There is an ancient saying: a woman without talent is virtuous. It is a true portrayal of the ideological and moral concept of male superiority and female inferiority formed by the long-term influence of Confucius and Mengmeng Confucianism. In particular, the formation of the "Song Ming Theory" in the two Song Dynasties and the subsequent emperors of successive dynasties raised it to the level of official learning and became an excuse for the rulers, which led to a sharp decline in the status of women, losing both the era of sexual openness in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the era of female independence in the early Two Song Dynasties, and emphasizing that "men and women are not intimate", women "should eventually be subject to one", husbands have the right to divorce their wives, women "starve to death is extremely small, and the loss of temperance is extremely large", reaching the peak of extreme evil since the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, China has produced talented women since ancient times, such as Zhuo Wenjun, Ban Zhao, Xie Daoyun, Yu Xuanji, Xue Tao, Li Qingzhao, Liu Ruyi and so on. Gentlemen love has its own way. For the emperors of successive dynasties, it seems that more attention is paid to the beauty of women, and the harem is often thousands of beautiful women gathered for the emperors to enjoy and reproduce. But the women of the imperial harem, except for a small number of people, have left traces in history, but more are turned into smoke clouds.
Through an overview of the actual information related to the imperial harem, Le Yu was surprised to find that there were also star point records that could be called talented women among the harem concubines, and they were summarized here for friends. Moreover, these imperial harem talents all lived before the Two Song Dynasties, but most of the talented women after them appeared outside the palace or even in the Qinglou Liu Lane, the most famous of which was the "Qin Huai Bayan" headed by Liu Ruyi at the end of the Ming Dynasty!
Shangguan Zhaorong
No.1 Shangguan Zhaorong
Shangguan Zhaorong | (664 – July 21, 710), courtesy name Shangguan (上官), courtesy name Wan'er , also known as Shangguan Wan'er , was a native of Shaanxi County, Shaanzhou (陕县, in present-day Sanmenxia, Henan Province) [1-2], whose ancestral home was Shangyi[3-4] in Longxi, and was a tang dynasty female official, poet, and imperial concubine. After his grandfather Shangguan Yi was killed, he was sent to the inner court with his mother Zheng Shi as a maid. At the age of fourteen, because of his wisdom and good writing, he was used by Wu Zetian and was in charge of the palace for many years, and he was known as the "Prime Minister". During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, he was given the title of Zhaorong, more powerful, and had a prominent position in the political and literary circles, and from then on, as an imperial concubine, he was in charge of the internal court and the foreign dynasty's government decrees. He once proposed to expand the library and add more bachelors, during which he presided over the elegance and evaluated the poetry of the world on behalf of the imperial court, and for a time the poets collected many of his doors, and the Quan Tang Poetry received thirty-two of his posthumous poems. In 710, Li Longji, the king of Linzi, raised an army to launch a coup d'état in Tanglong, and was killed at the same time as Wei Hou. [1]
Ban Jieyu
No.2 Class Jieyu
Ban Jieyu (48-2 BC), unknown name, Western Han Dynasty female lyricist, is one of the female writers in the history of Chinese literature who is known for her resignation. She was the daughter of Ban Quan, a lieutenant of the Yue Riding School, and the maternal aunt of the famous Western Han Dynasty writers and historians Ban Gu, Ban Chao, and Ban Zhao. In the first year of the founding of the people (32 BC), the Hancheng Emperor Liu Xiao succeeded to the throne, and the 17-year-old Ban Shi was elected to the palace as a young envoy, and later gained favor and was given the title of Concubine. Ban Jieyu's virtuousness in the harem is well known. Because she did not interfere in the affairs of the dynasty and strictly observed etiquette, she was deeply admired by the people of the times, and was known as "Fan Ji in ancient times, and now there is a concubine". Ban Jieyu gave birth to a prince, who died a few months later. However, after Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede's sisters entered the palace, they were ostracized and fell out of favor, and asked for support for empress dowager Yu Changxin Palace. After Emperor Hancheng died, Empress Wang Zhengjun ordered her to guard the mausoleum of Emperor Hancheng until his death.
Ban Jieyu has been intelligent since childhood, handsome in appearance, read a lot, has little talent, works in resignation, has a collection of volumes, but unfortunately most of them are lost, and now only three articles are "Self-Mourning Endowment", "Complaint Song Line" and "Mashing Su Fu". "Self-Mourning Endowment" recounts his lifelong experience of honor and humiliation, sorrow and joy, and later the feelings of bitterness and resentment in the deep palace, which can be said to be a small autobiography. At the beginning, Emperor Hancheng was attracted by her beauty and charm, and was with her every day. Ban Jieyu's literary attainments were extremely high, especially familiar with historical events, and she could often quote the scriptures and enlighten the depression in the emperor's heart. Ban Jieyu is also good at musical rhythm, so that Emperor Cheng enters the realm of self-forgetfulness in the sound of silk and bamboo, for Emperor Cheng, Ban Jieyu is not only a concubine, her multi-faceted talent, so that Emperor Hancheng put her in the position of a confidant of his wife and friend. However, the solemn self-sustaining and obsessive etiquette also buried the hidden danger that Emperor Cheng gradually lost his enthusiasm for her over time. [1]
Cai Wenji
No.3 Cai Wenji
Cai Wenji (c. 174 – c. 239), courtesy name Yan (琰), originally known as Zhaoji (昭姬), later changed the character Wenji (文姬) to avoid Sima Zhao's secrecy, the daughter of the great Eastern Han Dynasty writer Cai Yong (蔡邕), was a famous talented woman and literary scholar in Chinese history. She is proficient in astronomical mathematics, both erudite and poetic, and has a long eloquence and rhythm. Representative works include "Eighteen Beats of Hu Di" and "Poems of Sorrow and Indignation".
Cai Wenji first married Wei Zhongdao, an outstanding scholar of Eastern Han University. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and within a year, my husband died of hemoptysis. The two had no children, and Cai Wenji returned to her mother's widowed house because she was disgusted by her in-laws. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, social turmoil, the crowds of deer, and foreign ethnic disturbances. When Cai Wenji was 23 years old, the Xiongnu invaded the south, cai Wenji was taken captive by the north and forced to marry the Southern Xiongnu Zuoxian King as his wife, full of the pain of foreign life, and bore 2 sons for Zuo Xian. Twelve years later, Cao Cao unified the north, remembered the teachings of his mentor Cai Yong, and after many parties found out about her whereabouts, he ransomed Cai Wenji with heavy money. When she left the Xiongnu and the son she gave birth to, Cai Wenji felt sad again, and wrote the famous poem "Eighteen Beats of Hu Di" for this purpose. This is the famous "Wen Ji Return to Han" incident that praised Cao Cao in history. Cao Cao also acted as a matchmaker to marry The Third Marriage to Tuntian Wei Dong Qi. Later, when Dong Qi died of a crime, Wen Jipeng stomped his head and asked Cao Cao for mercy and exempted Dong Qi from the death penalty, and the couple lived in seclusion in the countryside from then on.
Cai Wenji is one of the few women in history whose talent has overshadowed her beauty. Cai Wenji was born in a literary family, and since childhood, she has been knowledgeable and literate, but also good at poetry, and has both long debate and rhythm. She idolized Ban Zhao as a child, paid attention to the classics, read the history of the classics, and aspired to continue to study the Book of Han with her father, leaving her name in Qingshi. In her lifetime, Cai Wenji left works such as "Eighteen Beats of Hu Di" and "Poems of Sorrow and Indignation", and sorted out a number of classical scriptures, which made great contributions to the circulation of Chinese culture. Among them, "Poems of Sorrow and Indignation" is the first autobiographical five-word long narrative poem in the history of Chinese poetry.
Lady Flower Bud
No.4 Lady Flower Bud
Lady Flower (?) –c. 976), surname Fei (also known as Xu), unknown, was a famous female poet of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Since she was a child, she was able to write, especially in palace words, and was favored by the Later Shu Empress Dowager Meng Chang for her beauty, and was given the title of "Lady Huarui". After the fall of the Later Shu state, he was sent to Fenjing together with Meng Chang, and Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, was amazed by his beauty, poisoned Meng Chang, and occupied Lady Huarui, and was soon made a noble concubine. However, Because Lady Huarui had a deep love affair with Meng Chang, Meng Chang's portrait was hanging in the palace, and was bumped into by Song Taizu, who borrowed the saying that he prayed to the gods, saying that the portrait was Zhang Xian's sending of his son, and he was exonerated, and Zhang Xian sent his son throughout the palace. Later, because of his involvement in the Dispute between the Song Emperor Taizu and li concubines, he was shot by the King of Jin (later Song Taizong) at the hunting ground.
Mrs. Huarui loves peony flowers, red gardenias and hibiscus flowers, which were planted in Chengdu by Meng Chang officials and people in that year, and Chengdu's alias "Rongcheng" originated from this. Madame Hua Rui is very talented and good at poetry. There are more than 100 hereditary "Words of Lady Huarui's Palace", and one volume of poems (Quan Tang Poems, vol. 798, vol. 2). The life scenes described in his palace words are extremely rich, and the language is mainly rich, but there are also occasional fresh and simple works, such as "When the cherries are ripe in March, the insiders look at the red branches." Turning back to ask for the golden bullet, hiding around the tree to fight the birds" this poem is written very vividly and lively, full of interest in life. Her "Poems about the Fall of the Nation" is also quite well known. Legend has it that she had just arrived in Beijing, and Zhao Kuangyin wanted to verify how talented she really was, and ordered her to improvise poems, and she did not hesitate to recite the masterpiece of "Answering Song Taizu": "The flag was lowered on the king's city, and the concubines learned about it in the deep palace?" Fourteen thousand troops were disarmed, and none of them were men! ”[1]
Zhuang Jiang
No.5 Zhuang Ginger
Zhuang Jiang (born and died unknown), princess of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, wife of the Duke of Weizhuang, did not have children after marriage. When describing Zhuang Jiang in the Book of Poetry, Wei Feng, Shuo Ren, he said: "Hands are like soft hands, skin is like gelatin, collars are like cockroaches, teeth are like rhinoceros, moth eyebrows, smiles and smiles, and beautiful eyes are longing." Zhu Xi, a famous theorist of the Southern Song Dynasty, believed that Zhuang Jiang was the first female poet in Chinese history in the Book of Poetry.
According to Zhu Xi's research, there are five poems in the Book of Poetry that were written by Zhuang Jiang: "Yan Yan", "Final Wind", "Bai Zhou", "Green Clothes" and "Sun and Moon". Zhuang Jiang was born into an aristocrat, the daughter of Hou Men, and was very beautiful, but he married the dim-witted Zhuang Gong, and the pain in the deep lock palace was fully expressed in the poem, and also outlined the true face of the WeiGuo Hou who was "wild and violent". One of the most famous is "Yan Yan": Yan Yan Yu Fei, Poor Pond Qiyu. The son of Yu Gui, far away in the wild. Looking at the Buddha, weeping like rain. Yan Yan yu gui, jie zhi zhi. The son is far from returning. Look at the Buddha, stand and weep. Yan Yan yu gui, down its sound. The son of Yu Gui, far away to the south. Look at the Buddha, and do my heart. Zhongshi Ren only, its heart is congested. In the end, it is gentle and beneficial, and it is prudent to be careful. The thoughts of the first kings, to the widow. This poem is a representative work of beautiful female poets, "the ancestor of the ancient farewell poem" (Wang Shizhen), and the weeping ghost god (Xu Yanzhou). [1]
Left concubine
No.6 Left concubine
Zuo Concubine, i.e. Zuo Fen (?) -300), according to the epitaph, the book should be "Zuo Di", the character Lanzhi, a female literary scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty, one of the earlier female poets in China, was the protagonist of the "Luoyang Paper Gui" incident that year, and the sister of Zuo Si, a famous literary scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty. When Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, heard that she was talented, she was included in the harem, and in the eighth year of the Tai Dynasty (272), she was worshipped as a cultivator, and later as a noble concubine, known as Zuo Concubine, also known as the Ninth Concubine. The Biography of the Later Concubines of jin has a biography of him. Zuo Fen was always praised by the imperial courtiers because of his superior moral character, which made the harem beauties jealous. History says that Zuo Fen "had a bad posture and a thin body, and often lived in a thin room", that is to say, he was ugly in appearance, weak and sickly, and it was difficult to get the emperor's favor. Presumably, for emperor Wu of Jin, who was a dog and horse, Na Zuofen was only a false name for himself to win the talent.
Zuo Fen is talented, "less studious, good at composition". The original set of four volumes, which has been lost. There are more than 20 surviving poems, gifts, praises, praises, and recitations, and the words are very beautiful, most of which are written in response to the edict. Her poems are novel in conception and full of feelings, and are excellent works of ancient Chinese poetry, representative works include: "Woodpecker Poems", "Departing From Thoughts", "Feeling Away from Poetry" and so on. "Departing from Thought" is the most famous of the "edicts to make a melancholy text". The Ancient Poetry Source contains her "Woodpecker Poems", which is a portrayal of Zuo Fen's self-disciplined life. After she was selected as a concubine, she lived in the deep palace for a long time, and although her material life was very rich, her spiritual life was very empty, so she wrote poems mainly to describe the desolate life in the palace and the infinite sorrow of the burial of youth. Some scholars have commented on Zuo Fen's poetry as follows: "Scholarly language, there is no atmosphere of corruption. ”
Princess May
No.7 Princess May
Concubine Mei, formerly known as Jiang Caiping (710-756), was one of the few talented concubines during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Li Longji. His deeds are derived from the Legend of Mei Fei in the Song Dynasty legendary novel. According to legend, during the Kaiyuan period, Tang Xuanzong was depressed all the time due to the death of his beloved Concubine Wu Hui, and the eunuch Gao Lishi was ordered to choose the world's beautiful women, and as a result, a girl with a blue heart in Putian County, Fujian Province, was found, she was Jiang Caiping. At the beginning of Jiang Caiping's entry into the palace, she was deeply favored by Tang Xuanzong, and she loved plum blossoms, and plum trees were planted in the palace, and she was temporarily favored in the harem, so she was also named a plum concubine. Later, due to Tang Xuanzong's success in picking ashes, his daughter-in-law Yang Yuhuan became a noble concubine, so that the arrogant Concubine Mei gradually fell out of favor and was relegated to the Cold Palace Shangyang East Palace. During the Anshi Rebellion, Tang Xuanzong fled to Chang'an with Yang Yuhuan and his party, and Princess Mei committed suicide by throwing herself into a well because she was not willing to be insulted by thieves. After the Anshi Rebellion subsided, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered people to find the body of Concubine Mei, reburied it, and wrote poems to commemorate it many times.
Jiang Caiping's family has been a doctor for generations, she looks delicate and beautiful, her temperament is extraordinary, and she is good at poetry, she also knows musical instruments, is good at singing and dancing, and is a strange woman with both talents and looks. I think that when Princess Mei jiang Caiping was favored, all over the world rushed to offer plum blossoms; but when she fell out of favor. When she heard the sound of stagecoach running outside, she asked Fang Zhi if she was busy sending lychees to Yang Guifei instead of sending her plum blossoms, and at this time, Princess Mei couldn't help but burst into tears, remembering the story of Chen Ajiao of the Nagato Palace in the Han Dynasty, Chen Ajiao bought Sima Xiangyi fu for thousands of gold, so she wrote a poem "Lou Dong Fu" to Tang Xuanzong. But after Tang Xuanzong read this fu, although he was also slightly touched, he only sent someone to quietly reward Mei Fei with a pearl, Mei Fei saw it, broke her heart, and wrote down a "Thank You for Pearls" and returned the poem to Tang Xuanzong along with the pearls. After reading it, Tang Xuanzong was displeased, and ling Lefu composed a new song for the poem, called "Yi Huo Zhu". According to legend, Princess Mei wrote nine essays on "Zhen", "Orchid", "Pear Garden", "Plum Blossom", "Phoenix Flute", "Glass Cup", "Scissors", "Brilliant Window", and "Lou Dongfu". The most famous poem is the above-mentioned "Xie Zhi Pearl", which was selected into the "Quan Tang Poems". [1]
Empress Zhen
No.8 Xiao Guanyin was better than Empress Zhen
Empress Zhen (183–221), empress dowager of the Three Kingdoms Wei Emperor Cao Pi, also known as Lady Zhen, was the biological mother of The Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui. She was originally the wife of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Xi, who became Cao Pi's wife after cao cao captured Yecheng. Later, he was killed by Cao Pi because he was killed by Empress Guo (Empress Wende), and Cao Rui posthumously honored Empress Wenzhao after he ascended the throne. Cao Zhi's "LuoshenFu" depicting Concubine Mi is considered to be a love chapter written for Zhen, so she was called "Zhen Mi" or "Zhen Luo" by posterity.
Empress Zhen is one of the most virtuous beauties in Chinese history, and she was listed alongside the big and small Erqiao as a beautiful woman in the city, and at that time there was a saying that "there were two Qiao in Jiangnan and a beautiful zhen in Hebei". Shi Zai, Zhen shi when he was young, he liked to learn, and he never forgot, often used his brothers' pen to write, the brother laughed at her future to become a "female doctor", Zhen replied: "The ancient sages and virtuous women, have not failed to learn the success or failure of the past life, thinking that they are admonitions." I don't know the book, why see it? "Since Zhen was 5 years older than Cao Pi and fell out of favor shortly after entering the palace and giving birth to a son, Cao Pi lived in Luoyang with his concubine Queen Guo, but Zhen was far away in Yecheng, although Queen Guo's favor often slandered Zhen. Zhen's many literary talents, familiar with harem allusions, naturally understand that they are in a bad situation; but suffering from being far away, unable to reach their husbands, helpless, so they sent their affection to pen and ink and wrote her only work "Tang Shangxing". [1] (The history books do not record talent)
Xiao Guanyin (萧 Guanyin) (15 February 1040 [1] – 23 December 1075) was the first empress of the Liao Dynasty Yelü Hongji and a female poet of the Liao Dynasty. Beautiful and beautiful in appearance, delicate and moving, introverted and delicate personality, very talented, often self-made lyrics, proficient in poetry, rhythm, good at talking (the history records Xiao Guanyin gong poems). She played the lute well and was called the first at that time. There are also poems, which are praised by Emperor Daozong of Liao as a female talent.
During the Chongxi period, she was made a concubine by King Yelü Hongjina of Yanzhao and gave birth to a prince, Yelü Hongjina. In December 1055 (the first year of Qingning), she was made empress dowager, with the honorific title of Empress Yide. Because Qiu Shan was alienated by the emperor, he composed ten poems of "Huixinyuan". In November 1075 (the first year of Dakang), the Khitan chancellor Yelü Yixin, the Han chancellor Zhang Xiaojie, the palace maid Shan Deng, the jiaofang Zhu Dinghe, and others falsely accused Xiao Hou of having an affair with the lingguan Zhao. Xiao Guanyin was given death by Emperor Daozong, and his body was sent back to the Xiao family. In June 1101 (the first year of the Qian Dynasty), Emperor Tianzuo posthumously honored his grandmother as Empress Xuanyi and buried her in Qingling.