China's thousand-year history has spawned many cultural elements with quite charm. After experiencing the change of multiple dynasties, the Manchu Qing officially joined this plain land, and its existence meant that the feudal dynasty was coming to an end. The pinnacle of prosperity is the prosperous world of Kangqian, the harem concubines and nobles are richly dressed, and the life of the common people is simple and peaceful, a good contrast but thriving scene.
As we all know, in addition to the family background, most of the harem concubines come from the emperor's favor, and not all of them can spoil the harem like "Zhen Huan", and they can only wait for the emperor's favor in their lives.
So the question is, the emperor has so many concubines, how can he distinguish the identity of the other party? At this time, it is necessary to mention the long nail sets of the concubines of the Qing Dynasty, the nail sets are very slender and slender, the appearance is high, and the advantages are not to be said. And the biggest advantage of this long nail set is that it is convenient for the emperor. Don't believe it, let's take a closer look at the origin and story of the long nail cover.
The development of long nail covers in the Qing Dynasty
No matter which version of the Qing Palace drama, you can see the same long nail set. The nail set is just embedded in the concubines' ring finger and little thumb, and the material is pure gold, which is very valuable. Careful observation will find that the beauty of this nail set is definitely not low, and the pattern engraved on the seal is also unattainable by ordinary people.
It is refined by the craftsmen in the palace, and it is hierarchical to determine the degree of good looks. Under normal circumstances, the nail covers worn by the queen are the most stylish, representing the aura of the queen's mother. Other concubines who are favored can get high-value nail sets, the more unfavored, the more inferior, which is the hierarchy of the harem.
After all, the concubines of the palace lived a life of holding the heart and wearing the moon, and the rough work could be handed over to the next person. For them, although the nail cover is cumbersome, it does not affect life, and it can also elevate their identity, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Of course, this kind of nail set can only be used by women such as harem concubines, which is unattainable to palace women and ordinary people, and once it is found that someone wears this object, it will be crowned with the crime of coveting. Ordinary people live their own lives on the line, naturally there are not so many ideas to think about the emperor's harem life, the folk customs are very simple.
The source of the long nail cover
The historical source of the nail cover, that needs to be traced back to the Han Dynasty period. In the Han Dynasty, the name of the nail cover was called armor, and the ancient people paid attention to the body hair skin by their parents, and the usual hair was reluctant to pull out one, let alone the nails. Therefore, the nail sets designed by the ancients are exclusively for women. Over time, the product of armor protection developed in Chinese history and continued into the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, the role of the nail cover at the beginning is relatively single, that is, the armor. With the passage of time, the use of nail sets has been more and more discovered by people, and in order to enhance the aesthetics, there are many skilled craftsmen who decorate the patterns on them. Women love beauty and naturally love decorative armor. Obviously, when the nail cover is protected by the ruling class and can be well preserved, its role will increase.
The role of beauty and status mentioned above is beyond doubt, and this is also the preferred goal of the concubines. In addition, the self-defense effect of nail covers is also very strong, which I believe many people have not understood. The nails are made of pure gold material, which is extremely strong, as long as a small secret door is set up inside, and the anesthetic is placed in the secret door.
Once you encounter any accident on the way out, you will launch a "mechanism" in a hurry to sprinkle anesthesia on the enemy, and the effect will soon be exerted. It will not hurt anyone, but it can buy time for the concubines to escape, and the time in a critical situation can save lives.
A nail set that makes it convenient for the emperor
Empress Dowager Cixi was a woman with a sense of crisis, and she had done too many resentful things in her life, causing many people to resent. Knowing the danger of the situation, Cixi arranged many guards around her, while also adding the self-defense effect of nail covers. It is rumored that Cixi has a large number of anesthetics in the nail set on her hands, and once there is a change, the anesthesia can buy a certain amount of time, which is also to improve her survival chances.
As we all know, the ancient emperor harem three thousand beautiful women, although they occasionally have very important concubines, but many women are ultimately to be pampered. The Kangxi Emperor is a typical example, he has countless children under his knees and is outstanding, and the status of the concubines behind the prince is also much higher, the so-called mother and son are more or less like this.
So there are so many concubines, how should he distinguish them? At this time, the role of the nail set comes, the nail set has a certain recognition effect, may not be able to clarify the specific identity of the other party, but from the production and process level can also know the approximate location of the other party. The emperor would often consider the family background of the concubines, and it was most appropriate to decide how to treat them through nail sets. So to some extent, the nail sleeve can also be regarded as a convenient role for the emperor.
The Qing Dynasty was a relatively feudal era in Chinese history, and in the general environment, people's thinking of the skin of the body was even deeper. The harem concubines wore nail sets and elegant costumes to walk in the royal garden. Nail covers are like fixatives embedded in their bodies, and they can't be removed easily if they can't. And this material is a good material at a glance, coupled with high value, it is naturally attractive.
epilogue
But over the years a strange pattern has continued, with harem concubines wearing nail covers and ordinary people's homes without any decoration. The people who have been working in the fields for many years have long engraved their simplicity in their hearts, and people of all classes know it at a glance. It is a symbol of social status, and it also invisibly raises the royal noble status, and the social class distinction is very obvious.
From the perspective of the long history, the nail sleeves of the Qing Dynasty are a sign of the ancients' pursuit of aristocratic beauty, and the actual value is not high, but the influence used for politics and image is not low. For the emperor, the nail cover was more like a convenient object to identify, and when he was alone with the concubines, the safety was also guaranteed, and the benefits were many. Unfortunately, this production process is slowly hidden in the world, and most of us understand this aspect of history from film and television dramas and museums, which is a kind of history and culture.
The picture comes from the network, if there is infringement, contact to delete!