Empress Xu was both beautiful and intelligent, well-versed in the classics and history. She married Liu Ao, the future Emperor Cheng of Han, while he was still crown prince, and their early years together were harmonious. When Liu Ao ascended the throne, he appointed her as empress.
Empress Xu had given birth to a son and a daughter, but both tragically died young, leaving the Empress Dowager worried about the imperial succession. When a series of natural disasters struck the land, superstitious officials like Liu Xiang and Gu Yong blamed the palace women, claiming the calamities were divine punishment for the harem's sins. Emperor Cheng, absurdly believing this nonsense, decided to cut the budget for the empress's residence, the Pepper Chamber. In her memorial to the throne, Empress Xu pleaded, "I am a woman of ill fortune, caught in the austerity of the Jingning era." Jingning was the final reign title of Emperor Yuan, her father-in-law, whose court had been frugal due to constant disasters, unlike the lavish times of Emperor Xuan. She meant that her misfortune was to face budget cuts based on those lean years, begging the emperor not to reduce her allowances. Emperor Cheng flatly rejected her request.
Empress Xu's own words proved tragically prophetic: she was indeed "ill-fated." First, the emperor took many new concubines, leaving her neglected and isolated. Then, her sister, the wife of the Marquis of Ping'angang, was caught using black magic to curse a pregnant imperial consort and the powerful Grand General Wang Feng, the empress dowager's brother. When the plot was exposed, Empress Xu was implicated and deposed, having held her title for only fourteen years. Nine years after her fall, another sister's misdeeds enraged the emperor, who sent a "gift of poison," forcing her to drink it and ending her miserable life in tragedy.
"Born under an unlucky star" means having bad fortune. Superstitious people in the past believed that being too beautiful was not a good thing for a woman, often leading to more suffering, encountering villains, or even an untimely death. The idiom "Beauty's Ill Fate" means that beautiful women often have unfortunate destinies.
Source: *Book of Han*, "Biography of Empress Xu of Emperor Cheng"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "佳人薄命" came to describe how beautiful women often have unfortunate destinies.