Text|a: A view of history
Editor|aHistorical view
Before you start reading this article, we sincerely ask you to click the "Follow" button below, so that you can not only easily participate in the discussion and share, but also get more interactive experience, thank you for your support!
In the mainland feudal dynasty period for a long time, each era has countless figures to serve the royal family, in the palace there are countless eunuchs and palace maidens, these people form a huge group of slaves, in the ancient times with clear classes, the status of slaves is not even as good as some livestock, not to mention in the royal palace with a strict class system, these slaves are even more miserable.
The palace eunuchs had a hard time
The palace eunuchs in the palace are responsible for serving the royal people in the palace, such as eating, drinking, Lasa, etc., since they signed the deed of sale to enter the palace to serve the royal people, they will serve their masters in this palace all their lives, and can only wait for the emperor's gift or what opportunity to leave the palace, it is in this environment and system, many eunuchs and palace maids also have different minds.
Eunuchs are castrated when they enter the palace, because under the oppression of the ancient feudal system, the royal family carries out a guarantee system to protect their bloodline, and it can also be said that eunuchs are not complete men when they enter the palace.
There are also palace maids in the palace, from the moment they enter the palace, their own light years will be buried in the palace, luckily in the distribution can go to the master to serve the royal people, but if they are unlucky, they will be assigned to the most tired and bitter place, suffering great torture.
It was under the physical torture and inner dissatisfaction of palace maids and eunuchs that a special relationship between palace maids and eunuchs began to become popular, "eating against each other".
The emergence of "right food"
For people who love to watch costume TV series, they should be no stranger to the word "food", and there was also a plot of palace maids and eunuchs "eating" in the popular TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan", but at that time, the TV series showed a very severe punishment for the behavior of "eating against food", so was there "food" in ancient times? Is "right food" really so serious?
From the word "food", it is like two people sitting opposite each other to eat, which indeed means that under the strict system of palace rules between palace maids and eunuchs, men and women can only eat separately at a fixed time according to regulations.
The word "right food" first appeared in the Han Dynasty, when Chen Ajiao, the empress of Emperor Wudi of Han, in order to make her husband Liu Che change her heart and pamper herself from the new, specially made the Chu witch woman dress up as a man and sleep with her to exercise her charms, day and night, the two developed another feeling, which gave rise to the word "right food" that refers to the love of two women.
In the period of Emperor Hancheng, the emperor favored Zhao Feiyan, Zhao Feiyan and his court taught Cao Gong incomparably close, the relationship was very good, but did not expect that Emperor Hancheng was stealing everywhere, and finally Cao Gong was pregnant with the prince of Emperor Hancheng, Zhao Feiyan was angry and cruelly killed Cao Gong, so far "food" was known by the world, with the continuous transmission of derivatives, "food" refers to the behavior of eunuchs and palace maids because of physical and mental needs to live a life and become a couple.
According to legend, Zhao Gao is the first eunuch eunuch to "eat" with the palace maid, although Zhao Gao's power is leaning towards the opposition, and he has a lot of rights, but he is a eunuch, he not only has many wives and concubines, but even those palace maids who have a slight posture in the palace are also the object of his "food", but there are also records that Zhao Gao is not actually castrated successfully, he is a man, we can't judge whether this matter is true or false, we can only say that Zhao Gao as a eunuch but "eat" with many palace maids "eat" It can be seen that "food" has been accepted in the court.
The true meaning of "right food"
With these recorded "reciprocal eating" incidents, now "eclipse" no longer simply refers to the act of eating with each other between palace maids and eunuchs, but also begins to refer to homosexual love between lonely palace maidens, and also refers to secret bed relationships.
The development of "right food" all the way
In the deep palace, there are many people who have no chance to go out as soon as they step into the palace, it is the young palace eunuchs who inevitably yearn for love, not to mention that there is no one to take care of in the palace, and I hope that someone can solve their own worries and solve their loneliness, so this kind of mutual partnering, living a husband and wife life "food" unfolds like this.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, dashing and informal, the whole country was intoxicated with sound and color, people not only indulged literature, but also advocated hedonism, so they were very supportive of their own desires and addiction to enjoyment, which also greatly aggravated the phenomenon of "food" at that time, and people treated such things with tolerance and understanding.
In the Tang Dynasty, the tribute of the Ten Thousand Dynasties also brought a lot of open ideas to the Tang Dynasty, and the emperor also knew that his palace female eunuchs were too lonely, and secretly interdependence would not have any effect, and there was a love and concern between the two, better in the palace, the emperor would even reward the palace maids to the eunuchs, let them carry out "food", at this time "food" is already common.
In such a feudal dynasty road, eunuchs can obtain the emperor's gift, marry palace maids for "right food", which is also a royal gift, the phenomenon of "right food" in the court has been accepted by many people, becoming a semi-public behavior, and even in serious times, some palace female eunuchs who do not have "right food" will be ridiculed.
However, just when the wind of "food" was pervasive, it came to an abrupt end in the Ming Dynasty, and the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was extremely disgusted with the behavior of "food", and hated the extravagant and chaotic atmosphere in the palace the most, he could not tolerate such a behavior in his palace, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a decree to weaken the rights of these eunuchs, crack down on "food" behavior, if he found that there was a situation of "food", he would punish or kill these people who violated the ban, and sometimes punish the clansmen. Implicating families, under such a frightening punishment, the custom of "eating food" has almost disappeared, and no one dares to act "eating against food" under such a strict system.
But during the reign of Ming Cheng ancestor Zhu Di, the rights of eunuchs were promoted again, Zhu Di used the power of eunuchs to obtain the throne, he rewarded these eunuchs, not only rewarded gold and silver jewelry but also decreed to give them marriage, in this case, the eunuchs and palace maids also dared to re-engage in the act of "eating against food", so "pair of food" rose again in the palace, this kind of "pair of food" behavior between eunuchs and palace maids is also called vegetable household.
What is the role of "to food"
So why is the custom of "eating food" so prevalent from the very beginning of the Han Dynasty records to the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang severely cracked down? Do you have to have a partner? Does it have to be the "right food" that is talked about in the palace? In fact, these can be explained.
The palace eunuchs who survive in the palace are suppressed for a long time, and the work of their status underground all day is to do some dirty work in the three palaces and six courtyards, burying their youth in such a daily repeated palace, and their hearts are naturally bitter, hoping that someone can understand and comfort themselves, eat, chat, and live with themselves, even if they do nothing.
What's more, the eunuchs in the palace are all flawed, and there is no way to have something to happen with their "food" partner, just hoping to have an object that can give them comfort in their hearts, and the two can talk to each other every day, understand each other's lives, and silently give support, which is also a way for two people to live in this depressed palace to increase their expectations.
The reason why this relationship is also called a vegetable household is because the daily work of those eunuchs on duty is very hard, and they can't eat a bite of hot rice all day, and after becoming "right food", every time after the shift, these little palace maids will cook some meals for their "right food" objects, so that these little eunuchs can also eat some hot meals, and the little palace maids can also get silver money from their "right food" objects to purchase some beautiful jewelry, so that both parties get benefits, so "right food" is becoming more and more popular.
And in addition to the needs of the hearts and lives of the two people, there is also part of the reason because of the power factor, in the history of the mainland there have been palace maids and eunuchs who have become "right food" because of rights, that is, the nursing mother of Zhu Youxiao in the Ming Dynasty, the Hakka and the then great eunuch Wei Zhongxian, originally Wei Zhongxian was a nobody's eunuch who had difficulty saving his life in the palace, and met the emperor's nursing mother by chance, Wei Zhongxian in order to control the emperor Zhu Youxiao to improve his power status, The two formed a "counter-food" with the aim of increasing the emperor's trust, and in this way, Wei Zhongxian's power status was enhanced, and he became a powerful eunuch, which had a far-reaching impact.
Is "right food" good or bad?
The behavior of "eating food" can allow those palace people who are in the palace and cannot solve their own needs and their inner emotional needs to comfort each other, everyone has their own physical desires and emotional needs, which is not shameful, but these eunuchs and palace maids in such a hierarchical and extremely well-regulated palace, no one cares about their inner emotions, so this kind of palace secret "food" is produced.
The emergence of "food" allows these people to have psychological comfort, and the mutual understanding and support between the two can take care of each other, which can be much relieved, and have some fun in life in such a deep palace.
But not all "right food" is good, if there are eunuchs with psychological defects, for their physical defects transferred to the palace maids to retaliate, then these palace maids will also suffer some inhuman torture, and then may choose to end their lives to get rid of this destruction, and it is also possible that the palace people will affect their rights after forming a "pair of food", and the eunuchs trusted by the emperor may also hold great power and eventually lead to the collapse of the dynasty, so "right food" is not a single good or bad, but has different effects under different circumstances.
A tragic reflection under the "right food"
The emergence of "food" is because of the desire needs of these people who have nowhere to vent their emotions in the deep palace, and such a love card situation can be reflected in the ordinary people who do not have a normal life under the imperial system in feudal society, have no way to express their normal emotional needs, can only carry out "food" behavior behind the scenes, and may also be implicated in family members.
This phenomenon also reflects that under the ancient feudal system, in addition to the high imperial power, in private for ordinary people are basically miserable, obviously the same people, but the fate is very different, this is also the backwardness of the ancient feudal system, there is no normal emotional venting, for their own desires to endure and conceal, unable to vent.
This is also a reflection of the tragic fate of the ancient people, there are countless people in the court but only the emperor can vent their emotions, in addition to these palace eunuchs who entered the deep palace to work, there are many harem concubines who have only been summoned once by the emperor, these people are locked in their desires by the system in the deep palace, and can only find ways to spend loneliness, which is the cruel abstinence and institutional imprisonment of the ancient feudal system.
Such a way of venting deformed emotions is also produced under the oppression of various feudal dogmatisms such as "saving heavenly reason and destroying human desire" in ancient times, which is a kind of resistance, but also a kind of powerless misery, the same people, just because of some different ranks and origins, have a completely different life, it is this unfair treatment that allows people to overthrow the feudal dynasty, so that we have the dashing and free life we have today.
Everyone has the right to vent their emotions and pursue their own happiness, the resistance of these miserable people under the feudal system is a tragedy, and the sustenance of emotions may lose their lives, thanks to our happy country today, we have the right to pursue freely and a happy life, once again grieving for the tragic fate of these ancient people, all are created equal!