Chinese concubines. Position of women in traditional China

We have all heard about harems and the information is very unusual. For example what a harem looked like in Iran in the 19th century, 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.

First, let's find out some shocking details about Chinese harems.

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 lady favorites who occupied the first highest level, nine “senior concubines” or “concubines” (jiu bin) who occupied the second level; 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.

During the last Qing dynasty, the 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 - shine.

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 had already increased to 120. Each of them was required to be provided with her own home 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 for a 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 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 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, remain in the harem for a long time was considered a disgrace.

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 is how she was in life, on the right is how modern Chinese cinema sees her.

As Emperor Taizong's concubine, she showed too strong 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 old age Cixi became addicted to drugs.

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 lady favorites who occupied the first highest level, nine “senior concubines” or “concubines” (jiu bin) who occupied the second level; 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.
During the last Qing dynasty, the 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, maids - shinyuy.

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 had already increased to 120. Each of them was required to be provided with her own home 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 (x*yfei), 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 for a 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 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 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 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 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.

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 lady favorites who occupied the first highest level, nine “senior concubines” or “concubines” (jiu bin) who occupied the second level; 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.

During the last Qing dynasty, the 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 - shine.

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 for a 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 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 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 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 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.

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 lady favorites who occupied the first highest level, nine “senior concubines” or “concubines” (jiu bin) who occupied the second level; 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.
During the last Qing dynasty, the 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 - shine.

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 had already increased to 120. Each of them was required to be provided with her own home 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 (x*yfei), 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 for a 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.

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

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 and walks in the garden, the concubines took care of their dressing and decoration every day - a concubine should always be ready to be called by the Emperor. High hairstyles - hair to hair were put in every day and pinned 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 is how she was in life, on the right 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.

Strict harem rules

The complex of imperial palaces usually included the Central (front) palace, where official ceremonies took place and state affairs were carried out, and the Rear Palace, reserved for the harem, into which men were not allowed.

The rear palace, in turn, consisted of three parts. The middle palace was traditionally occupied by the emperor's mother or chief wife (that's why she was called the “empress of the middle palace”). The eastern apartments were traditionally considered more honorable than the western ones, so the second wife lived in the eastern part of the palace, and she was called the “Empress of the Eastern Palace.” The third wife occupied the western chambers and was called the “Empress of the Western Palace.”

Later, six western palaces were built in the Gugong Imperial Complex, where the second-ranking empresses, empress dowager mothers, and high-ranking concubines settled.

The imperial court, numbering thousands of officials, eunuchs, guards, harem concubines, imperial relatives and wives, constituted a small state within a state with its own administration, laws, courts and finances. Neufu, or the Imperial Household Department, consisting of large state ministers and mandarins, was divided into seven departments. The third ceremonial department, which also included a certain number of eunuchs, was responsible for order in the harem, formed retinues and honorary guards for imperial exits, and maintained order at ceremonial receptions and festivals.

At the imperial court there was a whole cohort of girls who were supposed to serve little prince, son of the emperor. Immediately after his birth, the prince was entitled to exactly forty nannies, among whom were eight nurses, eight matrons, cooks, seamstresses, lamplighters, cleaners, including girls specially engaged in collecting the precious excrement of the future Son of Heaven. And when the little prince was weaned, the nurses were replaced by eunuchs.

View of West Lake in Hangzhou

In hoary antiquity, there were also special court ladies at the emperor’s court (tongguan, tongshi, nyuguan), whose main duty was to keep records of Royal Unions to confirm the legitimacy of children. They kept this record with special writing brushes. First time position Tongguan was officially established at the court of the Shang ruler Zhou Xin. The responsibilities of the ladies who held this honorable position included two tasks: the first was the organization of the emperor’s sexual contact program or vana(a representative of an aristocratic family) and the second - selection beautiful girls for every night.

If in pre-Han times emperors or Vans They chose girls for themselves, then after the Han Dynasty a special system for selecting concubines for the palace developed. Nuguang they selected beautiful girls according to the instructions of the Son of Heaven, and then supervised their upbringing and training.

How observation and accounting of Royal Compounds took place can be seen in the example of the already mentioned Shang ruler Zhou Xin. A special chair was installed in his bedchamber, sitting in which, Tongguan carefully watched what was happening, making sure that the Royal Union really took place without deception. To register such shares, special red brushes were used. And in later times there even appeared special genre erotic literature- “Stories written with a red brush.”

Tongguani And Nu Guang They also ensured strict adherence to the individual “visitation schedule” of the Son of Heaven. It is known that subsequently the maintenance of such records was entrusted to the palace eunuchs. And this is how they performed it.

The Son of Heaven, wanting to spend the night with some concubine, ordered the chief eunuch to take her to his chambers. And this was done according to a special rule. In the emperor's reception room, on a small table, there was a "dragon" casket, in which, divided into sections, stood rows of jade tokens on which the names of his concubines (there could be several hundred) were engraved. When the emperor made a choice, he took out the corresponding token, struck the table gong and silently handed the tablet to the eunuch who entered.

Concubines in the palace. Artist Jiao Bingzheng (late XVII - beginning of XVIII centuries)

Using the selected token, the eunuch on duty found the desired concubine. The maids took her to the bedroom, stripped her naked and anointed her with incense. She was also stripped for safety reasons: in this form, she could not take a dagger or knife with her (since there is a known case in history when they tried to kill one emperor with the help of a concubine). The visiting eunuch-messenger wrapped the naked concubine in a special blanket made of heron fluff (why it was made of heron fluff is unknown, perhaps because in China the heron symbolizes protection from all treachery). After such preparations, a physically strong eunuch placed the concubine on his shoulders and took her to the emperor’s bedchamber. Here the eunuch removed her cloak. By the decisive moment, the emperor should have already been in bed, so the concubine slipped right under the covers to him. While this couple indulged in pleasure, the chief manager of the chamber of important affairs and the eunuch who brought the concubine had to wait in the next room. If a concubine stayed with the emperor too long, the chief steward would shout, “The time has come!” (what anyone in the West would consider unheard of was perceived as natural in the Celestial Empire, for there even the monarch was entangled in ceremonies that were considered a duty). And so on up to three times, until the Son of Heaven responded. Then the eunuchs entered, again wrapped the concubine in a cape and carried away. But before that, the chief manager knelt before the emperor and most respectfully asked: “Should I leave it or not?” It was about the precious “dragon seed”. If the answer was “Don’t leave!”, then the chief manager pressed the woman’s stomach in such a special way that all the “dragon seed” came out. And if the Son of Heaven said “Leave,” then the eunuch wrote it down in a special registration book: “In such and such a month, on such and such a date, at such and such an hour, the emperor made such and such a concubine happy.” In this way, the legality of the birth of a child from the emperor was determined. These rules were strictly observed in winter palaces Forbidden City. As for summer residences, there Bogdykhan(the sacred sovereign) could afford to violate the strict regulations established at the dawn of the Qing dynasty.

Chrysanthemums are one of the favorite flowers of Chinese painters

If concubines were brought to the emperor’s bedroom, then he came to his wife himself and for an unlimited time. However, each such visit still had to be recorded in a special accounting book. Upon exit Bogdykhan From the bedchamber, the kneeling eunuch respectfully waited for an answer as to whether intercourse had taken place or not. If not, then the Son of Heaven would casually say, “Go away!” - and the corresponding column in the book remained empty.

So, we see that the emperor himself found himself a prisoner of the strict etiquette that existed in the palace. All sorts of conventions also determined the sphere of amorous entertainment of the Son of Heaven.

According to ancient laws, only wives of the highest rank were allowed to stay with the emperor all night. Concubines were obliged to leave the bedroom before dawn. The Shijing preserves the ancient poem “Stars,” which laments the infringement of the rights of concubines:

How many small stars are there in the sky!

There are three or five bright ones in the entire East.

I hurry to the prince, only night comes...

I am with the prince - the time of dawn is near...

Fate gave the stars a different kind of happiness.

There are many small stars in the sky,

Mao is shining, Shen is already visible.

I hasten to the prince, only night comes, -

The wife will bring the blanket...

The fate of the stars and ours is not alone!

(Translation by A. A. Shtukin)

On the territory of the Forbidden City

The term “stars” itself later became stable to refer specifically to concubines. The ancient Chinese usually used the following comparisons: husband - sky, wife - earth, husband - Sun, wife - Moon; the secondary wives are the stars.

Sexual contacts of harem women were legally limited exclusively to the marital bed, where the husband was obliged to shower each of his women with attention. It is appropriate to say here that the bed was much larger than necessary for sleeping: it was a very spacious bed, in essence, a small room with four columns connected by a lattice, and closed from the inside with curtains.

If a man is in sexually ignored one of his women, this was considered a serious sin: neither age nor appearance were taken into account and did not allow the husband to avoid the protocol strictly prescribed by the ancients, which stipulated the order and frequency of sexual intercourse with wives and concubines.

“Even if the concubine grows old, but has not yet reached the age of fifty,” the instructions said "Liji" - the husband is obliged to copulate with her once every five days. For her part, she is obliged, when she is brought to her husband’s bed, to be cleanly washed and neatly dressed; she should be properly combed and pomaded, dressed in long dress and wearing appropriately tied slippers.”

There were a number of minor rules: if the main wife was absent, the concubine could not stay with her husband all night, but had to leave the sleeping quarters immediately after completion of sexual intercourse.

Only mourning for parents (for three months or more) could be a valid reason for a man to abstain from sexual union with wives and concubines.

Although formally all women and concubines of the harem had the right to satisfy their sexual needs, in fact this, of course, did not happen.

Imperial wooden bed with 55 dragons carved on it

The concubines of the imperial palace were all supposed to be virgins before their love affair with the Son of Heaven. Regular special officials, as a rule, eunuchs (or pseudo-eunuchs - cunning people, of which, as Chinese history confirms, there were many at court), traveled around the country in order to recruit new “unspoiled” beauties for the emperor, but in the future these beauties selected by the eunuchs were the emperor I might not even see it. Not everyone received the honor of sharing a bed with the emperor. Many were afraid of losing their virginity in another way - for example, with the help of a pseudo-eunuch, at least as long as they still hoped in their souls for the highest favor. For if a concubine who had already committed a sin later nevertheless ended up in the bedchamber of the Son of Heaven, then it ended in great shame for her and her closest relatives, the terrible consequences of which could only be avoided by laying hands on oneself.

But if the concubine, who visited the emperor’s bedchamber and spent happy hours with him, he then forgot about long years, she already had to satisfy her feminine instincts with the help of masturbation, lesbian love, or with the help of the same pseudo-eunuchs. Although Chinese history, as a rule, is silent about such relations.

Due to the ever-increasing number of concubines in the harem, more and more effort was required to keep accurate records of the emperor's successful and unsuccessful sexual unions with his girls, noting their date and hour, the days of each woman's menstruation, and the appearance of the first signs of pregnancy. Such measures were necessary to determine the future status of the newborn baby. In "Notes from the Dressing Room" ("Zhong lou ji") author Zhang Bi (circa 960) says that at the beginning of the Kaiyuan era (713–741), every woman with whom the Son of Heaven had sexual relations was given a special seal on her hand with the following text: “Wind and moon (i.e. sexual fun) always remain new.” This seal was rubbed with cinnamon incense, after which it was impossible to remove it. And not one of the hundreds of palace ladies could claim to have received the favor of the emperor without presenting this special seal.

Chinese eunuch

In order to become pregnant by the Son of Heaven and become the mother of the heir to the throne, to achieve the highest position in the palace, the inhabitants of the harem tried to use all possible means: intrigue, slander, forced termination of pregnancy, conspiracy with eunuchs, their bribery, adoption of someone else’s child for political reasons, and even murder of rivals.

From the ancient history of China it is known that Empress Zhen, the wife of Emperor Wendi, was slandered by one of the emperor's favorites. This enraged Wendi, and he “granted” his wife the right to drown herself.

The emperor's younger brother, the famous poet Cao Zhi, fell in love with Zhen even before she became the wife of the Son of Heaven. After the death of his beloved, he dedicated the famous poetic lines to her:

Like a frightened swan, it soars,

Its grace is similar to that of a flying dragon.

She is more beautiful than autumn chrysanthemums,

Spring pine is akin to it.

Looks like a month - a light cloud

Hides her from view.

Flutters and flutters like snowflakes,

Drawn by the whirlwind, carried by the long wind.

You look at her from afar -

Bright as the sun rising in the morning haze;

She'll come closer -

The waters are clear, clean and modest

Resident - lotus...

(Translation by L. Cherkassky)

Cao Zhi - ancient Chinese poet, one of the most famous poets of its time. Detail of the scroll "Fairy of the Luo River" by Gu Kaizhi

Slightly different rules regarding wives, concubines and women at the imperial court were introduced by the Mongol emperors when they captured China and founded their Yuan dynasty. This is how it is described in the “Book of Marco Polo” by the famous Venetian traveler:

“He has legitimate wives (meaning Kublai Khan, Kublai, Kublai, 1260–1295 - V.U.) four. And the eldest son from them will reign in the empire after the death of the Great Khan; they are called empresses and each in their own way; each has its own courtyard, and each has three hundred beautiful, glorious girls. They have many servants, eunuchs and all sorts of others, and maidservants; each wife has up to ten thousand people at court.

Whenever the Great Khan (Khubilai - V.U.) wishes to sleep with which wife, calls her to his chamber. And sometimes he goes to her himself.

He also has other girlfriends, and I’ll tell you that there is a Tatar clan of Migraks (a Mongol tribe that lived near the Great Wall of China. - V.U.), beautiful people; They select one hundred girls, the most beautiful of their kind, and bring them to the Great Khan; the great khan orders the palace women to watch over them, and the girls to sleep with them on the same beds, in order to find out whether the girls have good breathing, whether they are virgins and whether they are completely healthy. After this, they begin to serve the Great Khan in this way: for three days and three nights, six girls each serve the Great Khan in peace and in bed; They correct every service, and the Great Khan does whatever he wants with them. After three days, another six girls come, and like this throughout the year, every three days and three nights, six girls change.”

According to Marco Polo, Kublai had twenty-two sons from these wives and “another twenty-five sons from his girlfriends.”

Apparently, Chinese girls were highly regarded by the Mongolian rulers. It is known that Genghis Khan, even before the conquest of Beijing, married a princess from the Jurchen Jin Empire, located in Northern China, who outlived her husband by more than 30 years. Although, according to legend, she was ugly in face and did not give her husband children, but despite this, throughout her life, even after her homeland was conquered by the Mongols, she enjoyed special honor as “the daughter of the great emperor.” And in 1210, the emperor of the Tangut state of Western Xia, located in northwestern China, was forced to give his daughter as a wife to Genghis Khan.

Famous traveler Marco Polo. Miniature from the book “The Travels of Marco Polo”

Sometimes there was a secret war between the Chinese for the concubines they liked. Thus, the famous writer Wu Woyao, a specialist in historical novels, in his book “The History of Suffering” describes a plot related to one of the heroes of the novel - the chief eunuch Wu Zhong, when the latter helps the chancellor of the Southern Song dynasty Jia Sidao to steal the imperial concubine he liked from the palace of the Son of Heaven. To make the theft less noticeable, he replaced the concubine with a “rude maid,” and then, in order to hide all traces of the forgery, he killed and secretly buried this maid.

Concubines had to take care of their toilet, spending a large amount of time on this activity, in order to be ready at any moment for an intimate meeting with the emperor. Particular attention was paid to hairstyle and head decorations. The “clouds of hair,” styled in tight black buns, were held in place by variously shaped pins with superb finishes. The hairpin in China was considered a symbol of a woman.

However, it is obvious that the Sons of Heaven did not always remember all of their wives and concubines, especially at a time when there were several thousand of them. This was used for personal gain by eunuchs who demanded bribes for services provided. And the hoary history of China contains facts of this kind.

This is how women decorated themselves during the Five Dynasties.

Here it is appropriate to recall one of the ancient legends associated with the beautiful concubine Wang Zhaojun (aka Wang Jiang, Ming-fei). Han Emperor Yuan Di (48–33 BC), choosing his next girlfriend for the night based on portraits of the inhabitants of his harem (apparently because of their large quantity concubines, sometimes he never saw some of them in person), never invited this girl to his bedchamber, since the court artist Mao Yanshou, having not received a bribe from her, like from other girls, depicted her in the picture as ugly. The emperor decided to give her, as the most ugliest, as a wife to the leader of the Xiongnu (Hun) tribe. The emperor learned about Wang Zhaojun's beauty only at his farewell audience, where he fell in love with her at first sight. But the deed was done, the agreement was concluded, and the beautiful concubine had to go north to the leader of the Xiongnu tribe. She had a son with the leader.

One fine day the leader died, and his eldest son from his first wife became his heir. According to Xiongnu customs, the new khan was allowed to marry his father's women, and he approached Wang Zhaojun, offering his hand. She asked for time to think. And she herself wrote a letter to Emperor Yuan Di, outlining the situation and hoping that he would allow her to return to China. She waited impatiently for an answer. The letter arrived, in which the emperor, in the interests of his country, ordered her to marry the new khan. She gave birth to two daughters to the new ruler. She died in a foreign land, homesick (her grave remains in Inner Mongolia). The poet Lian Xian wrote about it this way:

The portrait did not convey all the beauty of the face,

But beauty gave her only a thorny path:

Torn away to bring peace to the country, from her father’s palace...

(Oh, forget about the mercy of the harsh ruler, forget it!)

The union is sealed. But I shed tears under the moon

At the ramparts there are borders.

And the dust of the desert covers the silk of the dress...

And I remembered China, and I drink flour in my heart.

Wang Zhaojun is considered one of the Four Great Beauties of Ancient China. Legends about her were passed down from generation to generation

It should be noted that Yuan Di, struck by the beauty of Wang Zhaojun, investigated the case of her portrait and executed the artist Mao Yanshou, and with him other court artists. The famous reformer of the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi, wrote about this:

In vain did the ruler order the execution

Artist Mao Yanshou.

She left, and her heart said to her:

There is no going back.

(Translation by A. Sergeev)

She was not only a beauty, but also a good poetess, who left to her descendants several magnificent poems that the Chinese remember until today. Here is one of them: “Song of Loneliness and Sadness.”

Autumn forest. Everywhere I look -

The green leaf has withered and turned yellow.

Birds from the valleys flew to the mountains,

They gathered in the mulberry trees.

They are looking for food for themselves,

Sparkling plumage between the branches...

I am not deprived of mercy by fate -

I live in my monastery.

I parted with the palace a long time ago,

I while away my life in illness,

And I don’t give feelings free rein.

Even if life and food are unusual for me

And much here is foreign to me,

But in a foreign land I'm all alone,

Long-standing habits must be changed.

I’ll compare myself to a flying swallow:

Her nest is far from here -

In Xijiang, where wild rivers overflow,

Where the peaks of the mountains reach the very clouds.

Oh, dear mother! Oh, dear father!

Apparently, there is no truth in this world.

How I'm sad, how I'm dying!

The eyes should not look at the white light!

(Translation by M. Basmanov)

Fog in the mountains. Artist Zhao Wu Chao

The legend of the beauty was kept in the memory of the people for a long time and was sung in the poems of famous poets.

However, not all emperors enjoyed only beautiful concubines, as most did.

It is known that during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (712–756), there was a certain “dragon eunuch” Wang Feisheng who was very close to the Son of Heaven. Wang won the good favor of the emperor at a time when Xuanzong, fed up with the company of young and beautiful concubines, demanded that the ugliest and ugliest girls in the Celestial Empire be procured for him. Wang Feisheng obediently rushed to carry out the master's order. He built a palace called the “Palace of Desired Monsters” and housed in it ugly and misshapen girls, dwarves and giantesses, and even, as legend has it, a woman with two heads. When the Son of Heaven made his last love, both heads simultaneously responded to his passion.

Wang Feisheng not only did not like, but, one might say, hated the empress, and when the first minister of the court, Shang Guanyi, who also did not favor her, invited the eunuch to join forces against the empress, he gladly agreed. One day Shang told the eunuch that the empress was practicing witchcraft, addicted to the Taoist cult of black magic. Due to the fact that the emperor bypasses her with his attention, the empress tries to send damage to the Son of Heaven in order to deprive him of male power. The eunuch immediately told this news to the emperor, who summoned his first minister for advice. Shang proposed to expel the empress before she could cause any harm to the Son of Heaven, but Xuanzong, who loved his wife, suggested that the eunuch first present evidence of her guilt.

Eunuch Wang began to act. He promoted several concubines for their oath to confirm that they had witnessed the Empress practicing black magic. The “dragon eunuch” then bribed several Taoist monks, allowing them to make several visits to the harem and “play around” with the concubines there, and demanded that they testify to the same thing about the empress as the bribed concubines. Unfortunately for him, there was one incorruptible monk who warned the empress about the plot being prepared against her. And before the conspirators had time to collect enough “evidence” and “evidence” against her, she convinced the Son of Heaven of her innocence. Being a woman strong will and quite assertive, she persuaded Xuanzong to allow her to punish the villainous conspirators herself. The Son of Heaven gave her this right. Following the procedure established by law, she initially forced Wang and Shang to sign a confession: however, as often happened in those early years, this was preceded by brutal torture, which lasted two days. They were both then beheaded, their property confiscated, and their families enslaved.

There are known examples of empresses being demoted in rank to concubines. This happened to Empress Nyaolanala (Manchu name) of the Qianlong Emperor (1736–1795). During one of the emperor's travels to the south, a serious quarrel occurred between him and Nyaolanala, believed to be caused by the empress's adultery. She was then already about 50 years old, she had three children, but this did not stop the emperor from depriving her of almost all servants and privileges. Last years She spent her life secluded in Beijing. The news of Nyaolanala's death found the emperor hunting at his summer residence in Zhehe. From there, he ordered the unfaithful wife to be buried as a simple concubine, without making a tablet of her spirit and without subsequent ceremonies to commemorate her.

Aishingyōro Hongli was the sixth Manchu emperor of the Qing Dynasty. For 59 years (1736–1795) he reigned under the motto “Qianlong” (Unshakable and Glorious)

Qianlong had a completely different attitude towards another concubine Xiangfei (“Fragrant Concubine”). She was the emperor's favorite. Xiangfei was born in 1743 in Xinjiang into a Muslim family, appeared in the palace only at the age of 26, and by the age of 35 she became the ruler’s favorite and enjoyed special rights: she wore national clothes, continued to practice Islam, and had her own Muslim cook. Since she was very homesick, the emperor created special conditions for her: he ordered the construction of a two-story pavilion near the southern wall of the Zhonnanhai Palace in Beijing, where Xiangfei settled. Opposite the pavilion, behind the palace wall, a whole town of Muslim houses with a mosque soon grew up. The beloved concubine could always observe the daily life of her fellow believers from the upper gallery of the pavilion.

If in medieval China the number of concubines reached several thousand, then in more than late times, when the Manchus captured China and established their dynasty, at the emperor’s court it was decided to reduce the number of concubines several times. The Son of Heaven considered that about 70 concubines were enough for him, however, judging by the Chinese chronicles, often this number was clearly not enough for the emperor, and he increased their number. According to Chinese experts on court life in Forbidden City, before a real marriage, a so-called trial marriage was arranged for the Manchu emperors so that they could gain the necessary practical experience. “Test wives” were often selected from the ladies-in-waiting, and then immediately removed from the young Son of Heaven, sometimes even destroyed, so that he could not become attached to them. During such a “trial” marriage, an experienced woman stood near the “dragon’s bed”, who suggested exactly what and how to do. Visual aids were also actively used.

Xiangfei - the legendary Uyghur concubine of the Chinese Qianlong Emperor

Sometimes life in a harem turned into real hellish torture. For example, Prince Jian was a sadistic bastard who had fun with his sisters and, for fun, forced boys and girls to drown in the lake at his palace. When the concubines from the harem were caught in some kind of sin, he ordered them to stay naked all day in the palace and beat the time on a drum, sit naked in the trees, or ordered them to starve them to death. He ordered other women to be stripped naked, forcing them to then get on all fours so that dogs or rams would copulate with them.

The son of Emperor Wuzong, Shizong, was also known for his cruel treatment of numerous concubines. According to legend, such treatment led in 1542 to the fact that the palace women, driven to despair, attempted to assassinate their master. Twelve concubines secretly conspired to strangle the sleeping Shizong in his bed with a silk cord. They managed to secretly enter the bedchamber of the Son of Heaven, but the cord became entangled in their hands. The concubines tried, trembling with fear, to straighten it in a hurry, but they did not succeed. There was a noise, the emperor woke up and called the guards. The unfortunate women were seized, their arms and legs were immediately cut off, and when morning came they were put to death. The failed assassination attempt left such a deep impression on the Son of Heaven that the frightened Shizong subsequently hid for many years in the old palace of Prince Yanwang in the territory of modern Zhonnanhai and refused audiences with high dignitaries.

An empress and one concubine were buried with Shizong after his death, and another 21 of his concubines were buried in another tomb.

A fact closer in time is also known. A Manchu prince who lived in Beijing once ordered one of his concubines to be buried alive, having first arranged a ceremonial procession, accompanied by which the unfortunate woman was escorted through the main streets of the capital.

Birds and bamboo. Artist Shen Wei

The concubines were beaten for the slightest offense. “The first person who was punished in my presence was a maid,” recalled the maid of honor of Empress Cixi in her book “Two Years in the Forbidden City.” - She handed over a mismatched pair of socks, for which Her Majesty ordered another maid to hit her ten times on the cheeks. The maid apparently didn't hit her very hard, so Her Majesty said they probably Good friends and therefore disobey her orders; and the first, who was punished, ordered the second to be beaten for disobedience.”

It happened that the concubines of the imperial harem had to be malnourished and even die of starvation. This was the case under the weak-willed Emperor Xizong (1621–1627). Then everyone state affairs It was ruled by the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who fancied himself the second Confucius. While Xizong was busy carving wood, painting lacquerware, or amusing himself in his huge harem, Wei Chung-hsien brutally dealt with all capable and talented people who showed even the shadow of dissatisfaction.

The rule of a stupid and cruel eunuch led to disastrous results. The powerful Manchu tribes made their way deeper and deeper into Chinese lands. They took Shenyang (Mukden), whose governor had been executed by a eunuch long before. The famine in the country assumed catastrophic proportions and even penetrated beyond the walls of the imperial court, as a result of which many concubines of the Son of Heaven died.

Maids for the imperial court were also selected at special competitions held at certain times. But they could be of less high birth than the concubines. The girls were taught for several months (three or more) how to serve the Son of Heaven and his household, their health was checked, and only after that they received the right to become maids. First of all, attention was paid to ensuring that they did not wet the bed at night. Even among those applicants for service in the palace who have normal situation Nothing like this ever happened; in the new unusual conditions of the palace and after a hard day's work, such a nuisance sometimes happened. If this error was recorded three times within one month, then they were expelled from the palace.

Golden lions in the Forbidden City

The same maids at the court who performed their duties well were paid a monthly salary - about 20 Lyanov. For misconduct, wages were reduced, sometimes several times, up to 4 Lyanov. The maids worked in shifts - once every three days, some once every five days, in a certain order. They also had the opportunity to be “blessed” with the Son of Heaven before the age of twenty. If this did not happen, then those who were over twenty were returned home and, of course, they no longer had a chance to advance at court.

However, not all maids had the happiness of being simply thrown out of the gate and sent home. Many died from hard work and poor conditions or were killed. Then their bodies were burned in common so-called “wells.” One of the largest wells was located at 5 whether(2.5 km) outside the Fuchengmen city gate of Beijing. This place, which became the "cemetery" of the palace maids, was called "Gongzhense". Here's what was said about "Gongzhense" in Chinese chronicles: “All the non-famous maids of the palace were not buried in separate graves - their corpses were burned inside the well... There are two pits there, the walls of which are lined with brick; on a small house there is a pagoda. The wells are covered with stone slabs on top and have small holes through which air enters 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.

Maids of the Tang court. Wall painting of the tomb of Tang princess Yuntai

From a certain point of view, the duties of concubines could also be considered work, like the duties of maids. Concubines not only had to please the emperor in every possible way, they were also assigned ordinary household duties in the palace. Thus, during the reign of Xianfeng, they raised silkworms, sewed clothes, shoes and hats for the courtiers, and prepared perfumes and various cosmetics for the palace ladies. They, together with the eunuchs, were responsible for decorating the imperial chambers, preparing banquets, etc.

When the future Empress Cixi first appeared in the palace with the rank of concubine, she was paid about one hundred and fifty a year Lyanov silver, i.e. approximately four hundred American dollars at the exchange rate of those years. And on the eve of her death as empress, her annual income was almost ten million dollars - that is, twice as much as that of any Chinese emperor.

Typically, concubines stayed in the palace of the Son of Heaven until they were 20–22 years old, after which, if they turned out to be childless, they were simply kicked out. They lived in special quarters and were strictly supervised by palace eunuchs. For violating the established rules and regulations of concubines in best case scenario expelled from the palace of the Son of Heaven, and in the worst case, executed.

As already mentioned, it was not only emperors who had harems. Already in Ancient China in the environment high nobility sororate was often practiced - when she went with the bride to her husband’s house younger sister or a niece as a kind of wife's substitute, a concubine. In addition, harems consisting of a number of wives and concubines were quite typical.

In general, the position of a woman in the harem of an influential Chinese aristocrat was not as degraded as, say, in the harem of a Turkish sultan. And the women from the ruling house had considerable political influence and sometimes actively intervened in the affairs of the state or estate, not to mention the aforementioned intrigues, which most often also had a political nature.

NEW ORDERS Why were the Semites-Avars able to defeat and conquer numerous and by no means weak steppe peoples? There are many reasons, I have already written about them. But I’ll add one more in the words of the same S.A. Pletneva: “The Avars brought from the east two innovations related to each other:

NEW ORDERS The new elite owed its origin to the crisis of the 7th century, which entailed a reorganization of the state apparatus. Its main determining factor was the need to select statesmen, competent in both military and