倾城

Mandarin

simpl.		倾城
trad.		傾城

Etymology

111: Ban Gu, Book of Han, Chapter 67, Biographies of the emperor's maternal relatives (汉书外戚传第六十七)
孝武李夫人，本以倡进。初，夫人兄延年性知音，善歌舞，武帝爱之。每为新声变曲，闻者莫不感动。延年侍上起舞，歌曰：「北方有佳人，绝世而独立，一顾倾人城，再顾倾人国。宁不知倾城与倾国，佳人难再得！」上叹息曰：「善！世岂有此人乎？」平阳主因言延年有女弟，上乃召见之，实妙丽善舞。由是得幸，生一男，是为昌邑哀王。
Consort Li, concubine to the Emperor Wu of Han, was originally a dancing performer. Her brother Yannian was a gifted musician and dancer, beloved by the emperor. Every time he composed something new, it never failed to move those listening to it. One day, Yannian did a dance and sang, "There is a beauty in the north, who stands out among the generations. One look will topple the men of the city. A second look will topple the men of the country. I would rather not know about toppled cities and toppled countries, because a beauty of this caliber may not come around again! " His majesty sighed and said, "Wow! Can there really be such a person in this world? " Whereupon Pingyang mentioned that Yannian had a sister. His majesty summoned her, and she was indeed a sight to behold, and a good dancer. As a result, she received the emperor's favor, and bore him a son; this was Prince Ai of Changyi. (Wiktionary translation)

Noun

倾城 (simplified, Pinyin qīngchéng, traditional 傾城)

(archaic) a drop-dead gorgeous woman; a beauty who could drive a man to distraction; a woman so beautiful, that he might be tempted to ignore his duties at court, and thus bring about the downfall of his empire