In history, most of the emperors in the feudal era had three palaces and six courts, no matter how the dynasties changed, this idea of imperial supremacy and male superiority and female inferiority was not changed, until the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the concubines around him had the idea of the rise of human rights.
This concubine was Wen Xiu, who belonged to the Mongolian ethnic group, the Erdet ethnic Gege. His ancestors followed Dorgon into the customs, and his family was quite prominent.
After the death of their father, Wen Xiu and her sister followed their mother to live in the house of the fifth uncle. Unlike the deep palace girl show, who does not leave the door and does not go out of the door, Wen Xiu has attended elementary school like other new era women.
At this time, although the Qing Dynasty was thinning the western mountains, but the worms of the hundred feet were dead and not stiff, after Puyi announced the election of concubines, there were still many famous and prestigious families who rushed to report the women in their families, and Uncle Wenxiu sent her photos to the palace, hoping that his niece could see The Face of Heaven.
But fate sometimes tricks people, at this time Puyi is still a half-sized child, he is not enthusiastic about the matter of choosing concubines, he randomly circled in the photos that came up, and it just happened that the circle was embroidered. And on the courtiers' favorite grace, this time the concubines accepted a total of two women into the palace.
In November 1922, Wen Xiu was given the title of Lady Concubine and lived in the Changchun Palace where Cixi once lived, which was a great honor and favor in the eyes of others, but she did not care. Entering the Forbidden City, she did not gain the slightest sincerity from her husband, and she repeated her mechanical movements day after day, living in the magnificent but unpopular Changchun Palace.
Like her, her husband and empress were victims of this farce, and Puyi once described his life in his youth: "None of them are my real wives, I don't have a wife at all, some are just decorations. ”
If there had been no coup d'état revolution that followed, Wen Xiu might have spent his entire life in this boxy world. Perhaps luckily, or unluckily, the 15-year-old Wen Xiu was expelled from the palace with her husband and went to Tianjin.
Originally, Puyi was indifferent to her feelings, no matter what environment was changed, the relationship between the two has not been close. Wen Xiu was young in heart, angry at her husband's indifference, and stabbed herself in the lower abdomen with scissors.
But after hearing this news, Puyi did not care at all, only let people ignore her. Perhaps it was this incident that completely chilled her heart, and Wen Xiu cut off contact with her nominal husband and lived alone.
In 1931, she formally filed for divorce with Puyi through a lawyer, and she had to respond to so many years of indifference, while also fighting for a new opportunity for her life.
At that time, Puyi was still a very popular figure, and when people heard that the concubines in the palace had actually offered to "retire" the emperor, all kinds of remarks were boiling over for a while.
Puyi felt that he could not hang on to his face, so he took the initiative to ask for reconciliation with Wen Xiu, but the latter had an iron heart to end this deformed relationship, and the two parted ways. Wen Xiu also specifically stated in the newspaper that he and Puyi had divorced and had no relationship.
Wen Xiu thought that he could be free without the shackles of identity, but the truth was not enough. She entered a primary school to teach Mandarin.
Before long, the news of the concubine as a primary school teacher was on the front page again, and her life began to be disturbed by all parties, and in desperation, she could only give up her favorite profession and hide her name.
After many years of suffering, thirty-eight-year-old Wenxiu finally found a job in the editorial office, she worked seriously, had a positive attitude, and soon mingled with her colleagues around her.
When the leader saw that he was alone, he introduced her to a veteran, Liu Zhendong. The two went naturally into marriage. After that, Wen Xiu has been a housewife, and Liu Zhendong has worked as an ordinary worker after liberation. Although the life of the two is poor, it is still stable and happy.
Liu Zhendong did not know at first that his wife had once married the emperor, and Wen Xiu had been hiding her former identity. It was not until 1952, when Wen Xiu was critically ill, and she poured out the past when she was dying, that Liu Zhendong did not know the truth.
If she had not been recruited into the palace at that time, Wen Xiu might have lived a naïve life like many famous ladies of the Republic of China, and the second half of her, Wanrong, and Puyi's lives were miserable, and no one was the culprit of the tragedy, only the feudal society ate their lives.
bibliography:
[1] Wang Qingxiang, "The Biography of Wen Embroidery", People's Literature Publishing House, 2015