The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, and it has experienced a total of more than 200 years from the entry of the Qing army to the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
The world knows that in ancient times, whether men or women, they married earlier, generally around the age of fifteen, and women were earlier. At that time, people, not as smart as modern people, could learn about some things about marriage through some information, so the Qing Dynasty had a very strange "trial marriage system". The so-called "trial marriage", in fact, is that before the prince gets married, he needs to find an older palace girl and personally teach the prince who needs to get married how to be a husband.
In the Qing Dynasty, not only the prince needed to try to marry, but also the gege who was about to marry also needed to try to marry. However, Gege's trial marriage is not a test of Gege, but a test of a donkey. The empress or empress dowager will find a clever palace girl, play the role of "trial marriage style", and help her precious daughter to try the "how" of the horse. They would first arrange for the palace maid to share the bed with the horse, and the next day, the palace maid would tell the queen or the empress dowager all the facts about the horse.
Of course, the "frontal donkey" knows the rule of trial marriage, and for the "trial marriage style", a yellow flower girl who does not understand personnel affairs, the "frontal donkey" must be full of energy and wants to perform well. And this "trial marriage style" itself does not understand the affairs of men and women, coupled with the "frontal donkey" so hard and flattering, most of them are directly passed. Eventually, after Gege marries a donkey, the maid becomes the horse's concubine or maid.
Successive dynasties have attached great importance to the heirs of the royal family, and it can be said that this trial marriage system of the Qing Dynasty was considered for the heirs of the royal family.
Here, we will talk about the education of the princes during the Qing Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, the education received by the princes was the most stringent among the princes in the past. Every day when the sky is not light, the princes begin a day of study. The first class was a Chinese class, and these princes were Manchus and their mother tongue was not Chinese, but they were going to run the whole country in the future, so they had to learn Chinese. When entering the classroom, the princes should show respect for the teacher, and of course, the teacher should also show respect for the imperial power.
When the teacher is in class, he will check the homework of the princes one by one to see if they are skilled. At this time, the princes must hand over their books to their teachers, and then return to their seats to recite them. If the teacher was not satisfied, he would let a eunuch hold a whip and punish the prince. Each prince has a "haha bead" to help them learn, that is, "accompany reading". The person who accompanies the reading must learn the same knowledge as the prince, but the accompanying reading is not only to help the prince learn, but the most important thing is to punish the prince.
In fact, this is also to maintain the dignity of the royal family. On the contrary, if the prince's academic performance is very good, then the prince's accompanying reading will also be rewarded together with the prince. For those princes who have not changed their ways, the method of punishing the prince with accompanying reading is useless, then the teacher will personally punish him, and such punishment can generally only be borne by the prince himself. However, for the teacher, under normal circumstances, it is just to scare the prince, and will not really beat the prince.
Of course, there are also times when the teacher really can't bear it, at this time, the teacher will not personally punish, he will bring the emperor to the emperor and let the emperor punish. In doing so, he not only educated the crown prince, but also retained the dignity of the royal family. At this time, the emperor would send an attendant, usually a eunuch, to punish the prince. For example, the Tongzhi Emperor was once pinched in the face by a eunuch.
After the two-hour Chinese class, it is necessary to start learning some Manchu courses. However, the Manchu teachers of the princes could not compare with the status of Chinese teachers. Before each lesson, Teacher Manchu had to salute the princes, but the princes did not need to salute the teachers. Although this practice maintained the majesty of the Qing Dynasty royal family, for teachers who are exemplary teachers, they must give their students salutes in the classroom, so what kind of students will be taught?
Moreover, in addition to learning Manchu, the princes also had to learn some local dialects. Subsequent courses, equivalent to today's physical education classes, were called "Zhida" in the Qing Dynasty. Qing Zhao's "Xiaoting Continuation Record, Zhida": "When the prince was six years old, he selected the eight banner warriors bow horses, Chinese skilled, and even entered the guard, taught the prince to ride and shoot, known as 'Zhida', the system slightly killed the master, the responsibility of the Gaigu Bao clan. "After a day of study, it is also very good to do some exercise to relieve the fatigue of the whole day.
In addition to studying, it is rest. The rest time of the princes is also strictly limited. Because they have to study, they go to bed early every day so that they can have enough energy to cope with the next day's study tasks. Moreover, the daily diet of the princes also has very strict restrictions, they cannot overeat, and they are resolutely unable to participate in gambling. If such a thing is caught, then the consequences of gambling for a prince are very serious.
After talking about the education of the prince, let's look at the strange rules in the palace.
The empress was the lord of the harem and the only wife of the emperor, and her status was naturally very noble. Except for the empress, other concubines could not spend the night with the emperor without the permission of the empress dowager. When the emperor was sleeping, he had thirty attendants at his side to take care of the emperor's living quarters, and these attendants were generally managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The duty of these attendants is to serve the emperor, and when they serve the emperor, they cannot make any noise that affects the emperor's sleep, which is a major matter related to life.
The eunuch on duty is generally the first summoned attendant after the emperor wakes up, and he must always pay attention to any sound in the emperor's palace, so when the emperor summons the eunuch on duty, he is high-fived, and if the person neglects the emperor, he will face severe punishment.
Every year Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperor and empress would preside over a palace feast together. Generally speaking, the emperor's seat is on the right side of the empress, and the seats of other concubines are generally farther away from the emperor's position. This feast, because only the emperor, empress and concubines attended, was more like a family banquet, and the emperor at this time was more like an ordinary husband. When Chinese New Year's Eve, looking forward to the new year together, the emperor will also meet with other concubines, talk, and feel the joy of ordinary people.
Then, it was the crux of the whole feast: the queen distributed the food to the eunuchs around her, who, when they received the food, gave it to the concubines who were present; when the concubines received the food, they were to respectfully place it on their laps. When it was the emperor's turn, it was also necessary to "give food" in a similar process. It can be seen that the people who live in the palace, whether they are emperors, princes, princesses, or empresses and concubines, they are all constrained by many systems, but behind the seeming scenery is full of a lot of helplessness.
Resources:
[Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" (清史稿), "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Liechuan I. Concubines", "The Qing Dynasty Palace Girl System"]