Qing Palace drama has always been a favorite genre of the audience, and with the popularity of the TV series "The Biography of Zhen Huan", many people are very curious about the hierarchy of concubines in the Qing Palace. Today, let's take a look at the difference and connection between the ranks of concubines in the Chinese court.
The so-called "harem" refers to the place where the emperor's wives and concubines live, usually referring to the women living in the harem. In the Zhou system, the harem set up internal officials to Zannaizhi. Han set up fourteen internal officials, all hundreds. Tang set up six bureaus and twenty-four divisions, with one hundred and ninety officials and more than fifty female historians, all of whom were selected as good family women. Therefore, the ancients often used "three thousand harem beauties" to describe the ancient emperor's concubines.
Here, what we call the "Qing Dynasty Concubine System" refers to the following system of concubine selection, canonization, Jin sealing, and daily life during the Qing Dynasty, which has been gradually improved over time. The ranks of concubines in the qing dynasty harem were divided into eight grades, namely: empress, imperial concubine, noble concubine, concubine, concubine, nobleman, chang zai, and promise. The lowest level is to agree, and the promise can only have 2 palace maids waiting.
In the Qing Dynasty, the number of harems of all emperors was roughly the same, and there were historical records that formally explained the Qing Dynasty's regulations on the number of concubines at all levels of the harem: one empress, two imperial concubines, two noble concubines, four concubines, and six concubines. However, the emperor has a great "right to appoint", so there is no limit to the number of concubines below the concubine level, and the emperor can increase his harem "team" at will.
It can be said that the number of concubines of the Kangxi Emperor was "record-breaking", and he had fifty-five concubines in his lifetime: four empresses, three imperial concubines, one noble concubine, eleven concubines, eight concubines, ten nobles, often eight, and ten promises. Of course, these are only the number of people recorded in the history books, and the vast majority of concubines are without any name. It is said that the number of wives and concubines he actually owned was as high as more than two hundred.
The concubines of the Qing Dynasty, according to each person's "position", also enjoyed different benefits every month.
This is mainly reflected in their clothing, food, pocket money, living area, decoration luxury and so on. Of course, the more "high-ranking" concubines, the more grand their travels are, and the more different the steps they ride.
According to records, the queen's annual allowance accumulated twenty-two gold and two hundred and two hundred and two silver. The imperial concubines had eight hundred taels of silver per year, with eight maids; six hundred and two concubines, eight maids; three hundred and two concubines, six maids; two hundred and two concubines, six maids; one hundred and two and four maids; always in fifty-two, two maids; and promised thirty-two, two maids. The Queen had twelve maids, and her annual allowance was one thousand taels of silver.
The person who dominated the list with "extravagance" in the harem was Empress Dowager Cixi. The benefits she enjoyed far exceeded the rules, and many things were customized. In her bedroom, every night is as bright as day, and the lamps are placed on more than a dozen rosewood shelves, each lamp is a work of art. Looking at the lamp shelf, it is engraved with a dragon and phoenix pattern, and the carving is very delicate.
It is said that Cixi did not like incense, but only the fragrance of fruit. Therefore, several large vats are placed in the Chuxiu Palace all year round, which often has dozens of pounds of fruit, in order to meet the needs of Cixi's "smelling incense", tens of thousands of pounds of fruit are used up every year. Compared with Queen Victoria in the same period, she is much more "shabby", with a budget of only 800,000 pounds per year, while Cixi has no budget.
In the end, it was also her luxury that completely ruined the glory of the Qing Dynasty, which was Cixi's funeral offering. Even if there were such a capable person as Li Hongzhang, it would still be a martyrdom of Cixi's people.
Here, there is another point worth mentioning, that is, although the Qing Dynasty set up imperial concubines, but generally only for posthumous titles, and when the empress was alive, she rarely crowned imperial concubines. Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, there have been two cases of imperial concubines.
The first time was when Shunzhi gave Dong Eshi the title of imperial concubine, and borzigit was still firmly on the throne of empress. The second time was when the Tongzhi Emperor crowned his Fucha clan as an imperial concubine, and it was the Arut clan who secured the empress's throne. As everyone knows, the existence of imperial concubines is a very embarrassing thing for the empress, and it is precisely because these two emperors are quite fond of the imperial concubines who are pro-sealed, so they often ignore the "political marriage" of the right wife empress.
In fact, when Nurhaci was outside guanwai, there was no concubine system, and there was no division of names for wives and concubines, and they were all called "Fujin" or "Gege". Nurhaci himself had sixteen wives, all of whom were called "Fujin", and the real standardization of the concubine system began from the time of the Emperor Taiji. In 1632, he established the Middle and Western Palaces of Fujin, and also chose the Eastern Palace Fujin as empress, after which he successively built the "Five Palaces".
After entering the customs, the system of concubines was more perfect, and the names of each class were also increased. In the fifteenth year of Shunzhi, there was one lady of the Qianqing Palace, one Lady Shuyi, one Gentle Attendant, and thirty gentlemen and fangwan. The Cining Palace set up one Zhenrong and two Prudent Rong, and there was no fixed number of diligent attendants, at this time, the titles of "Fujin" and "Gege" were still there. It was not until the time of the Kangxi Dynasty that the "Fujin" and "Gege" were abolished, and the harem concubine system introduced above was officially established.
Until the death of the Jiaqing Emperor, the Daoguang Emperor's promotion of his father's widow also became a common practice in the late Qing Dynasty. Moreover, during the Daoguang period, many concubines were also "demoted", which was really rare, and even Tong Guifei was demoted three levels in a row, which can be described as no one before or after the ancients. In the late Qing Dynasty, the number of concubines of the Tongzhi Emperor and the Guangxu Emperor plummeted. The Tongzhi Emperor was one of the four concubines, and the Guangxu Emperor was one of the two concubines.
In addition, the harem of the Qing Dynasty can only be flag people, their status is very noble, every three years when the draft, each flag will select women of the right age to enter the palace to run. From the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of the Han Army, a young girl of Miaoling was selected to enter the palace draft. The so-called "Manchu Han does not marry", in fact, the Qing Dynasty royal family did not restrict Han women from entering the harem.
After the show girl enters the palace, she is generally sealed as a promise. Then, some of them were promoted to changzai, concubine, concubine, and nobleman. The nobles above must come from the families of the nobles of the generations, and the nobles below must only be selected from the children of Baitang'a. Some showgirls are paired with close branch clans or princes and imperial grandchildren. As for the empress, it was generally selected by the empress dowager from among the daughters of the princes and ministers of the near branch, and the emperor could be crowned. In the future, if the emperor does not like it, he can also be replaced.
Even so, the Qing Dynasty regarded the selection of concubines as a major political activity.
Although the Qing dynasty royal family did not restrict Han women from entering the harem, the choice of queen concubines was mainly selected from the Manchus, followed by the Mongolian nobles, in order to strengthen ties with the Mongolian nobles. Tong Xun and Hou Jiuxuan's "Qing Palace Concubines" according to the "Table of Qing Palace Queen Concubines" compiled by the "Four Genealogies of the Qing Imperial Family" lists 187 12 imperial concubines, except for 8 unspecified ethnic names, 12 are Jurchens, 136 are Manchus, 21 Are Mongolians, 9 are Han Chinese, and 1 Uyghur is 1.
Resources:
[Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Biography of The Later Concubines, Records of the Yangji Zhai Series, Great Qing Huidian ( )