Recently, many readers and friends have said that most of the articles on imperial history are relatively monotonous in the Qing Dynasty, and it is not an official system or an emperor or a general, so it is impossible to write about other dynasties or about the harem.
It is really ashamed to be tight, in addition to yushi's knowledge of the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of other dynasties has not been too involved, completely at the level of knowing and not knowing, so it is impossible to write things with its own views.
Since the reader has suggestions, then write more about the harem in the future, and take this opportunity to talk about the empresses and imperial concubines of the Qing Dynasty this time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > harem concubine system</h1>
After the Qing Dynasty, the harem had not yet formed a perfect system, and after the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty, eight ranks of concubines were gradually formed, namely: empress, imperial concubine, noble concubine, concubine, concubine, concubine, nobleman, constant presence, and promise.
In the era of feudal autocracy, the hierarchy was strict, and the concubines of different levels enjoyed due treatment in the political and economic fields, and the empress mother was the world, and the six palaces were the highest rank, enjoying the highest political status and privileges.
The empress was the emperor's wife, and all the following imperial concubines were concubines. It's just that they are the emperor's women, so there is no such thing as "concubine", they are all called concubines. In fact, in nature, it is still the same as that of civil wives and concubines, and concubines do not have any right to speak in front of their wives.
There are two kinds of empresses, one is empress dowager, that is, the first empress chosen by the emperor at the time of the marriage, or the concubine Fujin when the emperor is still an emperor; the other is the successor, that is, the first empress is re-established after the death of the first empress. Obviously, the status of the first type of queen is higher.
There were not many emperors in the Qing Dynasty who had experience in big marriages, and there were only four emperors in Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzhi, and Guangxu, that is, the empresses who entered the Forbidden City from the Great Qing Gate were only the Borjigit clan after the shunzhi emperor's abolition, Empress Xiaochengren of Kangxi, Empress Xiaozheyi of Tongzhi, and Empress Xiaodingjing of Guangxu. As for the number of successors, there are many, counting from the Nurhaci era, there are about 25.
Compared with the empress, the number of imperial concubines is not much, and there are only 21 in the Qing dynasty. This seems a bit unreasonable, it is said that the lower the rank of the concubines should be more, in fact, the situation below the imperial concubine is true, the more people are lower. But the imperial concubine is an exception, and there is a reason for this.
Since the Kangxi Dynasty, there has been an unspoken rule (not a system) that where an empress is still alive, there is generally no imperial concubine. This is also the lesson that the Kangxi Emperor learned from the Shunzhi Dynasty. Because the Shunzhi Emperor was not satisfied with his first two empresses, he spent all his thoughts on Concubine Dong.
Princess Dong was deeply favored by Shunzhi since entering the palace, and climbed to the high position of a noble concubine in just a few months. The Shunzhi Emperor was extremely dissatisfied with his second empress and wanted to abolish it, but in view of the opposition of Xiaozhuang and his courtiers, he had to give in, but withdrew the empress's golden book and seal.
Soon, Shunzhi also established Dong Eshi as an imperial concubine, and at this time the empress was useless, and the affairs of the harem were all controlled by Dong Eshi. This incident deeply impressed later emperors, so the empress was still alive and generally did not have an imperial concubine.
There is only one level difference between the imperial concubine and the empress, and if the imperial concubine is established, it will bring huge psychological pressure to the empress, and it is not conducive to the unity and stability of the harem. If the imperial concubine is more favored by the emperor, then the empress may be suspended, and even cause a palace fight, which is also what the emperor does not want to see.
Since the Kangxi Dynasty, when all empresses were alive, the highest ranking in the harem was generally a noble concubine. Only when the empress dies and the emperor has not yet established a new queen will he be promoted to the position of imperial concubine to be the imperial concubine to control the affairs of the six palaces, or the silent empress candidate will be placed in the position of imperial concubine for a period of time, and then the empress will be appointed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > there is an essential difference between an empress and an imperial concubine</h1>
As mentioned earlier, there is only one level difference between the empress and the imperial concubine, and even the imperial concubine will threaten the empress to a certain extent. But this does not mean that the imperial concubines are similar to the empress in terms of political treatment. There is still a big difference between them.
1. The names are different
The queen is the right wife, and this is her fame advantage. Ancient China especially valued fame, and a wife is a wife and a concubine. It is also evident in specific matters, such as when there are major national celebrations, only the empress is eligible to accept the courtesy of hundreds of officials with the emperor, and the concubines below the imperial concubines do not even have the opportunity to enter the Taihe Hall for a lifetime.
The queen mother is also a moral model for all women. According to the custom, whenever it is time for farming, the emperor will go to the altar of the first farmer to perform the ritual sacrifice and cultivate it himself, and the empress will perform the silkworm ceremony. In ancient times, there was a ritual system of "Tianzi personally cultivating the southern suburbs, and the queen pro-silkworm northern suburbs", which also represented the basic idea of ancient Chinese male cultivators and female weavers.
There are also emperors and empresses whose birthdays are also major national policies, the emperor's birthday is called "Wanshou Festival", the empress's birthday is called "Thousand Autumn Festival", and the civil and military subjects must perform the great gift of pilgrimage. Imperial concubines, on the other hand, did not have this treatment.
2. The new emperor's succession title is different
The emperor died and the empress was still alive, whether she had given birth to a prince or whether her own son had become an emperor, according to the law of the imperial court, the emperor had to be honored as the empress dowager and moved to Cining Palace. The nature of the empress dowager and the empress are different, according to the Great Qing Family Law, the empress dowager can interfere in the affairs of the dynasty to a limited extent, at least in the affairs of the clan and the royal family, and has a great say.
As usual, the imperial concubines would also have titles, but only the imperial concubines, together with many of the concubines of the previous emperors, had to re-reside in its palace, called Yiyang Tiannian, and actually became an isolated family.
3. The treatment after death is very different
If the empress died before the emperor, if there were no major changes (such as the second empress of Qianlong, nalashi), it was routine to be buried in the emperor's underground palace; if she died after the emperor, a separate mausoleum was built, called the empress mausoleum.
After the death of the imperial concubine, the situation was different, and during the Ming Dynasty, she could not be buried with the emperor. However, there are individual cases in the Qing Dynasty, as long as the emperor nods, it can also be buried in the emperor's underground palace. But more often than not, they were buried in the concubine's garden (the concubine's public cemetery).
After the empress's death, according to the Great Qing Family Law, she will also be promoted to the Temple of the Emperor, all of which must be a courtesan, and the empress's title must have the emperor's temple, for example, the Kangxi Emperor's temple is "Ren", so his empress will add a "Ren" character, which is a great respect for the empress.
As for the imperial concubine, she did not have this privilege, neither promoting the temple nor giving the temple a title, but only posthumously giving a title, and the number of words was much shorter than that of the empress.
4. The treatment of the mother's family is different
The empress was the wife of the emperor Ming Media, and after the empress's name was determined, her mother's family would enjoy the political treatment prescribed by law. According to the Qing system, all the fathers of the empress were given the title of Duke of Cheng'en, regardless of their official position.
Since the Kangxi Dynasty, a custom has also been formed, after the name of the empress is determined, if the mother's family is born with five flags, it is necessary to raise the flag, such as the original red flag, it is necessary to carry the yellow flag or the yellow flag, generally not to carry the white flag.
The imperial concubine's family did not knight or raise the flag, only material rewards. Of course, if the emperor favors her, her mother's family, like the empress's mother's family, will also benefit from nepotism, but this is the same point, so I will not elaborate.