Just went through the latest upload Sword of the Yue Maiden. Reading about Xi Shi made me wonder why the other of the Four Great Beauties aren’t in Jin Yong’s novels.
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Hmmm… interesting question. Diaochan is in the Three Kingdoms period so that places her out of the picture since none of Jin Yong’s books were from that era. Actually, come to think of it, it is the same for Wang Zhaojun and Yang Guifei. There were no stories set during they lifetime.
I wonder how he would have portrayed them.
Jin Yong created his own Great Beauties. Xiaolongnu, Huang Rong, Wang Yuyan, Azi, Azhu, Zhao Min, Zhou Zhiruo, Ren Yingying, Ake… Did I miss out anyone?
I think Jin Yong’s own great beauties would surpass the four great beauties of history.
I think it helps that we are influenced by gorgeous actresses who played those roles too.
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LOL, that is true.
However, I do have a serious argument for my assumption! 
I was thinking about Jin Yong novels that contain great beauties of history, even if they are not THE four great beauties, but they were well recognised as great beauties too. For example in Bi Xie Jian, Chen Yuan Yuan was a great beauty of history, but it seems like Wen Qing Qing or Ah Jiu are both more beautiful than Chen Yuan Yuan. Ok…when I said beauties…I meant a beauty, because I clearly can’t think of any more. hehe… However in general, I feel the way Jin Yong describes his beauties, such as Fragrant Princess, Xiao Long Nv and Wang Yu Yan, their beauty is out of this world. They are like goddesses or deities. Now tell me that’s not more beautiful than the Four Great Beauties! 
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We should do a comparison of Jin Yong’s beauties based on the actresses! There was a recent meme going around about Xiaolongnu.
Here's an interesting excerpt from the newly added translation of [Jin Yong's Second Edition Preface](http://wuxiasociety.com/jin-yong-second-edition-preface):
Moreover, reading a novel involves the process of visualising characters by both the author and the reader. For people who read the same the same novel, the protagonists that appear in their minds might not be the same. This is because aside from the words in the books, readers draw from their personal experiences, personalities, emotions, and preferences. In your heart, you will meld the protagonist with your lover, and the lover of others is surely different from yours. However, film and television fix the appearances of the characters and leave the audience with no room for imagination.
I think in my case it’s a fusion of the actresses, my personal experiences and the descriptions in the novels.
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Hence it’s best to read the novel first so we have the chance to form our own image, then watch the movie/series after. Of cause doing so will have two outcomes, one is that we hate the actress because it’s not how we imagined it, the other is we love the actress because this is how we imagined it.
However again, I think even when we read the novel first, these days we tend to associated it with an actress we like already. I think it’s just easier when you have a defined face in your mind when you are reading the novel and it allows you to be more attached to the character faster.
Yeah. I agree with reading the novel first.
We might also associate the character to people we know and form a unique attachment that no one else can grasp. So how we related to each character can be vastly different.
For me, it’ll be Xiaolongnu, Huang Rong, Wang Yuyan and Zhao Min.
Anyone keen on the actress ranking?
Yes! (I hope it’s not too late too ask now!)
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