The role of the palace maid, since ancient times, the palace maid, also known as the palace man, refers to the feudal society, in order to serve the monarch and his family of servants, and to be able to enter the palace to become a palace maid, is not a simple matter, need to go through strict selection before entering the palace.
The main source of palace maids in the Qing Dynasty was mostly selected from the coat, and it was required that they must be banner people, and the system of selecting palace maids was extremely strict, not only requiring them to meet the regulations in appearance and manners, but also requiring them to match the royal family in terms of temperament, words and deeds, etc., but if they did not meet at all, they might be eliminated.
It stands to reason that this kind of strict selection, the selected palace maids, although they can't be said to be all beautiful, but at least they can be regarded as the past, especially in the palace to receive strict training, in terms of etiquette, there must be nothing to say, just one, it's no problem to be a lady.
But in fact, after the palace maid was released from the palace at a certain age, she faced the difficult situation of marriage, and a very few lucky ones were at most a concubine for a large family, and most of the palace maids were a single old man's life, and some palace maids, forced to choose to accompany the green lamp ancient Buddha for a long time.
Why did no one marry these palace maids from the imperial palace? The main reason why the court maids of the Qing Dynasty left the palace was for a certain reason, and it was precisely these reasons that were unacceptable.
Before the Qing Dynasty, once the palace maids were elected to the palace, they basically had to stay in the palace for life, and there was no possibility of coming out at all, that is, during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a provision that the palace maids could be released from the palace at a certain age.
During the Kangxi period, it was stipulated that the palace maid at the age of thirty would leave the palace, and in the Yongzheng period, it was changed to the palace maid as long as she reached the age of twenty-five, except for those who had been upgraded to concubines, the rest had to leave the palace.
Twenty-five-year-old women, in some remote areas of modern times, belong to older youth, let alone in ancient times when early marriage and early childbearing.
The marriage of ancient people was basically completed at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and the women of good families at that time may have two or three children at this age.
Therefore, it was very difficult for these "older young women" who were released from the palace to marry at that time, and no one would want to marry a woman who was already in her twenties or nearly thirty years old and went home.
These palace maids, if they are lucky, they will find someone to be a concubine in a partial house, and if they are unlucky, they can only be lonely for the rest of their lives.
In addition to the issue of age, another important reason why people are reluctant to marry palace maids is the bad atmosphere in the palace.
Palace maids are also people, they will also feel lonely, and they also need to be accompanied by people in addition to their cold and toned life, but the most contact with them in the palace is the eunuchs, and after getting along for a long time, individual palace maids will mix with the eunuchs.
This is the long-standing "anti-food", coming together with a barren eunuch, it is better to talk than nothing, to relieve the loneliness.
The combination of the palace maid and the eunuch is the mutual comfort of the two vulnerable groups in the palace, the same tragic experience, so that they can sympathize with each other, plus they all need warmth, and under frequent contact, there is naturally such a thing as food.
This kind of atmosphere has been around for a long time, and Wei Zhongxian, a famous eunuch in the Ming Dynasty, had such a thing, so it was also accepted by many palace maids and eunuchs.
But this kind of atmosphere is only carried out secretly, if it is discovered, not only will it be severely beaten, but the palace maid will also be expelled from the palace.
And the people outside the palace have also heard of this, so after the palace maid was released from the palace, even if the palace maid did not eat with the eunuch, people would still generalize.
Marrying such a woman and going home, this reputation is not good to say, and it will even be laughed at.
In addition, no one wants to marry a palace maid, and because the palace maids who leave the palace generally suffer from diseases, and it is this disease that makes people stay away from palace maids.
As we all know, in the palace, the most are not concubines, but palace maids, large and small, the main content of their daily work is to serve the emperor's family members in the palace, such as concubines, queens, etc.
Since it is to serve the master, it is necessary to be 120,000 points of caution, that is to say, the palace maids are in a state of high tension all day long, once they make a mistake, they will be beaten and scolded, and they may be kicked out of the palace or lose their lives.
In this situation, the palace maids are always cautious and mentally nervous.
If it's just a high level of tension, it's not a big problem, the problem is that under this high level of tension, you can't eat or sleep well, and after a long time, you will inevitably suffer from blood depression.
There are many causes of this disease, mainly caused by mental stress and excessive stress, and at the same time, irregular diet is also one of the triggers.
Serving the master, first of all, there must not be any smell that makes the master uncomfortable, such as fish and sheep, onions, ginger and garlic and other smelly food, it is definitely not edible, in addition, it is even more impossible to appear in front of the master such gaffe behavior as burping, if it appears, it will be punished.
Especially when they were on duty at night, the palace maids were even more offended, they didn't dare to sleep, and they didn't dare to drink more water, because they had to listen to the call of their masters at all times, and they didn't dare to go to the toilet, and there was no toilet in the palace for them to go to, so they stayed up until dawn when they were cold, hungry and thirsty.
In this case, the palace maid, basically after a few years, will fall into a disease, most of them will suffer from blood depression, this disease is nothing today, just rest and recuperate, but in ancient times, it was not so simple.
Under the long-term treatment, this disease is getting more and more serious, coupled with the heavy labor on weekdays, slowly, some palace maids will lose their fertility, in ancient times, pay attention to "unfilial piety has three, no queen is great" under the influence of the ideology, can not have children, is basically everyone minds the most.
Who would marry a woman who could not carry on the lineage? Not to mention ancient times, modern people are rarely willing to do so.
These are just palace maids who leave the palace normally, if they leave the palace abnormally, then no one will marry.
Those who leave the palace abnormally are basically driven out of the palace because of mistakes, or their hands and feet are not clean, or their behavior is not dignified, in short, no matter what the reason, the palace maids who are kicked out of the palace, even if they return to society, will be looked down upon.
This kind of problem, once someone understands it, is definitely unacceptable, let alone marrying such a woman and going home.
In addition to the above problems, a more important reason lies in the vision of the palace maid herself.
The palace maids are from the palace, naturally they have seen the world, and the luxury in the palace makes them naturally look down on the ordinary people, and they are used to seeing fine clothes and food, so it is difficult to endure coarse tea and light food.
But if it's a big family, you can't look down on these palace maids, unless you are a concubine.
The general ones don't look down on them, and they dislike them, so that the high is not low, which causes the palace maids to be difficult to marry after leaving the palace.
In fact, the palace maids not only know about the situation after they leave the palace, but most of them have already planned, and trying to stay in the palace is a choice, once they have to go out, they must plan for the future as soon as possible.
In the Qing Dynasty, the monthly routine of ordinary palace maids for a month, about 4 taels to 20 taels, and the monthly cases of different levels are also different, some favored palace maids, as well as the master's reward, so that in the case of no expenses in the palace, the palace maids can generally save a lot of net worth when they go out of the palace, and there are hundreds of taels of silver at the very least.
These savings are the foundation of their future life, after leaving the palace, if they meet someone who is willing to marry them, the palace maid with a lot of dowry, can be regarded as being able to fight for some voice and insurance for themselves.
But most of them can't be married, after all, they have been in a closed environment for a long time, and what they do all day long is the work of serving people, and they are basically out of touch with society.
Therefore, most of the palace maids are forced to be helpless, lonely for life, may live in seclusion, may be a monk, in short, the evening scene is very bleak.
There are also some palace maids who have no savings when they leave the palace, and they are forced to make a living, so they invest in the Qinglou to support themselves, which is not uncommon.
The last emperor Pu Yi once mentioned in the book "The First Half of My Life" that some "retired" palace maids in the Qing Palace, even if they got married, did not live a good life after leaving the palace, and even because they could not have children, they were bullied and beaten to death.
The palace maids are a group of poor people in the feudal society, who were selected to be sent to the palace when they were young, with strict training and demanding requirements, just to serve the so-called masters, and after they were old and decrepit, they had to be forced to "retire", so that these palace maids who had lived in the deep palace for a long time were at a loss when they entered the society.
Coupled with the special identity and special experience of people like them, most people are "respectful and stayaway", and the problem of marriage after leaving the palace has become an unsolvable thing, and what's more, the hard-earned savings are targeted by people with hearts, or openly robbed, or secretly robbed, so that these poor people lose their last protection, and there are not a few who give up their lives.