The shocking truth about Chinese harems and the best concubines who became emperors. Stories and facts about the Forbidden City
Throughout the centuries, the Chinese believed that a woman conveys to a man vitality"qi" is a fundamental concept in the Chinese worldview. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Emperor Xuanzong, who at the age of 60 fell under the spell of his son’s charming young concubine Yang Guifei, kept about 40 thousand women in his palaces. And even such an orthodox communist as the Chairman of the CPC Central Committee, Mao Zedong, firmly believed in this Taoist dogma and had a harem - with the full understanding of the masses.
The author, the famous sinologist Viktor Nikolaevich Usov, in this original study, tells the story of the life of the wives and concubines of the Celestial Empire from ancient times to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the last emperor Pu Yi reigned. The book contains a lot of interesting information about the structure of the imperial harem.
Victor Usov
IN THE HAREM OF THE SON OF HEAVEN
Wives and concubines of the Celestial Empire
Secrets of Chinese harems
All Chinese women, whether empresses or maids, were essentially concubines. Since ancient times, one of the main signs of the power and might of the Son of Heaven in the Celestial Empire was a large harem. It was intended to demonstrate and realize male potency, the possession of which was an obligatory quality of a ruler from the point of view of the cult of the “sacred king.”
“The intimate life of the emperor was also subject to the strictest instructions, stemming from natural-philosophical erotological theories and boiling down to maintaining balance in the partner’s body Yanna(male - V.U.) And other(female - V.U.) energies, writes M. Kravtsova. - It was believed that the predominance yin over yang leads to depletion of male sexual potency, premature aging, illness and death. At the level of the sociocosmic universe, this caused various natural collisions associated with water: heavy rains, floods, premature frosts, as well as military conflicts."
The status of each inhabitant of the harem was determined by the degree of activity of her energy yin. Highest degree of activity other the empress was endowed with energy. However, this energy of hers was not limitless. Therefore, the Son of Heaven could enter into intimate contact with her no more than once a month, thereby, as it was believed, providing the opportunity to become pregnant and give birth to smart and strong offspring from the emperor. Other women of the harem had the right to more often enter into intimate contacts with the Son of Heaven, and, according to the author of the book “Palace Eunuch Women” Wang Yaping, the lower the rank of the concubine, the more often she could do this, and earlier than a concubine of a higher rank . As a result of this, the actual rulers of the harem became, as a rule, concubines of lower ranks, who had constant access to the emperor’s chambers.
Eunuchs served as an indispensable attribute of the harem in the East. However, in China, the use of eunuchs was the exclusive right of the ruling dynasty, that is, the emperor and princes from the imperial family. The rich commoners of China, unlike Turkey and other countries of the East, were forbidden, on pain of death, to have eunuchs in their homes and estates. Therefore, the term “harem” is fully applicable here only to the imperial and princely courtyards with their wives and concubines.
We know that the direct responsibilities of the eunuchs were to protect the women of the harem from contact with other men. However, from the stories "Zozhuan"(“Mr. Zuo’s Commentary”) it follows that in the early period of Chinese history, eunuchs clearly failed to cope with these direct responsibilities. According to the Russian historian L. Vasiliev, “perhaps the reason was that the strict orders of harem life had not yet been established, were not sufficiently institutionalized” compared to the future, and eunuchs were more often used to carry out assignments not related to the protection of the harem. That is why married women from among the nobility, and especially widows, had considerable freedom in behavior in those years and often abused this.
L. Vasiliev notes that the women of the harem (especially those involved in politics) during the Chunqiu period, unlike later times, felt quite free and were sometimes very active. Their activity was manifested not only in weaving intrigues and an active struggle for real power in order to transfer the throne to their sons, but also in possessing lovers. This “applied not only to widows, whose connections with high-ranking courtiers are recorded in sources and sometimes played a decisive role in politics, but also to married ladies. Moreover, it was adultery that served as a reason for conflicts, especially between lines of the same clan and in general among close and people who knew each other well."
Ming Dynasty Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City (Gugong)
It is known that later attempts were made repeatedly to limit the activities of the wives and concubines of the Son of Heaven, especially interference in the affairs of governing the Celestial Empire. Thus, the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, in his “Testaments of the Ancestor” wrote: “...Never allow the willful power of the inhabitant of the main court (that is, the empress. - V.U.), any of the minor wives and concubines... For each nightly visit by them to the chambers of the sovereign, a queue has been established. If wives appear who make unfounded speeches, then when the harmfulness of what is said is revealed, they should be reprimanded. There should be no jealous women in the imperial palace."
How many women is a man supposed to have?
It is known that any wealthy man in the Near and Middle East could have several wives - this was a sign of his wealth. In order to afford such luxury, he only had to provide each wife with own house, or at least a separate floor, or at least its own special hearth.
Summer Imperial Palace - the summer residence of the emperors of the Qing dynasty on the outskirts of Beijing
Homer called polygamy an eastern custom. Greek kings and heroes had only one wife, but Priam, the king of Troy in Asia Minor, had many wives, although his main wife Hecuba did not feel disadvantaged:
I had fifty sons during the invasion of the Achaean Rati,
There were nineteen of them from the mother;
Others were given birth to by other kind wives in the palaces.(Translation by N. Gnedich)
King Solomon (10th century BC) had, according to legend, from three hundred to a thousand wives originally from different countries, among them was an Egyptian princess, taken, however, only for political reasons. When this king entered into an alliance with any neighboring country, he took the daughter of the corresponding king as his wife. Each of the queen wives had her own house. As follows from historical materials, such a house was significantly different from the “classical” eastern harem, the type of which developed only later in Persia.
Islam limited the number of wives: a man could have no more than four. “Your wives are a field for you; go to your field whenever you wish, and prepare for yourselves,” says the Koran. Although the prophet Mohammed himself did not observe these restrictions - he had nine wives. How did things stand with this in the Middle Kingdom?
According to legend, the son of the progenitor of Chinese civilization, the Yellow Lord, had one official wife and three concubines. Availability of the ruler Ancient China four wives was (as in the countries of the Islamic world) the norm of palace life. As the Russian sinologist V. Malyavin notes, the four wives of the emperor symbolized, according to the court scribes, the four directions of the world and the four seasons, and together with the Son of Heaven they made up the sacred number five: five elements, five colors, five taste sensations, etc. “From this point of view,” notes V. Malyavin, “the imperial harem was a prototype of the universe. According to a later and more extravagant explanation, imperial family should resemble a tea set, where one teapot is accompanied by several cups." However, according to the Chinese historian Wang Yaping, the wise King Shun had only three wives, and three times three form a nine - the peak of male power yang
We have all heard about harems, but Chinese harems and the life of concubines have their own amazing features. Many concubines, a special way of life and several examples of the amazing ascension of mistresses to the Imperial throne.
The imperial family should correspond to a service where several cups belong to one teapot. The Chinese harem was distinguished by a clear distribution of roles, the absolute influence of traditions and submission to the strictest instructions stemming from natural philosophical erotological theories and boiling down to maintaining a balance of yang (male) and yin (female) energies in the partner’s body.
It was believed that the predominance of yin over yang led to early aging of potency, and also influenced the weather, bringing with it torrential rains, earthquakes and other disasters.
The Empress had the highest energy, but the Emperor could have sexual intercourse with her no more than once a month in order to produce the strongest offspring. The main one among the women in the palace was the empress, or the main wife of the Son of Heaven (huan hou), followed by four additional “wives” (fu ren) - each of them had a special title: precious (guifei), virtuous (shufei), moral (defei). ) and a talented (xianfei) concubine.
The emperor could have three ladies-favorites occupying the first highest level, nine “senior concubines” or “concubines” (jiu bin), who occupied the second rank; 27 “junior concubines” (shifu), which, in turn, were divided into: nine jie yu (maids of honor), nine mei ren (beauties) and nine cai ren (talents), occupying the third, fourth and fifth level, another 81 so called the “harem girl” (yu qi). They were also divided into three categories: 27 Bao Lin (precious wood) girls, 27 Yu Nü (imperial women) and 27 Sai Nü (women pickers), making up the sixth, seventh and eighth stages.
At last dynasty The Qing emperor's concubines were divided as follows: huangguifei - concubine of the first rank, gui-fei - second rank, fei - third, bin - fourth, gui-ren - fifth, dain - senior maid of honor, changzai - junior maid of honor, and finally, servants - shinyu.
The number of imperial wives in the Xia Dynasty was supposed to be 12 (three taken four times). During the Shang-Yin dynasties, the sovereign was given 27 more (that is, three times nine) concubines, so that the emperor now had 39 wives and concubines. This number was also explained by the consideration that a woman’s age ends at forty. During the Zhou Dynasty, the number of female inhabitants of the imperial harem increased to 120. Each of them was required to be provided with their own house on the territory of the Imperial Palace. Each was assigned maids and eunuchs.
Their number varied from dynasty to dynasty - the maximum number of maids provided to the Empress was 12, then concubines of the first category - 8, second category 6, third category - 4, ordinary concubines - 2.
They all lived together and therefore the number of women in the harems reached 40 thousand people!
The ruler was entitled to four concubines of the 1st rank. They were called: precious venerable friend (guifei), kind venerable friend (huifei), beautiful venerable friend (lifei) and graceful venerable friend (huafei). Concubines of lower rank were called “exemplars” (yi), and there were six of them: an exemplary purity (shuyi), an exemplary virtue (deyi), an exemplary virtue (xianyi), an exemplary meekness (shunyi), an exemplary beauty (wanyi), and an exemplary fragrance (fangyi).
A concubine was chosen for the night like this - the Emperor had a huge vessel with jade tablets with the names and numbers of the concubines, as well as albums with drawings of the concubines. Numbers were assigned to all concubines, and the higher the number, the more shameful the concubine’s life was. There is a saying in China - she is the daughter of the fifteenth concubine, which roughly means our saying - the seventh water on jelly. By the way, intrigues in the harem were present in full force and some concubines could persuade the artist to paint the most beautiful concubines as ugly so that the Emperor would never choose them. Being in a harem and being a virgin was considered a mortal disgrace.
The Emperor took out a tablet, beat the gong and silently gave the tablet to the eunuch, who noted in a special journal who the Emperor had chosen, the concubine was sent for, she was stripped naked (in order to avoid the presence of any weapons), washed, a cloak made of heron fluff was put on her and carried on their backs to the Emperor's chambers.
The concubine had the right to be in the chambers only certain time. If time ran out, the eunuchs sitting outside the doors shouted that time was up. Not a single concubine was allowed to stay until the morning; this was a privilege only for the wife. The concubine quietly slipped under the blanket to the Emperor, and at the end of the pleasures, the eunuch asked permission to leave the seed. If the Emperor allowed, then the date of intercourse was recorded in a special journal, and if not, then a specially trained person pressed the concubine’s stomach in a special way so that the sperm flowed out.
All the Emperor’s visits to his wife, the only woman to whom he could go himself and stay with her overnight, were still recorded in a special journal. After the Emperor left the bedroom, he was always asked whether intercourse had taken place or not. If not, then the column in the journal remained empty, but if yes, then the column was filled out - on such and such a date, such and such a month, such and such a year, intercourse took place.
Even the number of sexual acts was regulated. Once every five days the Emperor was obliged to call a concubine. Only the death of the parents freed him from this duty for three months.
The cruelest etiquette and conventions determined even this side of life.
The large number of concubines required increasing efforts to keep track of them. So, concubines who visited the Emperor’s bed were given a special seal on their palm, rubbed with cinnamon, and it was preserved forever. Without this seal, remaining in the harem was considered a disgrace for a long time.
Pregnancy was the highest good and for this purpose any intrigues, bribes, even murders and secret abortions of already pregnant concubines were used.
Girls for harems were selected separately by specially trained people from among the daughters of governors and princes. At the age of 12-14, they passed the examination, which was arranged by the Emperor’s mother, and if successful, they entered the harem. However, knowing the terrible morals going on in harems, many parents deliberately mutilated their daughters or gave their daughters to maids instead.
In addition to intrigue, masturbation in the absence of the Emperor's caresses and walks in the garden, the concubines took care of their toilet and jewelry every day - the concubine should always be ready to be called by the Emperor. High hairstyles - hair to hair were put in every day and pinned up a huge amount hairpins No wonder the hairpin in China is considered a symbol of a woman.
Wu Zetian is the first and only woman in China to rule the Empire for 15 years. On the left - this is how she was in life, on the right - this is how modern Chinese cinema sees her.
As a concubine of Emperor Taizong, she showed too strong a nature and was exiled to a Buddhist monastery, but managed to become the mistress of the Emperor’s son, who later became the Emperor, Gaozong. She removed all competitors from her path, including the Emperor's main wife, and became his only woman. According to legend, Wu Tzetian strangled her own newborn daughter with her own hands, but pointed to the Emperor’s wife, for which the latter, who was never able to give birth, was punished and expelled. She also got rid of all competitors among her relatives by drowning them in wine and executing them in other ways. She expelled the Emperor's son and for many years ruled with a firm hand a country for which a woman on the throne was an unprecedented case.
Another concubine who reached the top of the board is also known - Cixi. She was unusually beautiful, and although the Emperor did not pay attention to her for a long time, she nevertheless dragged the aging ruler into her bed and charmed him so much with singing and dancing that he stayed with her for several days, thereby unimaginably raising her status. She gave birth to her only son, Tongzhi (and even then, according to legend, it was the son of one of the concubines, who was killed immediately after giving birth), and after the death of the Emperor, having eliminated all competitors, she herself ascended the throne.
Cixi was famous for her cruelty. One day she ordered cannon fire on a Catholic cathedral in which there were women and children. She brutally dealt with everyone who was against her rule. During the Boxer Rebellion, Cixi ordered the extermination of foreigners whom she considered a threat to ancient Chinese traditions. Foreign powers sent troops to save their citizens. The Empress fled. She lost money and power. Chaos began in the country. In her old age, Cixi became addicted to drugs.
The Chinese imperial court in the Middle Ages numbered thousands of officials, eunuchs, guards, harem concubines, imperial relatives and wives, and constituted a small state within a state with its own administration and laws. Eunuchs are men who dedicated themselves to serving the emperor, sacrificing their main male dignity.
Every year, up to 40 castrated boys were delivered to the imperial court. Eunuchs mostly they came from poor families and did not end up in the palace because of a good life - poor parents who had no means of subsistence often sold their sons. Boys for this role were traditionally chosen mainly from the Hejiang region of Hebei Province. In the palace they were made apprentices to old eunuchs and paid them a small salary.
The Emperor of the Celestial Empire could have up to 3 thousand eunuchs, princes and princesses - up to 30 eunuchs each, younger children and nephews - up to 20, their cousins - up to 10. Little eunuchs, from about the age of five, were especially valued at court. They were used as amusement or entertainment for the ladies of the court. They were called "immaculate." From 10 to 15 years old they were already called little eunuchs, they were intended for domestic service. Older eunuchs were assigned to elderly and old ladies.
Special departments were responsible for castration courtyard, and there were also independent castration specialists, whose craft was passed on from one family member to another. Before the operation, they calcined the knife on fire, and then they underwent surgery. Fatal outcome occurred quite rarely in 3-6%. But often boys were castrated privately, without the help of specialists. The Russian doctor of medicine Korsakov, who lived in China since 1895, observed and described castration procedures. “First, complete local anesthesia of the genital parts is done with some secret remedy, so that the person being operated on does not feel pain.
With a quick swipe, the genitals are cut off. A wooden or tin button in the form of a nail is inserted into the opening of the urethra. The wound is washed with water and diluted pepper. Then soft Chinese paper moistened with fresh water is placed on the wound and everything is bandaged tightly. Then the operated patient is lifted and walked around the room for two or three hours, allowing the body juices to take the correct rotation again. The patient does not eat or drink anything for 3 days, and after that the bandage is lifted and the patient is allowed to urinate.
If urine flows freely, then he is considered recovered. Full recovery lasts about 3 and a half months, and in many cases bladder complications are not uncommon.” The eunuchs were responsible for the order in which the concubines of the harem were to bow to the emperor; they formed retinues and honorary guards for imperial exits; they maintained order during all festivities. In addition, the eunuchs were in charge of both the emperor’s harem itself and the selection of girls for this harem. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were more than 3,000 eunuchs in the imperial palace. They were divided into 2 categories.
The former served the emperor, empress, mother of the emperor and imperial concubines, and they usually enjoyed special privileges. Second - everyone else. The duties of eunuchs were varied. They were supposed to be during the sleep and awakening of the Son of Heaven and his household. For example, when Cixi retired, her bedroom was guarded by 6 eunuchs, they stayed awake all night. In the bedroom itself there were 2 eunuchs who were also awake. Eunuchs took part in the emperor's meals and had to constantly accompany his retinue, carry umbrellas and other imperial attributes. Their duties included: disseminating the highest decrees, escorting officials and foreign guests and diplomats to an audience with the emperor, receiving money from treasurers outside the court, familiarizing various departments of the Court Department with documents, and ensuring fire protection for residential premises in the palace.
Eunuchs were tasked with overseeing the storage of books in libraries, antiques, paintings, clothing, etc. They lit scented candles in front of the spirits of the emperors' ancestors, recorded the deeds of the monarch, punished the guilty with whips, cleaned the palace gardens and parks, cut the emperor's hair, prepared medicines, played in the palace theater, and read prayers. They often served as priests in the imperial court. The emperor had his own harem. The number of inhabitants of the harem was not limited to any limits and could reach several thousand women. The Son of Heaven was supposed to have one legal empress wife, 9 wives of the second rank, 27 of the third, and 81 concubines. Moreover, the composition of the concubines was updated from time to time. Every 3 years, bridesmaids were held in the imperial palace when the emperor was looking for a bride. Virgin daughters from 12 to 16 years old took part in the shows.
The emperor chose those from among them. Who did he particularly like? Concubines were supposed to remain in the harem until they were 25 years old, and then, if they did not have children, they were removed from the palace. Concubines, mothers of children, from the emperor could claim the role of the wife of the emperor and empress - the wife of the Son of Heaven. It is well known that Cixi was selected by a eunuch for her beautiful appearance to join the emperor's harem. Usually eunuchs delivered concubines to the emperor's bedside. The Son of Heaven, wanting to spend the night with some concubine, ordered the chief eunuch to take her to his chambers. If concubines were brought to the emperor’s bedroom by eunuchs, then he came to his wife himself and for a time that was not limited by anything. “When describing my childhood,” Emperor Pu Yi recalled, “one cannot fail to mention the eunuchs.
They were present when I ate, dressed and slept, accompanied me in games and activities, told me stories, received rewards and punishments from me. If others were forbidden to be with me, then for the eunuchs this was an obligation. They were my main companions in childhood, my slaves and my first teachers. According to the memoirs of Emperor Pu Yi, the largest number of eunuchs was in the Ming era (1368-1644) - 10,000 people. Under Empress Cixi, their number exceeded 3 thousand. In 1922. there were 1137 of them, two years later there were 200 of them left, and in 1945 there were only 10 people. The work of ordinary eunuchs at the imperial court was not very highly paid, and in the history of China there are many cases when eunuchs at the emperor's court engaged in embezzlement, appropriating the property of others.
If a eunuch was caught stealing, he was immediately beheaded. Almost every month there were reports in the government newspaper that one or another eunuch was sentenced to beheading or exile. According to Chinese data, more than 30 eunuchs died under Cixi, unable to withstand torture. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong (1457-1464) in Ming times, more than 60 treasure troves of gold and silver, and more than 20 corals were discovered at the eunuch Wang Zhen after his death. According to Pu Yi, the unimaginable was happening inside the palace: “Since childhood, I constantly heard that thefts, fires and even murders were happening in the palace, not to mention gambling and opium smoking. To put an end to these constant problems, I decided to dismiss all the eunuchs as unnecessary, leaving only 170 eunuchs in the palace who serve two concubine mothers.” Eunuchs tried to have children, at least adopted ones, or raised their nephews.
You probably think that you good man. Perhaps you are a successful person or consider yourself capable of becoming one. Being good and successful at the same time is not easy. Just as it is not easy to make high-quality tactical and at the same time strategic decisions.
We live. And the field of our life is woven from situations and moments. Who wove it? Why are we in these situations? How were they resolved and how could they be resolved?
From the point of view of Western mentality, these are rhetorical questions. It happened - and that's it. And the East? The East believes that a person is born and lives in a web of cause-and-effect relationships. The field of his life is woven from difficulties that he did not even create for himself - they already existed before his birth or the beginning of his activity. The life line is a chain of situations that line up depending on the actions of our ancestors and descendants. Like DNA: everyone has their own, but is woven from a finite number of components.
We build businesses and manage people. Or we think we are in charge. Or we lead until a certain moment, and then we feel that we have lost the thread of control. And we wonder: when could we lose her? Will we find new ways, or have irreversible processes already begun?
We live in a competitive world. And competition becomes tougher from year to year - in career, business, politics, international affairs... The logic of action in ordinary life and in intense competition is different. If in life you have the right to expect peace when you do not attack anyone, then in fierce competition you are under constant targeted fire.
In the Chinese Book of Changes, the life line and all world processes are described by a set of 64 hexagrams. In our book, we rely on the six that control the most important aspects of competition. Why, out of all the material we collected in China, do we publish Harem stories? Because modern business has more and more female faces and because women are closer to tactics. Only a few people engage in strategy, but millions participate in real everyday battles. At the same time, women are much more dangerous than men in competition because they are more susceptible to fear. That is why we took examples of the toughest competition from the secret chronicles of the Chinese Imperial
Harem, where we're talking about not only about achieving power and prosperity, but also about preserving one’s family, one’s offspring and one’s life.
The reader will be able to independently assess the managerial, political and ethical moves presented in these stories. Some things will seem too harsh, some will seem painfully familiar. However, it is worth noting that this experience, these classic examples, underlie the mentality of the modern Asian business elite. It is important for us to know and use this layer of Eastern culture. After all, in order to imagine what our world could be like, it is important for us to understand what it already was.
Elena and Andrey Sadykov
Prague, 2007
The intimate life of Chinese emperors
History tells us that of all the Chinese emperors, only twelve lived to be seventy years old, and a third of those who were in power died between the ages of 20 and 40. This is despite the fact that, for Chinese imperial reasons, sex promotes long life. (It is worth saying that Buddhist monks who took a vow of celibacy almost all lived to sixty without indulging in sexual pleasure.) At first, the emperors were more modest in their desires and kept only a few women in the harem. But starting from 265, the harem of the imperial palace already numbered thousands of beauties. And in the golden age of Chinese history - in the Tang Dynasty - there were exactly forty thousand concubines in the harem.
Of all the ladies living in the palace, approximately one hundred and twenty-two had the status of wives, that is, guaranteed sex with the emperor. According to ancient tradition, all wives were assigned ranks.
Empress, main wife - 1 (one).
Second wife (fu zhen)– 4 (four), had a status equivalent to that of the prime minister.
Third class wife (jing bin), she is also a concubine, she is also a servant of the empress - 9 (nine) women.
Fourth class wife (goo foo) or junior harem girl - 27 people.
Fifth class wife (nu zhu), or just a harem girl - 81.
The emperor's sexual regime was regulated by the rising and waning of the moon. He slept with all the women on special days of the lunar calendar with sequence and frequency according to their ranks. The moon grew, and the emperor started with women of lower rank. During the full moon he slept with the empress. The Emperor symbolized the sun, and the Empress the moon, and they were supposed to unite during the full moon, when harmony was perfect between the two cosmic symbols of man and woman. On the days from the first to the ninth, the emperor slept with nine of the 81 fifth-class wives who shared his bed every night. From the tenth to the twelfth day he chose from the fourth class of wives.
On the thirteenth day of the lunar calendar he took a wife from the fourth category, and on the fourteenth - from the second category. The fifteenth and sixteenth are the days of the empress. And in reverse order. It must be remembered that there was no thirty-first day in the Chinese calendar, so everything turned out symmetrically and fair to all wives who dreamed of a relationship with the emperor and the conception of an heir to the state.
The Office of Imperial Affairs of the Chamber of the Bed controlled all sexual relations of the emperor according to rules developed back in the Zhou era, that is, more than three thousand years ago. To control the ever-increasing number of the emperor's women, a special accounting department kept strict records. The name of the imperial partner, the date of intercourse, signs of pregnancy after it, etc. were written down in red ink. When a special woman led the woman to the imperial chambers, she put a silver ring on the finger of her right hand. After sex with the emperor, the ring was moved to the left hand. If a woman became pregnant, she was given a gold ring. During the Tang Dynasty, additional measures were taken to avoid confusion and false claims from the emperor's women. Anyone who had sex with the emperor was given an indelible seal on their hand.
However, strict sexual protocol was not always followed. For example, Emperor Wu of the Yin Dynasty placed several hundred beautiful women in separate mansions. He rode around the territory between the houses of his wives in a chariot pulled by goats. When the goats stopped near a house, the emperor went inside and spent the night there. All the women competed with each other for the attention of the goats. They grew the freshest grass in front of their gates and even sprinkled salt on the lawn to tempt the animals.
The Ming Dynasty emperors adopted a different system for selecting women. Wooden nameplates were presented to the emperor on a silver tray. At dinner, the eunuch in charge of the affairs of the Chamber of the Bed introduced the women to the emperor. If the emperor wanted to choose himself, he took a nameplate. If he was unsure of his choice, the eunuch recommended him some beauty. The eunuch described the virtues of each woman and her ability to satisfy the emperor at night. The eunuch's words often carried considerable weight. The chosen woman was informed that she would be with the emperor today. The duty of bringing the good news to the woman lay with the empress. She had to ask the woman if she agreed to serve the emperor.
Next came the preparation of the lucky woman for the meeting with the emperor. She washed herself carefully and let her hair down to show the emperor that she was too young to be a worthy partner for him. Then two eunuchs would arrive and she would strip naked in their presence so that they could check to see if any weapons were hidden in the folds of her clothes. After inspection, she was wrapped in a red carpet (or a blanket with feathers) and carried on their shoulders to the emperor’s bedroom. These two eunuchs were also required to undress themselves before entering the emperor's bedroom for the same reason. The maid helped the woman put on a silk translucent dress for sleeping and left her waiting for the sovereign.
I need very little to be happy: power over the world and something to eat...
Concubine status in traditional China
Status of a concubine in traditional China
In traditional Chinese society, women not only raised children and did housework, but also lived in the palace, serving the emperor, and sometimes playing important role in management state affairs.
Concubines in the Emperor's Palace
To begin with, it should be determined that one of the main signs of the power and might of the Son of Heaven in the Celestial Empire was a large harem. The status of each inhabitant of the harem was determined by the degree of activity of her yin energy (阴 - negative (feminine) principle of the universe) energy. The empress was endowed with the highest degree of activity of this energy.
Each woman had a strictly defined place in the family hierarchy: maids were subordinate to concubines, concubines to wives, wives to chief wives, and without exception, to the first mistress, the chief wife of the father of the family, and in the event of his death, to the chief wife of the eldest son. In the harem of the Son of Heaven, the empress was in charge of all the secondary wives. Secondary wives, as well as concubines, did not have the right to sit with the first or main wife. This was even expressed in the writing of the hieroglyph 妾(tse - concubine), which consists of two parts: on top the hieroglyph 立(li - to stand), and below 女(nyu - woman, maiden).
Concubines had to remain in the harem until they were twenty-five years old, and then, if they did not have children (primarily sons), they were removed from the palace. Concubine mothers of children who gave birth to the Son of Heaven remained in the palace and could lay claim to the role of wife of the emperor and empress.
The women and girls of the palace comprised two categories: the wives and concubines of the emperor and the palace servants. All the women in the imperial palace were divided into several categories. By the time of the reign of Emperor Yuandi (from 49 BC to 33 BC), according to the famous Russian historian R. Vyatkin, there were 14 categories of concubines. In the late Han period, according to S.V. Volkov, only four ranks were established for concubines.
And here is the gradation of wives and concubines given by the historian Wang Yaping. The main one among the women in the palace was the empress, or the main wife of the Son of Heaven, followed by four (not three, as V.V. Malyavin believes) “additional” wives, each of them had a special title: precious concubine, virtuous, moral and talented concubines. This is stated in the treatise “Li-Ji”. There were also three lady favorites who occupied the first highest level; nine senior concubines who occupied the second rank; 27 junior concubines, who in turn were divided into: nine ladies-in-waiting, nine beauties and nine talents, occupying the third, fourth and fifth levels, and 81 “harem girls”. They were also divided into three categories: 27 girls, 27 imperial women and 27 female collectors, who made up the sixth, seventh and eighth levels.” Based on the above data, we can conclude that there is no exact gradation of concubines in the imperial palace, but one thing can be said for sure - there were many concubines and they were all endowed with different powers.
According to some materials from the Sung time, the emperor was supposed to officially have twelve wives and concubines, according to the number of months in the year (three wives and nine concubines); princes were required to have nine women (one wife and eight concubines); a major dignitary - one wife and two concubines.
In addition to the concubines, in the Son of Heaven Palace there were also palace maidens who stood at the last step, and palace maids who were beyond all steps and were the lowest status people in the palace. The use of palace girls and maids was strictly limited to a narrow circle of palace institutions. During the Ming era, they were organized into seven specialized agencies, to which 24 divisions were subordinate. In the 15th century, many women's functions were taken over by eunuchs, and only one female institution remained - the clothing service with four auxiliary bureaus.
All these numbers, as we see, had cosmological semantics. However, there could be more women in the harem. According to the Chinese authors Dian Denguo and Wang Yaping, it was during the Tang (618-907) and Ming (1368-1643) dynasties that there were the most concubines in the emperor's palaces. It is known that Emperor Xuanzong (712-756), who was distinguished by extreme love and who, already at the age of sixty, fell under the spell of his son’s young concubine Yang Guifei, kept about 40 thousand women in his palaces.
Based on historical materials, Wang Yaping provides the following data on the number of women in the palaces of the Son of Heaven in different historical eras. In the palaces of Qin Shihuang (246-210 BC) there were 10 thousand of them, in Wudi Han (140-87 BC) - 20 thousand, in Wudi Jin (265-290) - 15 thousand, in the palaces of Yandi Sui (605-617) - several tens of thousands and, as we have already said, Xuanzong had about 40 thousand women in Tang times.
During other dynasties in China, according to Dian Denguo, the number of concubines was much smaller. Emperor Guangxu of the last Qing Dynasty only had two concubines.
Wives and concubines in the palace were served by eunuchs and female servants. The number of both varied in different dynasties. Thus, in the last half of the Qing dynasty, according to Dian Denguo, the empress dowager had 12 maids, the empress had 10, concubines of the first category had 8, the second had 6, the third had 4, and ordinary concubines had 3 maids.
Concubines, as they arrived at the owner’s house, received serial numbers: concubine No. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The higher the serial number of the concubine, the lower the price in the eyes of society. JI. Vasiliev notes that women during the Chunqiu period, unlike later times, felt quite free and were sometimes very active.
In Tang times, and even later, according to the famous Russian historian A. A. Boyutsanin, until the 16th century, the number of concubines was not limited. Marriage with a concubine in those years was formalized. Concubines were either “taken as wives” or “bought.” When one marries a concubine, a contract should also be drawn up, as stated in the Tang Code. If one buys a concubine and does not know her surname, the latter should be determined through fortune telling. It was forbidden to take as concubines former concubines relatives of older generations, as well as women of the same surname as their future husband.
I would like to clarify the situation that developed after the death of the emperor. Even in ancient times, there was a ritual according to which, upon the death of an emperor, the burial of his wives and concubines was carried out. This followed from the ancient Chinese concept that the soul of the deceased lives in the next world and needs everything that it had on earth. Hence the custom of burying wives alive along with their dead husbands. Already with the first emperor of the centralized empire, Qin Shihuang, his wives were buried (but only those who did not have children from him!). The emperors of the Ming dynasty decided to restore this ancient terrible ritual - the burial of concubines along with the death of the emperor. In the imperial tombs they buried the main wife of the Son of Heaven, sometimes the mother of the heir and individual concubines who had somehow glorified themselves. However, as a rule, many concubines were given a special burial place somewhere near the emperor's tomb. Emperors built separate tombs for their favorite concubines. In this regard, the tomb of Emperor Sizong's concubine Tian Guifei is interesting. It is a large hall with nine rows of columns. The emperor who committed suicide and his concubine Zhou, who was killed by him, were buried in this grave. A cruel custom reintroduced under the Mings (1368-1644), the murder of concubines was far from limited to the imperial court. Gradually its scope expanded, the number of victims increased. The highest dignitaries, imitated throughout the court, soon also began to perform this bloody “ritual,” and it often turned out that they surpassed the Son of Heaven in cruelty.
The murder of concubines was carried out in a rather peculiar way - as if at the will of the concubines themselves. The entire system of public education with early childhood developed in the future concubine the consciousness of the impossibility of existence without the emperor, convinced her that she was obliged to be both in this world and in the next. Of course, this belief of the young concubines was nurtured by old religious ideas. On the other hand, it should be taken into account that the Son of Heaven was “a god on earth” before whom everyone, not excluding concubines, trembled. All this served as the reasons for their mass suicides on the day of the burial of emperors and nobles or shortly after their death. To this it should be added that the imperial palace, as we well know, was the arena of struggle for power and the throne not only among nobles and officials, but also among imperial concubines. Many of them had to die prematurely as a result of secret intrigues and the envy of their own palace friends.
The conviction of concubines about the need for suicide upon the death of emperors or nobles was reinforced not only by fear, not only by education from childhood, not only by generally accepted, now normal customs, from which no one dared to make exceptions. It was also reinforced by a system of exaltation of concubines who sacrificed their lives, a system that to a large extent aroused the vanity of the concubines, with the knowledge that by killing herself, she was committing a noble, pious act. Often, palace dignitaries from the chamber of rituals incited young beauties to commit suicide.
After suicide, the concubines were given majestic names with hieroglyphs indicating certain virtues of the innocent victims. The names were given beautiful, euphonious and moralizing, speaking about the virtues of the deceased.
But even more terrible was the fate of the palace maids, who were not exalted after forced death, but were burned in common so-called “wells.” One of the largest wells was located 5 li (2.5 km) outside the city capital gate of Fuchengmen. This place, which turned into a “graveyard” for palace maids, was called “Gongzhense”.
Here is what was said about Gunzhens in Chinese chronicles: “There are two pits there, the walls of which are lined with bricks; on a small house there is a pagoda... The tops of the wells are covered with stone slabs, they have small holes through which air penetrates into the well. All the non-famous palace maids were not buried in separate graves... Their corpses were burned inside the well.”
It was only at the end of the Jiajing reign that the senior maids of the Son of Heaven Palace were allowed to buy land for their tomb; if they did not want their corpse to be put on fire, they were given the opportunity to be buried in the ground.
Concubines in rich houses and commoners
Regarding the presence of concubines ordinary people, then it should be noted that during the Ming Dynasty there was a set of rules “Laws of the Great Ming Dynasty”, which strictly specified who, depending on their rank, how many concubines were entitled to. Concubines for the emperor's closest relatives were allowed to choose a maximum of 10 people once upon submission of a report; their sons were allowed to have 4 concubines.
Gradually, not only the emperor’s relatives and dignitaries began to take concubines. During the Han Dynasty, even middle-income men could afford to keep concubines. They often bought girls they liked from brothels, and this custom continued throughout subsequent dynasties.
The concubine called her husband's wife mistress and wore mourning for her in the event of her death, but the wife in a similar case did not wear mourning for her husband's concubines. Naturally, the concubine had to wear mourning for her husband, but the husband did not mourn for his concubine, who did not have a son from him, and for the concubines of his sons and grandchildren. The husband did not bear any responsibility for beating a concubine without visible wounds, fractures or injuries. But if a husband killed a concubine, then he was punished two degrees less than for murder common man. According to the laws of the Tang Empire, a slave for raping his master's concubine received a punishment one level less than for raping his wife. In general, the punishment for raping a concubine or committing adultery with her was always one step less than for raping a wife or committing adultery with her. A wife who cursed her husband received a year of hard labor, a concubine - one and a half. In the Middle Ages, if a concubine inflicted a wound or mutilation on her husband, she was subject to the death penalty.
The position of a concubine in the family changed dramatically if she gave birth to a son, and especially if her son, in the absence of direct heirs from the head of the family, himself became the head of this family. The priority right in this regard belonged to the eldest son of the first concubine.
For the rape of a father's or grandfather's concubine, who had a son by her father or grandfather, the perpetrator was threatened with death penalty by strangulation. If she did not have a son, the punishment was less severe. For the rape of a wife, a more severe form of punishment was imposed - beheading. In Ming times, a concubine who raised her hand against her wife was subject to flogging with 60 thick batogs and a year’s exile; the wife, who did not cause the concubine fractures or more severe injuries as a result of assault, was not held accountable at all. A concubine who cursed her wife received 80 blows with thick batogs, while the law did not provide for any punishment for verbal insult of a concubine by her official wife. Thus, we see how different the attitude was in the family and society towards the main wife and the concubine.
In addition to harems, princes and high-ranking officials had their own troupes of girls trained in dance and music, who showed their art to guests during official banquets, meals and private feasts. As Chinese chronicles testify, they often changed hands, they were sold and resold, or simply presented as a gift. Gifting beautiful dancers became the norm of diplomatic etiquette at princely courts. It is known that in 515 BC. e. one major official involved in the litigation offered a troupe of such girls as a bribe to the judge. The presence of dancers and singers was considered a certain indicator social status their owner. However, over time, only the ruling families could have private troupes, although brothels provided professional singers and dancers to anyone who could pay for it.
Commoners from forty years of age and older, in the absence of sons, were allowed to purchase one concubine. All childless husbands had the right to marry a concubine. At the same time, the man took concubines, guided not only by his desire, but also by his financial capabilities. In poor families, all the concubines lived in the same house, sat at the same table, they performed all homework, ran the household. As for the concubines living with the emperor, they are either in palaces. In Beijing's Gugong complex, to the east and west of Housangong, the three "distant palaces" reserved for the emperor's residence, there were six palaces belonging to empresses and concubines.
Thus, after analyzing the situation with the position of concubines, we can draw the following conclusion: the position of girls who received the status of concubines was unenviable, especially if they did not give birth to boys. Only the most beautiful and worthy girls became empresses and close concubines. Once in a palace or a rich house, a young girl suffered all the hardships and insults from older concubines and wives. If she could not give birth to a boy or gave birth to a girl, she could be sold to a brothel. The status of a concubine in traditional China can be equated to the status of a slave - she had no right to anything other than fulfilling the wishes of her master. But some were lucky; with the birth of a son and a combination of fortunate circumstances, they became the main concubines and even wives, subsequently came to power, and carried out their policies, as can be seen in the example of Empress Cixi.