In the feudal society, people were divided into three, six, nine and so on, and the superior people were the masters, such as the emperor's relatives and relatives, and some local famous families;
For the superior people, the inferior people can be traded and bought like cattle and horses, and once they are bought, they will naturally dominate everything about them, and even decide their life and death.
In many costume dramas, film and television works, we will see the maids who are busy all day long in the aristocratic mansion, forming a unique landscape.
Although they are all maids, but the specific work of each person is different, let's look at the ancient maids There are probably several types.
When the host drinks tea or entertains guests, some maids will stand aside to serve, add tea, pour wine, serve dishes, and so on;
When the master was writing and walking in the garden, there were also some maids who served in front of him, grinding, pouring tea, taking towels, and even chatting with the master about poetry and songs, etc.;
This kind of maid is generally good-looking, graceful, with high emotional intelligence, and has a job in her eyes, and belongs to the first-class maid.
Some maids may be more ordinary-looking, but they have special talents, such as cooking and cooking are particularly delicious, and they can play the piano and write a word.
Then they can go to the corresponding place to play a skill, those who can cook go to the back kitchen to take charge, those who can play the piano perform at banquets, and those who can write and read can accompany their sons.
There is also a kind of bed warmer, whose main task is to warm the bed for the master before going to bed, which requires that they must be in good health and cannot have body odor.
Although these maids are not as high as the promotion opportunities of the first category, their income is relatively high in the maid group, which is a second-class maid.
If you have no posture, no skills, and a little problem with your body that you can't warm the bed, then you can only do the call girl, do some physical work such as carrying water and chopping firewood, carrying errands, this is a third-class maid.
In addition to these three types of maids, there is also a kind of "room maid", which is the "Rolls-Royce" of maids.
In the past, unlike today's free love, the parties to the marriage were often relatively young, generally under the age of 20, and they could not become husband and wife until the day of the wedding.
In order to prevent any "accidents" when having sex together, it is necessary for a person to be present when the husband and wife are in the same room, and the manservant is definitely not suitable, so the "maid who has sex with each other" was born.
The maid can be from the man's family, which is used to solve the physiological needs of the young master before he officially marries his wife, or it can be from the woman's family, and then marry with the young lady when he officially passes the door.
Some are even sent to the man's house to live with the groom before they get married, to check whether the man has any hidden diseases.
For example, the attacker in "Dream of Red Mansions", she was poor in her family since she was a child, and was sold into Jia's mansion by her parents.
The two had a "sneak test" in the sixth episode, and since then they have formed a fate for the next life.
In ancient times, the maid was the legal lover of the master in addition to his wife and concubine, and if she could get pregnant and give birth to a child, she was likely to take the opportunity to "ascend to the top", and the mother was upgraded from a slave to a concubine by virtue of her son.
For example, Yuan Shao, the warlord leader in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, was born to a maid, and it is recorded in the wild history "Dictionary" written by Wei Guolang Zhongyufeng:
“绍母亲为婢使，绍实微贱”。
And his brother Yuan Shu was born to his wife, so he has always looked down on his brother, who is a concubine, and the two of them also turned against each other because of bloodline problems, and they both ended up in a bleak end.
Whether it is a maid or an ordinary maid, most of them are from poor families when they were young, and their parents sold them to large families in order to relieve pressure.
The feudal society favors sons over girls, and the status of girls is very low, and for some poor families, the time and economic costs required to raise their daughters and marry are too high, so it is better to sell them and do their best to raise a boy.
If they were poorer, they might even sell all the boys into the palace to become eunuchs, burying the lives of these children with their own hands.
You may have such a question, the blood of the father and the mother, the child born in October of pregnancy must be sold to others, and it will definitely be sold at a high price.
Will you struggle for 10 years less, or even get rich overnight, cross classes, and reach the pinnacle of life?
Then I can only tell you that you are thinking too much.
From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the captives of the defeated country would become slaves of the victorious country, and the female dependents among them would be divided among the large families and become slaves.
From the Qin Dynasty onwards, the slave trade was legalized and could be bought and sold in the bazaar, just like the current morning market, with prices clearly marked and at your disposal. All appeared on the same stage with melons, fruits, pears, peaches, rice and white noodles, where do you say the price can be high?
Although the Qin Dynasty was the beginning of the era of the great unified empire on the mainland, those who are familiar with that period of history know that excessive centralization, the construction of the Great Wall and the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, and the burning of books and Confucianism made the vast majority of the people struggle on the brink of life and death.
For many ordinary families, if they can eat two meals a day, it is the Chinese New Year, who can still open their mouths when selling their daughters?
So the maid at that time was very cheap, 4,300 yuan for adults and 2,500 yuan for minors, which is equivalent to about 1,000 yuan now, and they can be exchanged for a month's rations for a family, and they can even take people away without spending money.
After entering the Tang Dynasty, especially during the reign of Li Shimin's Zhenguan, the economic situation changed greatly, but the slavery trade was not abolished, but was further developed.
The transaction price of the maid during this period was about 30,000 yuan (Kaiyuan Tongbao), which is about 50,000 yuan now.
It should be noted that before the Song Dynasty, the maid was a slave, which belonged to the one-time buyout system, the slave owner obtained the coin, and the owner enjoyed the right, and did not need to pay the maid a salary, just eat and live.
If you are not satisfied, you can beat and scold at will, drive you out of the house, or even kill them.
The Song Dynasty was one of the most economically prosperous and politically enlightened dynasties on the mainland, and it was during this period that the mercenary system began to gradually replace slavery.
As a result, there was a wave of migrant workers in the group of maids, who went to the master's house to earn wages to supplement the family.
Before entering the job, you must sign a contract, stating the rights and obligations of both parties, and you can leave the main family after the contract expires, whether to continue to change jobs or marry is a personal choice, and the main family has no right to interfere.
Of course, contract maids and slave maids were parallel until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Because many maids are orphans who have lost their fathers and mothers since childhood, the main family is their only support, and the situation after leaving may not be as good as staying, and people are emotional, and it is rare to choose to completely get rid of the past and change the way of life.
In the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, the buying and selling prices of maids were relatively close, and if they were bought out at one time, the general price was tens of thousands of yuan, which was slightly different according to the appearance and ability of the maids.
Let's talk about the employment system of maids, if it is a rough maid, that is, a third-class maid, generally have to pay 10 taels of silver in advance, and then give a salary of 1 tael per month, including food and accommodation;
The second-class maid and the bed warmer maid are the same level, and the main family should pay the maid 25 taels of silver in advance, and the salary of 1-2 taels per month;
First-class maids and maids are more expensive, ranging from 50 taels to 2000 taels, why is the span so large, because those who can use this type of maid must be super rich, and there is also a question of face involved.
If the maids of the two families chat, the lower one will lose not only its own people, but also the people of the main family.
Moreover, the maids at this level are often multi-skilled, belonging to scarce talents, and there is no way to unify pricing, it is completely market behavior, as long as they think it is suitable for each other.
As for the monthly money, it is at least 5 taels of silver as the base, and the clothes and food are also the top treatment, and she is the queen of the workers.
In the Qing Dynasty, 1 tael of silver could probably be exchanged for 150-220 yuan today, just take 200 to calculate, hire a third-class maid to pay 2,000 yuan, and a monthly salary of 200 yuan;
The second-class maid pays 5,000 yuan and a monthly salary of 400 yuan;
First-class personal maids and maids pay 10,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan, and the monthly salary starts at 1,000 yuan.
Inferred from this, Jia Baoyu's personal maid must have a very high salary.
However, it is recorded in "Dream of Red Mansions" that the monthly income of the attacker who was upgraded to the level of "aunt" is only 2 taels, which is not surprising, because she was sold into Jiafu since she was a child, and she is not a pure worker, and it is already very good to be able to give this salary.
Besides, the attacker came to Jia Baoyu's side to be a concubine, as long as she became the master, what salary would she need, and the treasures of Jiafu would not have her share in the future.
It's a pity that after Lin Daiyu's death, Jia Baoyu left home in despair, and Jiafu gradually declined, and the dream of counterattacking people was finally shattered, and Jiang Yuhan, who married the troupe, can be regarded as a return to the basics.
In feudal society, whether it is the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, or the maids and servants of large families, no matter how high their status and income are, in the final analysis, they are a group of poor people who have been exploited, oppressed, and lost their dignity and freedom.
Fortunately, after the Xinhai Revolution, the feudal system was completely overthrown, and they finally had the opportunity to straighten their waists and face the new world in front of them, where people are equal, and they no longer have to look at the face of their masters to live.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!