Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships, but in Chinese history more women have toppled dynasties with just one look, so to speak. Or so people believe.
Guo Meimei, who received a five-year prison sentence on Thursday for running an illegal casino could have a place in that hall of fame, or shall we call it a "Hall of Infamy"? In 2011, she single-handedly ruined the reputation of the Red Cross of China - by flaunting her extravagant lifestyle on her micro blog.
Oh, she also claimed to be the manager of a company linked to the charity. Wang Jun, Guo's then-boyfriend, also ran a business that was a recognized fundraising partner of the society. So, Guo was four degrees removed from the Red Cross.
Yet, many simply refused to accept the clarification. In their minds, the hard-earned money they generously donated to help the poor had ended up paying for things such as Guo's Mercedes and Maserati. It is not a stretch to say that the Red Cross has never fully recovered from that blow. The 24-year-old material girl has become, through a chain of coincidences or colossal mismanagement from the charity or a combination of both, the poster girl for what went wrong with an immaculate brand and, some now are convinced, the fall girl.
Some online observers hail her as a reluctant hero, someone whose appetite for expensive gifts inadvertently served to crack open the edifice of corruption. Since the untangling of the web failed to corroborate the conspiracy theory they had envisioned, they believed the conviction on a non-related technicality was just a means of shutting her up.
One can also argue that Guo's big mouth - she seemed to relish the scandal-induced publicity and gave lots of interviews - could be a testament to the veracity of the clarification. If she indeed had sugar daddies among the highest echelons of power, she would have the common sense to keep a low profile. At one point she said she had crucial documents stashed away and, if threatened, would expose big names.
So far, that has not happened. Was Guo bluffing? Or was there some kind of game of brinksmanship between her and her bigwig lovers? Whatever the truth, the public will embellish her story to suit their inclination - right now, it's the distaste of corruption.
Guo is only a footnote in the chapter on the tears of natural disasters and joys of compassion. Long term, she has the potential to sneak into folklore. Beautiful women such as Xi Shi and Chen Yuanyuan changed Chinese history. Many were high-society courtesans. If a novelist fleshed out Guo's tale with credible fiction and turned it into a bestseller, the rhetoric could be more powerful than the mundane truth of gold digging.
However, to be a variant of the "hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold", Guo has yet to show she has a heart. As it is, she only embodies the pursuit of money.