During the feudal dynasties of ancient China, imperial power was the highest power at that time. Emperors of every dynasty and every generation wielded supreme power, even comparing themselves to children of heaven. He who thinks he is the closest to God, the king of the whole world, and all his people are his own children.
Although the emperor's power is so great, it is not easy to become a man above ten thousand people. Even if he was born in the imperial family, the emperor still had to face a lot of things that he couldn't help himself. So, how did the ancient emperors spend their day? Today we will take Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty as an example to see the details of his life from four o'clock in the morning to handle government affairs and eat the whole Han table alone.
A day in Qianlong
Speaking of the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor was the third diligent emperor after Kangxi and Yongzheng to serve the people. During his reign, the Qing Dynasty can be said to have reached the peak of national development. As a good emperor who made a difference, Qianlong was very diligent from the time he was still a prince.
Since then, he has maintained the habit of getting up at four o'clock in the morning every day. After the Qianlong Emperor got up, eunuchs and palace ladies waited for him to freshen up, dress, and other matters. During this period, the personal eunuch would make a simple report to Qianlong on whether there were many things in today's government and politics, so that the emperor could understand the general idea in his heart.
When he was fully dressed, the emperor was ready to go to breakfast. According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor usually had three sayings for eating, which were passing on meals, eating meals and eating meals. Since the Manchu people's dining habit was to eat only two meals in the morning and evening, the Qianlong Emperor would eat breakfast on time and then be carried to the front palace by a special palanquin for early reading.
The so-called early reading is the time used by the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty to learn the hadiths of his ancestors. Since the Yongzheng Emperor began, he had stipulated that the emperor should spend the most energetic time of the day to study the hadith, regardless of the cold and summer, without interruption. Therefore, as Yongzheng's son, the Qianlong Emperor has always abided by the rules set by his father. During this period, the ministers had not yet come to the court, and the Qianlong Emperor was during this time, studying while waiting for the ministers to come to work.
According to historical records, the time of the Qing Dynasty was at the beginning of the chen, that is, around seven o'clock this morning. Under normal circumstances, the time for the emperor to administer and handle official affairs is two hours from 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning.
When they deal with the government, they are also divided into two types: daily government affairs and special government affairs. If it is the upper and lower dynasties in the weekdays, this is a daily government affair. If it is a large-scale imperial meeting, the emperor's birthday, a big wedding, or an enthronement ceremony, it is a special government affair.
As we have seen in the film and television drama, after the general court affairs are over, the emperor begins to summon some important ministers to the imperial study to discuss matters, and the Qianlong Emperor is no exception. Every now and then, the Qianlong Emperor's serious business has begun.
Normally, the Qianlong Emperor would find a minister who assisted the emperor in handling the administrative organs, such as the Legislative Affairs Office, the Cabinet, and the Military Aircraft Department, to discuss and inquire about the problems existing in the country and the events to be dealt with soon.
Then, when these things are done, according to the regulations, the Qianlong Emperor should have dinner. And this dinner time is very different from our modern time. In the "History of the State Dynasty Palace", it is recorded that the emperors generally had to be busy from early morning to noon, and their dinner time would generally be arranged between one o'clock and two o'clock in the afternoon to eat this meal.
Therefore, the Qianlong Emperor, who could only start eating at this time, naturally wanted to enjoy a big meal. According to the customs of the Manchus at that time, at this time, the emperor's table would usher in more than sixty Manchu and Han chinese seats. And it was a wonderful thing that the Qianlong Emperor could enjoy such a big meal alone and in peace and stability.
As for the afternoon time, the Qianlong Emperor also had to come according to the laws of life. Usually after dinner, he would begin to sit in the study again to complete the recitals presented by the ministers and local officials of various departments. Waiting for these tasks to be done, the emperor's day of entertainment really began.
These times included reading books, examining the lessons of their sons, writing poems, or meeting several concubines to listen to plays.
If, in the evening, the emperor was a little hungry, he would pass on another supper according to the situation. Until seven o'clock to nine o'clock in the evening, the Qianlong Emperor still had to look at buddhist scriptures and the like to relax. Then read the recital before going to bed at ten o'clock in the evening, and the day is over.
The life of the ancients
In fact, in addition to the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the emperors of successive dynasties have different lives, but most of them also have similarities. For example, in ancient times, emperors had to perform the ritual of fasting and bathing before sealing Zen to express their devotion to heaven.
At this time, the palace ladies and eunuchs in the palace had to prepare a large basin for bathing, and scooped out the water in the basin to bathe the emperor. At that time, there was no modern shower gel or soap, so the ancients thought of bathing with the ashes and soap pods burned by plants.
Do not underestimate these natural bath products, although it is more troublesome to make, but the effect of cleansing the skin is surprisingly good, not at all losing modern bath products. If you feel that your body is too dirty, the ancients also used volcanic stone to invent a stone for scrubbing, called "scrubbing stone", which is equivalent to the popular bath towel in the northeast.
In addition, the ancients also paid great attention to oral cleanliness. Since the Tang Dynasty, the ancients have begun to use willow branches to soak in water, if you want to clean your teeth, you will soak the willow branches to bite open, so that the fibers inside it appear fine wooden comb teeth, so that you can replace the current toothbrush.
Of course, this is nothing more than the cleaning method of ordinary people. If it was an ancient emperor, they would inlay the best animal mane on the bone, resembling a modern toothbrush. Due to the high cost of this bone toothbrush, only the royal family could afford to use it.
In addition to the above daily life, people in ancient times actually paid great attention to the details of life. For example, after bathing, use musk, sandalwood, ambergris, etc. to smoke the body or clothing.
Therefore, when modern people often envy the ancient kings who are rich and invincible, it is difficult to imagine how hard their day is as an emperor. Usually, there are so many palace women and eunuchs to serve, but because the emperor's work is too tired, he needs more people to help himself in order to work in this work for a long time, until he dies.