Zhou Dynasty
The Western Zhou Dynasty was the earliest period in which the text related to "female official" was recorded in the existing examination materials.
According to the Zhou Li, the female officials at that time were divided into two categories: "female officials with knighthoods" and "female servants". Among them, there are knighthoods and female officials that can be subdivided into nine concubines, shi women, female emperors, neizong and waizong. Female concubines other than you are actually slave girls, including female zhu, female history, female shrine, female house, witch, female wine, etc.
Later, as the "jun" who ruled female officials, it had the same meaning as Zhou Tianzi as a first-class knight, so it was not included in the female official system. However, it still had a number of important responsibilities, for example, and later regularly participated in the political activities of the outer court.
After King Kang of Zhou, Wang Jiang accompanied King Zhou on expeditions, received envoys from the front, was in charge of the relevant economic affairs of the royal family, and presided over ceremonial activities such as royal banquets and festivals.
Wang Qi, the queen of Zhou Zhao, also accompanied wang on expeditions and participated in the war.
The Western Zhou Dynasty also set up an appraisal system for female officials, training female officials accordingly, and recording their deeds and performances as a basis for evaluating them in the future.
"Teach the six palaces with yin rituals, teach the nine concubines with yin rituals, and teach the nine royal palaces with the law of women's office."
- "Zhou Li Tianguan Neizai"
At the same time, the Government regularly inspects the services accomplished and the goods produced by the competent agencies of women officials. After the merits and qualities of the items are assessed, the people in power will reward and punish the female officials who serve in office.
"At the end of the year, the insider will eat a little and do his deeds." Those who have been sacrificed later are rewarded and punished more than their size and coarseness. ”
Unfortunately, in the late Zhou Dynasty, the original system of female officials was dismantled - high-level female officials became nominal and false positions, and low-level female officials were removed from the "official" system.
It can be said that "the overthrow of matriarchy is a failure of women with world historical significance."
Qin Han
During the Qin Dynasty, the harem system was first established, and under the empress, the concubines were divided into eight classes, and the harem hierarchy was initially established, but there was no strict hierarchical division and clear division of labor within it.
Ming Qiuying's "Spring Dawn map of the Han Palace" part of the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty and Emperor Yuan, on the basis of the hierarchy of the Qin harem, the rank of concubines was expanded to fourteenth grade.
Only during this period, there were very few female officials who took up their posts independently, and most of them were harem concubines.
"The title of the six palaces, only the empress and the noble." The noble man's golden seal is purple, but he can't offer dozens of millets. He also placed the beauty, the palace people, the three women, etc., and did not have a knighthood rank, and the reward was only given when he was old. ”
- "Later Han Dynasty Book, Benji, Empress Chronicle"
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "history of women" was included among female officials, responsible for recording the living affairs of emperors and empresses.
Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties
During the Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei period, the post of "Female Shangshu" was added, and the Zizhi Tongjian records that Emperor Wei Ming was "favored by the inside, and the number of female officials ranked shi to be a hundred officials ... Six people who choose a woman's book can be paid, thinking that the female book is a book, so that the province can play things, and the painting can be done."
It can be seen from this that the selection of female Shangshu requires the incumbent to have a certain cultural accomplishment.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Wang Monk, who was buried in the imperial palace at the age of six because his father broke the law, was appointed as a "palace student" (should be the reserve choice of female officials) at the age of ten, and it was by virtue of his "hui sex sensitivity" that he was finally selected as a female Shangshu.
Northern Wei "Epitaph of the Female Shangshu King Monk" Takuben Harvard University Library Collection
It was also during the Northern Wei Dynasty that Emperor Xiaowen, based on the zhou li records and the establishment of female officials in the Qin and Han dynasties and the Southern Dynasty, "placed female posts and used internal affairs" to separate female officials from concubines for the first time, established an independent system, and formally established the names and ranks of female officials, refining their powers, responsibilities and status in the harem, and the system of harem female officials was clarified.
Stills from "The Legend of Lu Zhen"
The prototype of Lu Zhen in the TV series "The Legend of Lu Zhen" is the nursing mother of Gao Wei, the lord of northern Qi, and the maid Lu Lingxuan.
Sui Dynasty
Although the scale of the harem of the Sui Dynasty was greatly expanded, it was still based on the Zhou system, "collecting Han and Jin old yi, placing six Shang, six divisions, and six classics".
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, the inner court set up "Six Shang" female officials, a total of 27 people, and the rank of the officials was congjiupin.
After the Sui Dynasty Emperor succeeded to the throne, he further improved the system of female officials, "adding female officials and quasi-Shangshu Province", forming an institutional regulation of "six bureaus and twenty-four divisions". The official rank of the female official has also been improved from the original nine pins to five pins.
Among them, the six bureaus are shanggong bureau, shangyi bureau, shangfu bureau, shang food bureau, shang sleeping bureau and shanggong bureau.
Shang Gong was responsible for assisting the Empress and the Inner Court in matters such as gifts; Shang Yi was responsible for etiquette teaching; Shang Fu was responsible for the treasures of the imperial court; Shang Yu was responsible for the meals of the concubines; Shang Yu was responsible for the order of Tianzi Yan's bed and concubines entering the imperial palace; shang Gong was responsible for the inner court female workers.
Later generations of Lady Huarui once wrote poems lamenting the Liushang system.
"The official position of the sixth palace is newly removed, and the palace maid arranges to enter the drawing." The twenty-four divisions were divided into six innings, and the Imperial Front frequently saw mistakes. ”
- The Sixteenth of the Palace Words
As for female officials such as female history, they are exiled officials and have no fixed number.
Tang dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, female officials were divided into internal officials (concubines) and palace officials (maids). Due to the old system, the palace official system is still divided into six shang.
In addition to liushang, Tang also set up the posts of gongzheng, sizheng, and dianzheng. Gong Zheng was in charge of the commandments, rituals, and punishments, and Si Zheng and Dian Zheng were subordinates to assist them in handling their work.
Part of the Tang female official Zhao Miaoxuan's "Tai Xuan Zhen A Manuscript of the Inter-Scripture Scrolls". Collection of the National Library of France
The most famous female official in the Tang Dynasty was Shangguan Wan'er.
In the first year of Lin De (664), Shangguan Wan'er's grandfather Shangguan Yi was imprisoned and executed for offending Wu Zetian, and she was also imprisoned in the court as a concubine shortly after her birth. Dramatically, shangguan wan'er, who grew up, was deeply appreciated by Wu Zetian and held an edict in the palace. The Old Book of Tang records that Wan'er was once killed for violating the holy will, and Wu Zetian regretted her talent, but "tuoqi face" and did not kill her.
After Emperor Zhongzong ascended the throne, Wan'er was appointed as Zhaorong. She often wrote poems to Emperor Zhongzong and his courtiers at banquets, "several poems at the same time, and the words were beautiful". She also commented on the poems given by the courtiers and gave them the Golden Lord, so that "the courtiers became popular".
Later, Wei Hou was defeated, and Wan'er was beheaded.
Epitaph of the Tang Dynasty Zhaorong Shangguan clan
Song dynasty
The female official system of the Song Dynasty was still the Six Shang and Twenty-Four Divisions, which belonged to the opposite of the Outer Dynasty Shangshu Province, and the Palace Shangshu Introspection.
In May of the third year of Zhenghe (1113), the name of Liushang was changed and it was changed to "Liusi" by Emperor Huizong of Song. Later, the Southern Song Dynasty was established, and the Shangshu Inner Province reverted to its old name.
Southern Song Dynasty Liu Songnian "Palace Girl Diagram" Tokyo National Museum collection
Ming dynasty
In 1328, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty. In 1373, the Ming Dynasty officially made arrangements for the establishment of female officials.
On the basis of the Han and Tang dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang simplified the female official system and changed it to the basic structure of "six bureaus and one division".
In terms of selection, the Hongwu period seems to be inclined to elect middle-aged people as female officials, not limited to unmarried or widowed, but the requirement must be husbandless.
"In the fourteenth year of Hongwu (1381), the edict Su Songjiahu and Jiangxi Yousi, Zhejiang, civil women over the age of thirteen and under nineteen, women over Chinese New Year's Eve years old, under forty years old, husbandless, willing people to prepare envoys, order each to give money as a Daoli fee, sent to the Beijing Division. The woman was built to prepare for the harem, while the woman was filled with six shangya. ”
——Shen Defu, "Wan Liye Won"
In addition to the civil women can be elected as female officials, the palace women within the court can also be promoted to female officials after education.
"Whoever is a palace lady who has been taught by her internal courtiers, who has read and studied and is literate, who is first a female xiucai, who is promoted to female history, who is promoted to a palace official, and even who holds the seal of the sixth bureau, is a Qinghua internal post, which is more obvious than that of the outer court."
--Ming Shen Defu, "Wan Liye's Supplement to the Compilation of Gong Min And Female Xiucai"
Ming Qiuying (biography) "Palace Girl's Garden Tour" Part of the Collection of the Freer Museum of Art, USA
During the Ming Dynasty, female officials were mainly responsible for the affairs of the inner court such as etiquette, commandments, finances, writing history, and food and clothing supply in the inner palace, and generally returned home after serving in the palace for five or six years. Older female officials may also remain in the palace if they wish. The families of female officials who were appointed to the position enjoyed the imperial court.
At that time, there was a female official of the Chen clan, because she had worked hard in the palace for a long time, and after returning to her hometown, the imperial court still provided Lu rice for her to support her family. Later, Zhu Di took the throne and summoned her back to her previous post on the grounds that she was "familiar with allusions". Yongle was four years old, Chen Shi was forty years old, and died of illness in the palace. "The empress dowager wept and sent the envoy to escort the funeral to bury Chen Jialin of the Mountain of Xiangzi."
After the Yongle Dynasty, the eunuchs' power grew, and female officials were constantly curtailed, and "their duties were transferred to eunuchs." The only ones who survived were the Four Divisions of Shangbao. ”
Qing Dynasty
By the Qing Dynasty, the formed system of female officials gradually withered away on the stage of history.
During the Shunzhi period, it was proposed to set up female officials in accordance with the Ming Dynasty's six bureaus and one division. However, in the end, they were accused of not conforming to the old Manchurian customs and failed to implement them.
During the Kangxi Dynasty, almost all the work of the inner court was handled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the value of establishing a female official system was therefore even more at a loss.
In addition, from the separation of female officials and concubines from the beginning of Emperor Xiaowen's dynasty to the Re-confusion in the Qing Dynasty, the independence of female officials no longer existed.
Qing Chen Mei 'Yue Man Qing Tour Map' Partial Collection of the Palace Museum
However, in some important ceremonies of the Qing Dynasty, there were occasional temporary female officials. For example, on occasions such as the emperor's wedding, the canonization of the empress dowager, and the silkworm ceremony presided over by the empress, the prince, the Three Banners of The Interior, and the wives of the ministers of the Interior Ministry would be appointed to the palace to assist in the ceremonial work.
Because in the Qing Dynasty, most of them were family marriages, and the higher the status of the man, the higher the origin of his wife, so when selecting female officials, it is usually based on the identity of the husband to determine the level of the female official position and the content of the work. For example, compared with the wife of the prince, the work of the wife of the official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is more fragmented and scattered