Binchuk (嚬蹙) is written with bin (嚬), "to knit the brow," and chuk (蹙), "to wrinkle the forehead," and originally simply meant "the act of frowning." Woven into the word is the story of a great beauty. In the state of Yue during the Spring and Autumn period lived a peerless beauty named Xi Shi, who suffered from a heart ailment and would sometimes knit her brow as she bore the pain. Yet even her frown was so lovely that people praised that, too, as beautiful. A plain woman of the same village saw this and began deliberately frowning as she walked about, hoping it would make her look pretty too. The result was the exact opposite: everyone who saw her recoiled and kept their distance, and she earned nothing but ridicule and pointed fingers. From this came the phrase "to incur binchuk" — that is, to draw the criticism and disapproval of others.