them, so many women in the palace didn’t meet the Emperor throughout their lives.
The Emperor was too busy to meet all 1,000 beautiful women, so a painter drew portraits of women in the palace, and the Emperor considered those portraits and decided who to meet every day.
One day, an accident happened.
At that time China traded with the Huns, a nomadic people.
The Huns King told the Chinese Emperor that he wanted to marry a Chinese lady, so the Emperor promised him that he would give him one from the palace.
But the Emperor actually looked down on the nomadic people and he thought “a beautiful lady is too good for him.”
Therefore, he decided to choose the woman with the ugliest portrait and give her to the Huns King. The painting of a woman named Ou shou kun was the ugliest, so he chose her.
The time had finally come.
When Ou shou kun was about to leave the palace, the Emperor saw her for the first time. He was surprised, because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Why was her portrait so ugly? Actually, many women in the palace handed a bribe to the painter to draw their portrait beautifully.
But Ou shou kun didn’t bribe the painter, so the painter drew her being ugly.
There are many opinions on why she didn’t bribe the painter.
“She didn’t have much money because she was not a noble.” “She disliked injustice,” “She was not interested in the Emperor,” or “She didn’t understand the tip system.”
In any case, the Emperor regretted his decision but it was too late.
The painter who asked for bribes was executed, and Ou shou kun married the Huns King.
According to the story, Ou shou kun, though beautiful, had a tragic fate. I imagine that’s why some women are crying in the painting.
But what I like about the painting is that she is smiling. Perhaps she thought she would be happier as the wife of a foreign King.
When I was a high school student, I learned the story from the teacher in my Chinese literature class.
He said, “Without the incident, she would have only been one of many women in the palace and her life would have ended without even being known by the Emperor.
Even if he had known and loved her, she would still have been one of the Emperor’s 1,000 wives. She was probably happier being cherished by the foreign King.”
It’s a very positive speculation, I like his idea and I agree with him.
*All three of these illustrations were drawn by me.
Plus I didn’t know the word “click bait”, it is really interesting, thank you for sharing. I think your title is so nice because mine was too long and difficult to understand. So if I can’t find a more attractive title, I will borrow your idea, thanks again 
