In ancient China, it was monogamous, and commoners could only marry one wife, and were not allowed to take concubines, only officials and squires with status could take concubines, and for a long time, the number of concubines of princes and nobles and officials and squires was also stipulated, and they could not take concubines casually.
In fact, concubines are the "private goods" of the ancient dignitaries and dignitaries, and the ancients had the phrase "marrying wives and marrying virtues, and taking concubines and taking color", which very bluntly explained the purpose of concubines. In ancient times, it was generally used to marry a wife first and then take a concubine. However, there are exceptions, some people marry late, and there are also cases of taking concubines first and marrying wives later. Whether they take a concubine first or marry a wife first, the status of concubines is very low.
The word "concubine" is taken apart to mean "standing woman", as the name suggests, its original meaning is a standing woman, and her status is not high at first glance. "Spring and Autumn" said: "A woman is a concubine, and a concubine is not a concubine." "To be a concubine to a person, not even a dowry." It is not a family member at all, and its status is completely unmatched with that of the wife, and it belongs to the subordinate status. If a concubine bumps into her wife, she will definitely be thrown out.
For example:
In ancient times, the emperors were all three palaces and six courtyards, but after death, only the empress was the empress, and the empress was the emperor's wife, and the other concubines were only the emperor's concubines and could not be buried with the emperor.
This was true of the emperor, as were other princes, nobles, and eunuchs, and even some lowly concubines could not even enter the ancestral grave.
For example, Long Keduo's uncle, Gong Tong Guogang, of the first rank, had three sons, the eldest son, Orendai, the second son, Fahai (who had nothing to do with the White Lady), and the third son, Quai. Among them, Orendai is out of the house, and Fahai is out of the house.
Because Fahai's mother was a concubine (originally a maid), after the death of his mother, his brother Orendai firmly disagreed with burying Fahai's mother in his ancestral grave, which led to an extremely bad relationship between the two brothers.
However, although the status of concubines is not high, the children born to concubines still have the right to inherit the family property.
In the families of princes and nobles, the children born of concubines are from the concubines, are not eligible to inherit the title, and must also stand behind the concubines when sacrificing the ancestors, but the concubines and concubines are artificially demarcated, in fact, they are the sons of the male master.
Since the Tang Dynasty, the gap between concubines and concubines has been narrowing, and the sons of Shuchu also have the right to inherit part of the family property. Of course, the title and ancestral inheritance were still inherited by the eldest son.