Life of Chinese Emperors. Chinese love

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Ruler of China Wu Zetian(624-705 AD) lived in an era when women were not put in anything. Despite this, she managed to subjugate a huge country. Today, some perceive Wu Zetian as one of the founders of feminism...

The Chinese, who lived in the 7th century, were well aware of the edifying poem:

When a son is born
Put him to sleep in a cradle
Wrap up with expensive diapers,
Give him jasper toys.

When the daughter is born
Let her sleep on the floor
And it will be swaddled in rags,
Give her a piece of tiles to play with.

The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire perceived boys as the successors of the family, the breadwinners of the family and those on whom parents can rely on in old age. The girls were second class people. In the harem of the Chinese emperor and even just a wealthy Chinese, there were first, second, third, fourth wives, concubines, slaves, maids. They were unable to communicate freely with their master. And for treason, the inhabitants of the harem were punished by death.

Harem career

When Wu Zetian entered Emperor Taizong's harem as a concubine at the age of thirteen, she had little hope. And, of course, she understood this very well. But this did not diminish her craving for power.

Emperor Taizong welcomes Assyrian Christian missionaries

Having already become the ruler of the empire, Wu Zetian could not forget those days when she, like hundreds of other inhabitants of the harem, spent days and nights waiting for the mercy of the ruler. And he lazily sorted out the jade tablets with the names of the concubines. Then he stopped at one. Hit the gong. The court eunuch appeared at the sound of the gong. Read the name engraved on the stone...

The chosen one was brought to the chambers of the emperor, washed, dressed up, her body was anointed with incense ... And the emperor forgot about the rest until the next night.

Wu Zetian languished in the harem, doing mindless handicrafts and hoping to attract the attention of the Emperor of the Celestial Empire. She cherished thoughts of exaltation. However, she was smart enough not to share them with anyone. One can imagine how they laughed at the dreams of the power of a miserable concubine.

But that wasn't the problem. The real misfortune was the death of Taizong in 649. According to tradition, the ruler's son had no right to inherit his harem. All wives and concubines after the death of their master were sent to live out their lives in a Buddhist monastery. And the new emperor "founded" a new harem. Moreover, the relationship of a son with his father's wife or concubine was equated with incest...

But after Taizong's death, the court world began to understand what the quiet sheep Wu Zetian was. As it turned out, the little concubine did not spend in vain for many years “in the backyard” of the harem. All this time, she not only dreamed of the mercy of the lord. Wu Zetian managed to establish a more than cordial relationship with his son Gaozong.

After the death of his father, Gaozong, heir to the throne, realized that he could not do without the faithful Wu Zetian. And in the end he introduced her to his harem. The move was unheard of at the time. But, as they say, what is allowed to Jupiter... No one dared to oppose the will of the emperor.

So, the cunning Wu Zetian, unlike her more senior "colleagues", continued her days in a harem, and not in a monastery. However, she still had to spend some time in a Buddhist monastery, but soon she returned to the palace. Returned to rule.

Who is the master in the palace?

From the portraits of Wu Zetian, a rough, ugly face with painted eyebrows and an unkind look looks at us. Yes, such was the ruler of the Middle Kingdom. However, in every time and in every country - their own concepts of beauty.

Perhaps the future empress captivated Gaozong not by her beautiful appearance - after all, he could have the best women in the country - but by her mind and talents. She was well educated and wrote poetry and prose. Her works are included in what is considered in China to be the literary heritage of the Tang Dynasty.

Some time passed, and in 655 Gaozong officially recognized Wu Zetian as his wife. This meant that now it was she who was the main wife. It is clear that the emperor was not going to give up the harem ... Such a “position” for a woman meant that it was her son who would inherit the throne. Well, in general, the fact that she is the main woman in the life of the ruler.

How did a humble concubine achieve such a position? Yes, not in a clean way. On account of Wu Zetian - intrigue, meanness and even death. On her orders, they killed, for example, her husband's uncle. Anyone who dared to raise a voice against her was immediately killed. Already during the life of the weak-willed Gaozong, his main wife actually headed the state. She bore her husband four sons and a daughter.

There are still different opinions about the policy pursued by Wu Zetian, even in China itself. The emperor's wife immediately turned her eyes to a tidbit - the Korean Peninsula, and the country began a war of conquest. True, it was not possible to capture it completely. But ideologically, Korea has now passed into the subordination of the Celestial Empire.

In general, Wu Zetian paid great attention to ideology. Her main dream was the widespread adoption of Buddhism. To do this, she in every possible way improved relations with India, and also ordered the translation of classical Buddhist works from Sanskrit into Chinese. Why did the future empress attach such importance to the introduction of a new religion? As it turned out, she had far-reaching intentions.

In 683, Gaozong, the mediocre emperor and husband of Wu Zetian, died. After that, the intentions of the widow became obvious: she decided to become the head of state. The first woman in this post. At first, compatriots did not believe that someone - even the main wife of the late ruler of the Middle Kingdom - could think of such a thing.

But Wu Zetian arranged everything very cunningly. For a start, power was transferred to her eldest son Zhong Zong. He did not last even a month in the palace: his mother personally deprived him of the throne, exiling him to the provinces. Wu Zetian sadly complained about the mediocrity of her offspring as a ruler.

The power was then transferred to another son - Rui-zong, whom his mother, clenching her teeth, endured for six whole years. It is clear that, in fact, she still ruled the country. But she did not allow herself to reign. Such an act could lead the people out of patience and provoke a major uprising.

Strong female hand

By 690, the people were properly prepared: people were told that the emperor was mediocre. Finally, Wu Zetian officially appointed herself empress herself. More precisely, the emperor: she demanded to be called her male title - "huangdi". Nothing like this has ever happened in China.

It soon became clear why the far-sighted Wu Zetian planted Buddhism so diligently. It was announced to the people that the newly-appeared ruler is the daughter of the Buddha himself, and somewhere there is a prophecy that says: the next incarnation of the enlightened one will come to earth in a female form.

Despite a very thorny path to power, Wu Zetian managed to become not the worst ruler of the Celestial Empire. Yes, she did not tolerate any dissent and severely dealt with the opposition. But it was under her that agriculture flourished, a clear system of entry into the civil service was built, the northeast of China was liberated from the rule of the Turks. A relatively calm and well-fed life reigned in the country.

The courtiers trembled at the mere mention of the name Wu Zetian. According to legend, the Empress, who at one time suffered from men, loved to humiliate the representatives of the stronger sex. She forced the officials who came with her with reports to satisfy her lust. Whether this was true is unknown. But the image of an official who gives pleasure to the sovereign has come down to us.

Wu Zetian was getting old. It was necessary to think about who to transfer power to. What to do? I had to return my eldest son from “emigration”. and appoint him as heir. The decrepit ruler was no longer the same as before. She now easily trusted the young swindlers who, in combination, became her lovers.

In the end, the conspirators overthrew the mistress of the Middle Kingdom, who had gone out of her mind, from the throne. And once exiled to the provinces, the first son of the Empress, Zhong Zong, became the emperor.

The deposed ruler was treated better than she herself dealt with her enemies. Wu Zetian was allowed to live to a natural death. She was buried with honors. The empress herself ordered that nothing be written on her grave: let her descendants decide for themselves what kind of epitaph she deserves.

Maria KONYUKOVA

I need very little to be happy: power over the world and something to eat ...

The Status of a Concubine in Traditional China
The Status of a Concubine in Traditional China

In traditional Chinese society, women not only raised children and took care of the household, but also lived in the palace, serving the emperor, sometimes playing an important role in managing 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 China was a large harem. The status of each inhabitant of the harem was determined by the degree of activity of her yin energy (阴 - the negative (female) principle of the universe) energy. The empress was endowed with the highest degree of activity of this energy.

In the family hierarchy, each woman had a strictly defined place: the servants were subordinate to the concubines, the concubines to the wives, the wives to the main wives, and all, without exception, to the first mistress, the main wife of the father of the family, and in the event of his death, the main wife of the eldest son. In the harem of the Son of Heaven, the empress was in charge of all the minor wives. Secondary wives, as well as concubines, did not have the right to sit with the first or main wife. This was expressed even in the writing of the hieroglyph 妾（tse - concubine）, which consists of two parts: on top the hieroglyph 立（li - stand), and below 女（nyu - woman, maiden).

The concubines had to remain in the harem until the age of twenty-five, and then, if they did not have children (primarily sons), they were removed from the palace. The concubines-mothers of children who gave birth from the Son of Heaven remained in the palace and could claim the role of the wife of the emperor and empress.

The women and girls of the palace made up two categories: the wives and concubines of the emperor and palace employees. All women of 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 among the women in the palace was the Empress, or the main wife of the Son of Heaven, followed by four (and not three, as V.V. Malyavin believes) “additional” wives, each of them had a special title: a precious concubine, virtuous, moral and talented concubines. This is stated in the treatise "Li-Ji". There were also three favorite ladies who occupied the first highest step; nine senior concubines who occupied the second step; 27 junior concubines, which in turn were divided into: nine ladies-in-waiting, nine beauties and nine talents, who occupied the third, fourth and fifth steps, and 81 "harem girls". They were also divided into three categories: 27 girls, 27 imperial women and 27 women-gatherers, which made up the sixth, seventh and eighth steps. Based on the above data, we can conclude that there is no exact gradation of concubines in the imperial palace, but one thing is for sure - there were many concubines and they were all endowed with different powers.

According to some materials of the Sung time, the emperor was supposed to officially have twelve wives and concubines, according to the number of months in a year (three wives and nine concubines); princes were to have nine women (one wife and eight concubines); a major dignitary - one wife and two concubines.

In addition to the concubines, in the palace of the Son of Heaven there were still palace girls who stood at the last step, and palace maids who were outside all the steps and were the lowest in status people in the palace. The use of palace girls and maids was strictly limited to a narrow circle of palace institutions. In the Ming era, they were organized into seven specialized institutions, 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 Dengguo and Wang Yaping, it was during the Tang (618-907) and Ming (1368-1643) dynasties that there were the most concubines in the palaces of the emperor. It is known that Emperor Xuanzong (712-756), who was distinguished by extreme love and fell under the spell of the young concubine of his son Yang Guifei at the age of sixty, kept about 40 thousand women in his palaces.

Based on historical materials, Wang Yaping provides such data on the number of women in the palaces of the Son of Heaven in different historical eras. In the palaces of Qin Shi Huang (246-210 BC), there were 10 thousand of them, Wudi of Han (140-87 BC) - 20 thousand, Wudi of Jin (265-290) - 15 thousand, in the palaces of Yandi of Sui (605-617) - several tens of thousands and, as we have already said, Xuanzong had about 40 thousand women in Tang time.

In the period of other dynasties in China, according to Dian Dengguo, the number of concubines was much less. 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 those and others in different dynasties varied. So, in the last half of the reign of the Qing Dynasty, according to Dian Dengguo, the Empress Dowager had 12 servants, the Empress - 10, the concubines of the first category - 8, the second - 6, the third - 4, the ordinary concubines - 3 servants.

The concubines, as they entered the owner's house, received serial numbers: concubine No. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The more was the serial number of the concubine, the lower the price was in the eyes of society. J.I. Vasiliev notes that women in the Chunqiu period, in contrast to later times, felt quite free and sometimes acted very actively.

In the Tang time, and even later, according to the well-known Russian historian A. A. Boyutsanin, the number of concubines was not limited until the 16th century. Marriage with a concubine in those years was formalized. Concubines were either “married” or “bought”. When they marry a concubine, they should also draw up a contract, - it was said in the Tang Codes. If they buy a concubine and do not know her last name, the latter should be determined by fortune-telling. It was forbidden to take as concubines former concubines of relatives of older generations, as well as women of the same surname as the 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, at the death of the emperor, the burial of his wives and concubines was also 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. From here came the custom of burying wives alive along with their dead husbands. Already with the first emperor of the centralized empire, Qin Shi Huang, 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, the main wife of the Son of Heaven, sometimes the mother of the heir and individual concubines who glorified themselves in some way, were buried. However, as a rule, many concubines were given a special burial place somewhere near the tomb of the emperor. Emperors built separate tombs for their favorite concubines. In this regard, the tomb of the concubine of Emperor Sizong Tian Guifei is interesting. It is a large hall with nine rows of columns. The emperor who committed suicide and the concubine Zhou, who was killed by him, were buried in this grave. A cruel custom reintroduced under the Ming (1368-1644) - the killing of concubines was far from being limited to the imperial court. Gradually, its scope expanded, the number of victims increased. The highest dignitaries, who imitated throughout the court, soon also began to perform this bloody "ritual", and it often turned out that in cruelty they surpassed the Son of Heaven.

The murder of concubines was carried out in a rather peculiar way - as if by the will of the concubines themselves. The whole system of public education from 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 and in the next world. Of course, this belief of the young concubines was cherished by old religious ideas. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that the Son of Heaven was a "god on earth", before whom everyone trembled, not excluding the concubines. All this served as the reasons for their mass suicides on the day of the burial of emperors and nobles or in the near future after their death. It should be added to this that the imperial palace, as we well know, was the scene of a struggle for power and the throne not only among the nobles and officials, but also among the imperial concubines. Many of them had to go to the next world ahead of time as a result of secret intrigues, the envy of their own palace friends.

The conviction of the concubines about the need to commit suicide at the death of emperors or nobles was reinforced not only by fear, not only by upbringing from childhood, not only by generally accepted customs that had become normal, from which no one dared to make exceptions. It was also reinforced by the system of exaltation of the concubines who sacrificed their lives, a system that greatly aroused the vanity of the concubines, the consciousness that, having killed herself, she was committing a noble, pious deed. Often, palace dignitaries from the chamber of rituals incited young beauties to commit suicide.

After suicide, the concubines were given majestic names with hieroglyphs, testifying to certain virtues of innocent victims. The names were given beautiful, euphonious and moralizing, speaking of the merits of the deceased.

But even worse was the fate of the palace servants, who were not exalted after their 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's capital gates of Fuchenmen. This place, which turned into a "cemetery" of palace maids, was called "Gunzhense".

Here is what was said about Gunzhense 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 wells are covered with stone slabs on top, they have small holes through which air enters the well. All the unfamous servants of the palace were not buried in separate graves ... Their corpses were burned inside the well.

It wasn't until the end of the Jiajing reign that the senior maids of the Son of Heaven's 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

As for the presence of concubines among ordinary people, it should be noted that during the Ming dynasty there was a set of rules “Laws of the Great Ming Dynasty”, in which it was strictly described - to whom, depending on the rank, how many concubines are due. Concubines for the closest relatives of the emperor were allowed to choose once upon submission of a report, at most 10 people, their sons were allowed to have 4 concubines.

Gradually, not only relatives of the emperor and dignitaries began to take concubines. During the Han Dynasty, even middle-class men could afford to keep concubines. They often bought the girls they liked from brothels, and this custom was preserved throughout subsequent dynasties.

The concubine called her husband's wife mistress and wore mourning for her in the event of her death, and 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 wear mourning 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 the concubine without visible wounds, fractures or mutilations. But if the husband killed the concubine, then he was punished two steps more weakly than for the murder of an ordinary person. According to the laws of the Tang Empire, a slave for raping the owner's concubine received a punishment one step less than for raping his wife. In general, the punishment for the rape of a concubine or adultery with her has always been one step less than for the rape of a wife or adultery with her. A wife who scolded her husband received a year of hard labor, a concubine - one and a half. In the Middle Ages, a concubine in the case of inflicting a wound or mutilation on her husband 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 respect belonged to the eldest son of the first concubine.

For the rape of a concubine of a father or grandfather, who had a son from his father or grandfather, the perpetrator faced the 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 Minsk times, a concubine who raised her hand to her wife was subject to 60 thick batogs and a one-year exile; the wife, who did not cause fractures and more severe injuries to the concubine as a result of assault, was not held accountable at all. The concubine, who scolded his wife, received 80 blows with thick batogs, while the law did not provide for any punishment for the verbal abuse of the concubine by the official wife. Thus, we see how different was the attitude 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, trained in dance and music, girls who showed their art to guests during official banquets, meals and private feasts. According to Chinese chronicles, they often passed from hand to hand, 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 lawsuit offered a troupe of such girls as a bribe to the judge. The presence of dancers and singers was considered a certain indicator of the social status of their owner. However, over time, only the ruling families could have private troupes, although brothels provided professional singers and dancers to anyone who was able to pay for it.

Commoners from forty years 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 for himself, guided not only by his desire, but also by financial possibilities. In poor families, all the concubines lived in the same house, sat at the same table, they did all the housework, ran the household. As for the concubines living with the emperor, they are either in the palaces. In Beijing's Gugong complex to the east and west of Housangong, the three "far palaces" set aside for the emperor's residence, there were six palaces that belonged 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 a concubine 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 endured 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 with the status of a slave - she had no right to anything except to fulfill the wishes of her master. But some were lucky, at the birth of a son and a combination of successful circumstances, they became the main concubines and even wives, subsequently came to power, and implemented their policies, as can be seen from the example of Empress Cixi.

We all heard about harems, but Chinese harems and the life of concubines has its own amazing features. Many concubines, a special way of life and several examples of the amazing ascent of mistresses to the Imperial throne.

The imperial family should correspond to the service, where several cups belong to one teapot. The Chinese harem was distinguished by the clarity of the distribution of roles, the absolute influence of traditions and obedience to the strictest instructions arising from natural-philosophical erotological theories and reduced to maintaining the balance of yang (male) and yin (female) energies in the body of a partner.

It was believed that the predominance of yin over yang led to early aging of potency, and also influenced the weather, bringing with it heavy rains, earthquakes and other cataclysms. The Empress possessed 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 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, who occupied the first highest step, nine "senior concubines" or "concubines" (jiu bing), who occupied the second step; 27 "junior concubines" (shifu), which, in turn, were divided into: nine jie yu (maid of honor), nine mei ren (beauties) and nine cai ren (talents), occupying the third, fourth and fifth steps, another 81 so called "harem girl" (yu qi). They were also divided into three categories: 27 girls bao lin (precious forest), 27 - yu nu (imperial women) and 27 - sai nu (women-gatherers), making up the sixth, seventh and eighth steps. During the last Qing dynasty, the emperor's concubines were divided as follows: huangguifei - the concubine of the first rank, gui-fei - the second rank, fei - the third, bin - the fourth, gui-ren - the fifth, dain - the senior maid of honor, changzai - the junior maid of honor, finally, the servants - shine.

The number of imperial wives under the Xia dynasty was to be 12 (three taken four times). During the Shang-Yin dynasties, another 27 (that is, three times nine) concubines were given to the sovereign, so now the emperor had 39 wives and concubines. This number was also explained by the consideration that the female age ends at forty. During the Zhou Dynasty, the number of inhabitants of the imperial harem had already increased to 120. Each of them was provided with their own house on the territory of the Imperial Palace without fail. Each was assigned maids and eunuchs. Their number varied from dynasty to dynasty - the maximum number of servants was provided to the Empress - 12, then the concubines of the first category - 8, the second category - 6, the third category - 4, ordinary concubines - 2. They all lived together and therefore the number of women in harems reached 40 thousand Human!

Vladyka was supposed to have four concubines of the 1st rank. They were called: precious venerable friend (guifei), good venerable girlfriend (x * yifei), beautiful venerable girlfriend (lifei) and graceful venerable girlfriend (huafei). Concubines of a lower rank were called “examples” (yi), there were six of them: a sample of purity (shui), a sample of virtue (dei), a sample of dignity (xianyi), a sample of meekness (shunyi), a sample of charm (wanyi) and a sample of fragrance (fangyi).

The concubine for the night was chosen as follows - the Emperor had a huge vessel with jade tablets with the names 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 was the life of the concubine. 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, the intrigues in the harem were 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 the tablet, struck the gong and silently gave the tablet to the eunuch, who noted in a special journal whom the Emperor had chosen, they sent for the concubine, she was stripped naked (in order to avoid the presence of any weapon), washed, put on her a cloak of heron down and carried on their backs to the chambers of the Emperor.

The concubine had the right to stay in the chambers only for a certain time. If the time was running out, then the eunuchs sitting outside the doors shouted that the time was up. Not a single concubine was allowed to stay until the morning, this is a privilege only for the spouse.

All visits of the Emperor to his wife, the only woman to whom he could go himself and stay with her for the night, were recorded in a special journal.

A large number of concubines required more and more effort in accounting. So, the concubines who were in the bed of the Emperor, put a special seal on the palm, rubbed it with cinnamon and it was preserved forever. Without this seal, it was considered a disgrace to remain in the harem for a long time. Pregnancy was the highest good, and for this purpose any intrigues, bribery, even murders and secret abortions of already pregnant concubines were used.

Girls for harems were selected separately, specially trained people from among the daughters of governors and princes. At the age of 12-14, they passed the bridegroom, which was arranged by the mother of the Emperor and, if successful, entered the harem. However, knowing the terrible morals that are happening in the harems, many parents deliberately maimed their daughters or gave away the daughters of servants instead. In addition to intrigues and walks in the garden, the concubines took care of their toilet and jewelry every day - the concubine must always be ready to be called by the Emperor. High hairstyles - hair to hair were invested daily and stabbed with a huge number of 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 cinemas see her. Being the 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 Emperor - Gaozong. She removed all competitors from her path, including the Emperor's main wife, and became his only woman. According to legend, Wu Zetian strangled her own newborn daughter with her own hands, but pointed to the Emperor's wife, for which the latter, who could not give birth, was punished and expelled. She also got rid of all competitors among relatives by drowning them in wine and executing them in other ways. She expelled the son of the Emperor and for many years ruled with a firm hand a country for which a woman on the throne was an unprecedented case.

Also known is another concubine who reached the top of the board - Cixi. She was unusually pretty, and although the Emperor did not pay attention to her for a long time, she nevertheless dragged the aging ruler to her bed and charmed him with singing and dancing so much that he stayed with her for several days, thereby unthinkably raising her status. She gave birth to her only son, Tongzhi (and according to legend, this 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 the cannons to fire on the Catholic Cathedral, in which there were women and children. She brutally cracked down on anyone 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 rescue their citizens. The Empress fled. She lost money and power. Chaos broke out in the country. In her old age, Cixi became addicted to drugs. Topic views: 62, today: 62

We all heard about harems, but Chinese harems and the life of concubines has its own amazing features. Many concubines, a special way of life and several examples of the amazing ascent of mistresses to the Imperial throne.

The imperial family should correspond to the service, where several cups belong to one teapot. The Chinese harem was distinguished by the clarity of the distribution of roles, the absolute influence of traditions and obedience to the strictest instructions arising from natural-philosophical erotological theories and reduced to maintaining the balance of yang (male) and yin (female) energies in the body of a partner.

It was believed that the predominance of yin over yang led to early aging of potency, and also influenced the weather, bringing with it heavy rains, earthquakes and other cataclysms.
The Empress possessed 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 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, who occupied the first highest step, nine "senior concubines" or "concubines" (jiu bing), who occupied the second step; 27 "junior concubines" (shifu), which, in turn, were divided into: nine jie yu (maid of honor), nine mei ren (beauties) and nine cai ren (talents), occupying the third, fourth and fifth steps, another 81 so called "harem girl" (yu qi). They were also divided into three categories: 27 girls bao lin (precious forest), 27 - yu nu (imperial women) and 27 - sai nu (women-gatherers), making up the sixth, seventh and eighth steps.
During the last Qing dynasty, the emperor's concubines were divided as follows: huangguifei - the concubine of the first rank, gui-fei - the second rank, fei - the third, bin - the fourth, gui-ren - the fifth, dain - the senior maid of honor, changzai - the junior maid of honor, and finally, the servants - shine.

The number of imperial wives under the Xia dynasty was to be 12 (three taken four times). During the Shang-Yin dynasties, another 27 (that is, three times nine) concubines were given to the sovereign, so now the emperor had 39 wives and concubines. This number was also explained by the consideration that the female age ends at forty. During the Zhou Dynasty, the number of inhabitants of the imperial harem had already increased to 120. Each of them was provided with their own house on the territory of the Imperial Palace without fail. Each was assigned maids and eunuchs.
Their number varied from dynasty to dynasty - the maximum number of servants was provided to the Empress - 12, then the concubines of the first category - 8, the second category - 6, the third category - 4, the usual concubines - 2.
They all lived together and therefore the number of women in harems reached 40 thousand people!

Vladyka was supposed to have four concubines of the 1st rank. They were called: precious venerable friend (guifei), good venerable girlfriend (x * yifei), beautiful venerable girlfriend (lifei) and graceful venerable girlfriend (huafei). Concubines of a lower rank were called “examples” (yi), there were six of them: a sample of purity (shui), a sample of virtue (dei), a sample of dignity (xianyi), a sample of meekness (shunyi), a sample of charm (wanyi) and a sample of fragrance (fangyi).

The concubine for the night was chosen as follows - the Emperor had a huge vessel with jade tablets with the names 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 was the life of the concubine. 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, the intrigues in the harem were 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 the tablet, struck the gong and silently gave the tablet to the eunuch, who noted in a special journal whom the Emperor had chosen, they sent for the concubine, she was stripped naked (in order to avoid the presence of any weapon), washed, put on her a cloak of heron down and carried on their backs to the chambers of the Emperor.

The concubine had the right to stay in the chambers only for a certain time. If the time was running out, then the eunuchs sitting outside the doors shouted that the time was up. Not a single concubine was allowed to stay until the morning, this is a privilege only for the spouse. The concubine quietly slipped under the covers to the Emperor, and at the end of the pleasures, the eunuch asked permission to leave the seed. If the Emperor allowed, then a special journal recorded the date of copulation, and if not, then a specially trained person pressed the concubine's stomach in a special way so that the sperm flowed out.

All visits of the Emperor to his wife, the only woman to whom he himself could go and stay with her for the night, were still recorded in a special journal. After the Emperor left the bedroom, he was always asked whether the intercourse took place or not. If not, then the column in the journal remained empty, but if so, then the column was filled in - 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 released from this duty for three months.
The cruelest etiquette and conventions determined even this side of life.

A large number of concubines required more and more effort in accounting. So, the concubines who were in the bed of the Emperor, put a special seal on the palm, rubbed it with cinnamon and it was preserved forever. Without this seal, it was considered a disgrace to remain in the harem for a long time.
Pregnancy was the highest good, and for this purpose any intrigues, bribery, even murders and secret abortions of already pregnant concubines were used.

Girls for harems were selected separately, specially trained people from among the daughters of governors and princes. At the age of 12-14, they passed the bridegroom, which was arranged by the mother of the Emperor and, if successful, entered the harem. However, knowing the terrible morals that are happening in the harems, many parents deliberately maimed their daughters or gave away the daughters of servants instead.

In addition to intrigues, masturbation in the absence of the Emperor's caress and walks in the garden, the concubines took care of their toilet and jewelry every day - the concubine must always be ready to be called by the Emperor. High hairstyles - hair to hair were invested daily and stabbed with a huge number of 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 cinemas see her.
Being the concubine of Emperor Taizong, she showed too strong a nature and was exiled to a Buddhist monastery, but she managed to become the mistress of the Emperor's son, who later became Emperor - Gaozong. She removed all competitors from her path, including the Emperor's main wife, and became his only woman. According to legend, Wu Zetian strangled her own newborn daughter with her own hands, but pointed to the Emperor's wife, for which the latter, who could not give birth, was punished and expelled. She also got rid of all competitors among relatives by drowning them in wine and executing them in other ways. She expelled the son of the Emperor and for many years ruled with a firm hand a country for which a woman on the throne was an unprecedented case.

Also known is another concubine who reached the top of the board - Cixi. She was unusually pretty, and although the Emperor did not pay attention to her for a long time, she nevertheless dragged the aging ruler to her bed and charmed him with singing and dancing so much that he stayed with her for several days, thereby unthinkably raising her status. She gave birth to her only son, Tongzhi (and according to legend, this 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 the cannons to fire on the Catholic Cathedral, in which there were women and children. She brutally cracked down on anyone 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 rescue their citizens. The Empress fled. She lost money and power. Chaos broke out in the country. In her old age, Cixi became addicted to drugs.