Can the emperor of the Qing Dynasty really go to the harem to eat casually

Under the shaping of contemporary TV dramas, we often see the emperor wandering around the palaces in a frenzy, dining, chatting and laughing in the palace of concubines and concubines without restraint. But what about the real history? Are the royal hierarchy and rules so lax? Did the Qing emperors really enjoy such freedom in their daily diet? These questions are worth pondering.

1. The Qing Dynasty had strict palace rules, and the daily rules even surpassed everything

Since the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty promulgated a series of strict palace rules and regulations in order to rectify the dynasty and strengthen court management. These rules are meticulous, involving the life and rest of the palace, from food and clothing to etiquette, all of which are not subject to them, even the emperor cannot exceed the slightest rule.

According to the "Cabinet Collection", "all wedding and funeral ceremonies such as princes, ministers, relatives and nobles, etc., should be in accordance with the old regulations, and should not be slightly violated." This shows the supremacy of the rules. No one, including the emperor's relatives or relatives, shall not have any violations. Since the Kangxi period, the Qing Dynasty has formed a unique cultural atmosphere and court style of "respecting rules".

In order to make the rules effective, a special body has been set up - the Cabinet of Ministers, which is responsible for monitoring and enforcing them. From the emperor's words and deeds to the demeanor of the palace ladies, they are all strictly controlled by the cabinet. If anyone violates the slightest offense, they will be severely punished immediately. Even if the emperor had any violations, he had to be corrected and criticized by the cabinet.

There is a typical case to be found. During the Qianlong period, once the Qianlong Emperor personally explained the "Zizhi Tongjian" to the crown prince and others, and talked about the section on the reform of the Song Dynasty Prime Minister Wang Anshi, and the Qianlong Emperor bluntly said that this was a "paradox". After speaking, Emperor Qianlong remembered that in fact, Wang Anshi's change had been approved by Emperor Song Zhenzong. Emperor Qianlong immediately compensated the crown prince and others, and ordered someone to engrave this record on the spot to set the record straight. Despite his supremacy, Emperor Qianlong still strictly demanded that he speak according to the rules.

It is precisely because of the cultural atmosphere of the Qing Dynasty that attaches great importance to rules and regulations that the entire government and the opposition have been in order for a hundred years. Therefore, "there is no class of education, and all follow the legacy system." Such a program is well deserved.

2. Special rules restricts the emperor's dining behavior

In the Qing Dynasty's palace rules, there was a special part of the restrictions and regulations for the emperor's dining behavior. This shows that under the system of divine authority of the Qing Dynasty, even the emperor who holds the supreme power cannot act willfully in terms of food and daily life.

The first was the routine of the emperor dining alone. According to the record of the "Imperial Decree of the Great Qing Dynasty": "When the dynasty served the imperial cuisine, set up a separate table, and served food. This means that on weekdays, the emperor eats alone, and no one else is present, let alone in the rooms of other palace concubines. Moreover, the emperor's meal is also carefully cooked in a special "imperial dining room", which is different from the diet of the harem concubines.

The second is the special arrangement for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. On Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperor could dine with the harem concubines, but still adhere to a strict hierarchical segregation system. The "King James Great Qing Huidian" recorded: "On the eve of the New Year's Eve, the concubines of the six palaces entered one after another...... After going up, the attendants each had a seat, and the palace concubines also had a seat, and each accompanied him to wish long live, still following the usual practice. "It can be seen that although everyone in the harem can enter the emperor during the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, they must still sit separately according to their status and rank, and must not disturb the order. Moreover, the concubines were only "accompanied" from afar, and could not dine with the emperor.

Not to mention dining and staying overnight in the palace of the concubines. According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor could only stay in his own bedroom or main bed, and other concubines were absolutely not allowed to set foot in the room. Even in the empress's palace, the emperor could only enter at certain times of the day and leave as soon as it was dark. Therefore, the plot of wandering around the palaces unfettered in the TV series is obviously inconsistent with historical facts.

Although these strict rules brought great inconvenience to the emperor's life, they were an important guarantee for the maintenance of the Qing Dynasty's hierarchy and court order. After all, in feudal society, strict hierarchies are the cornerstone of all systems, and if this is broken, the entire social order will cease to exist. Therefore, even the supreme ruler must be restrained, which is an important reason why the Qing Dynasty's system of unity and consistency has lasted for more than 200 years.

3. The cultural connotation behind these rules

Demonstrate the importance of hierarchy

The strict restrictions on the emperor's dining behavior in the Qing court rules actually reflected the supremacy of the hierarchy in feudal society. The implementation and implementation of any system requires strong means of restraint, otherwise it will exist in name only. During the Qing Dynasty, the hierarchical system, as the cornerstone of the operation of the whole society, naturally needed to be ensured through specific institutional arrangements.

Take the dining rules at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, there is a strict distinction between seats for people of different statuses, and the emperor, empress, and concubines must sit separately according to their ranks, which vividly reflects the concept of strict hierarchy. Even for such a grand holiday, the hierarchy cannot be broken in the slightest. It can be seen that the concept of hierarchy has been deeply rooted in all aspects of Qing society.

It shows that the power of the monarch is sacred and cannot be desecrated

In feudal society, the emperor was regarded as the "monarch of people" and "the son of heaven", and had a sacred and inviolable status. Therefore, there were strict restrictions on the emperor's every word and deed to demonstrate his supreme authority and dignity. The many restrictions on the emperor's dining behavior in the Qing Dynasty palace all reflect this.

For example, it was stipulated that the emperor must eat alone during his ordinary meal, and there was no room for desecration. Another example is the provision that when the emperor eats in the harem, the concubines can only "accompany the blessings" from a distance, and cannot sit at the same table with the emperor. These subtleties show how deeply ingrained the idea of the sacredness of monarchy was in the Qing Dynasty.

Even the cooking of meals must be distinguished from the harem concubines, and a special "imperial dining room" is responsible. This made the emperor's three meals a day unique and highlighted his unique status. It can be said that these constraints on the emperor in the Qing Dynasty palace rules are essentially to highlight the sacredness of imperial power in a ceremonial way.

Maintain order and stability in the palace

The foundation of feudal society lies in the clear hierarchy and the fact that everyone knows it. If even the supreme ruler such as the emperor is not restrained, then the whole society will fall into chaos. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty imposed various restrictions on the emperor, to a large extent, to maintain the order and operation of the entire court.

For example, the emperor was not allowed to eat and stay in the palace of his concubines, in addition to symbolic factors, but also to avoid the occurrence of harem disputes and power struggles. Once the emperor stays in one of the concubines' palace for too long, the other concubines may become jealous, which can lead to conflicts. In order to avoid this from happening, the Qing Dynasty court rules expressly forbade this.

It can be seen that many restrictions on the emperor's dining behavior are aimed at curbing the willfulness and recklessness of the imperial power and maintaining the operational order of the entire court and the government and the opposition. This is not only related to the longevity of the royal family, but also an important guarantee for social governance. It is precisely because of these strict rules that the Qing Dynasty has been able to maintain relative peace for more than 200 years.

Fourth, the role of palace rules in checking and balancing the emperor's power

In a feudal autocracy, the emperor had supreme power, and his words and actions could have a crucial impact on the fate of the country. Therefore, the checks and balances and constraints on the emperor's power are particularly important. In the Qing Dynasty's palace rules, many restrictions on the emperor's dining behavior actually played an effective role in checking and balancing the imperial power.

First, these rules restricted the emperor's freedom of private life. As the supreme ruler, the emperor was supposed to enjoy supreme privileges in everything. However, the palace rules of the Qing Dynasty imposed strict restrictions on the emperor's diet and daily life, such as not being allowed to eat and stay in the palace of concubines, and could only eat alone, which largely deprived the emperor of his private free space.

Second, these rules prevented the excessive concentration and abuse of imperial power. In feudal dynasties, once the emperor's personal power was too concentrated, it was easy to breed decay. The Qing Dynasty court rules incorporated the operation of imperial power into strict institutional management, and restricted the boundaries of the emperor's power through explicit regulations and other means, so that the imperial power could not be abused and wantonly expanded.

Thirdly, these rules established the mechanism of checks and balances for the subjects to supervise the imperial power. The Qing Dynasty set up a cabinet to supervise the discipline of the palace, and the court and the emperor's relatives and ministers would also monitor the emperor's words and deeds, and if there was a violation of the palace rules, they would be corrected. This mechanism of supervision, checks and balances, to a certain extent, prevented the imperial power from acting willfully and recklessly.

For example, when Emperor Qianlong explained the "Zizhi Tongjian" to the crown prince, he made a moment of gaffe and said that Yue Fei's change was "paradoxical", and finally personally ordered someone to record this gaffe. It can be seen that Emperor Qianlong's words are still subject to restraint and cannot escape the supervision of the rules.

In addition, during the Qing Dynasty, many high-ranking ministers, such as Ji Xiaolan and He Shen, had openly and bluntly admonished the emperor and demanded compliance with palace rules. This institutionally established the supervisory role of the subjects over the imperial power and prevented the occurrence of abuse of power.

It can be said that these seemingly small provisions in the court rules of the Qing Dynasty actually built a complete set of checks and balances of imperial power, by depriving the emperor of private power, limiting the boundaries of imperial power, establishing a supervision mechanism, etc., to prevent the concentration and abuse of power to the greatest extent, and maintain the operation of the entire feudal dynasty and social governance.

5. Violations will be severely punished

Although the court rules of the Qing Dynasty imposed various restrictions on the emperor's words and deeds, it did not mean that the emperor could not violate the rules at all. In fact, there have been cases of emperors violating the law in history, but once such behavior is discovered, it will be severely punished to demonstrate the authority of the rules.

One of the most famous examples is the "Fanling Case" in which a large number of concubines were suddenly killed in the last years of Qianlong. According to the "Qing Historical Manuscript", in the 39th year of Qianlong (1774), a palace maid reported that the queen Xiaoxian and some concubines were suspected of colluding with foreign men, prostitution, gambling and fornication. Emperor Qianlong was furious and ordered all the concubines involved in the case to be killed, along with their families.

In the end, there were 28 concubines who were killed, including 4 princesses of Prince Gong's mansion and 15 princesses of Prince Heshuo's mansion. The families of all those executed were also exiled to remote areas or confiscated to the army. This was undoubtedly an unprecedented and major palace change, which shocked Manchu and Mongolian officials.

According to historical records, one of the reasons why Qianlong ordered these concubines to be severely punished was that they often violated the court rules of the Qing Dynasty by fornicating with foreign men and gambling money. Qianlong thought that they had completely violated the palace rules and discipline and tarnished the reputation of the royal family, so he decided to settle accounts after the autumn and purge them in one fell swoop.

After the "Fanling Case", some ministers wrote to Emperor Qianlong in successive years, pointing out that the handling of the case was too cruel and ruthless. Although Qianlong felt remorse after hearing this, he still insisted on going his own way and continued to maintain his authority. This reflects that in Qianlong's heart, the palace rules are supreme, and they must be punished after being violated, no matter how great the sacrifice is.

Similar incidents of violating palace rules have occurred from time to time in the past, but the punishment methods are not as strong as Qianlong's. For example, during the Yongzheng period, there was a mother of Heshen, Zheng, who was beheaded for fornication in the harem; During the Kangxi period, the palace maid Ma Gui was also burned alive for stealing valuable items in the palace. It can be seen that the government and the opposition in the Qing Dynasty were in awe of the palace rules, and violators were inevitably severely punished regardless of their status and status.

end

Throughout history, some emperors have often taken the opportunity to purge their former ministers and concubines in order to maintain their authority. But no matter what the motive is, the crime of violating the palace rules is undoubtedly the most legitimate and reasonable. Because in that era, the status of rules was above everything else, and no one could surpass it. And when people feel that the threat is increasing, they often resort to heavy rules to maintain the dignity of the rules.