Wet nurses in ancient China: heavy responsibilities and special missionsThe profession of wet nurses in ancient China has a long history, and there was a profession of wet nurses as early as ancient times. In addition to nursing the baby, the duties of a wet nurse are also other duties. In ancient times, the "Milk House" was set up in the imperial palace to be responsible for raising the prince. In addition, there are also some powerful people who have developed the Xi of drinking human milk because they have heard that breast milk can be beautiful. The weight of the duties of a wet nurse in ancient times was often unacceptable. The profession of wet nurses in ancient China has a long history, but the specific time of its appearance cannot be verified.
Most of the families who can hire wet nurses are wealthy families. The main responsibility of the wet nurse is to feed the children of the owner's family, who are often born poor and work as wet nurses in order to make a living. In addition to the work of nursing the baby, the ancient wet nurse also had other responsibilities. In ancient China, it was a common problem for foreign relatives to interfere in politics. People on the mother's side often interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, leading to the occurrence of foreign relatives interfering in politics. In order to avoid foreign relatives interfering in politics, the ancient imperial palace often chose to let the wet nurse replace the biological mother to nurse the crown prince. The purpose of this initiative is to reduce the occurrence of foreign relatives interfering in politics.
However, it is also a kind of emotional torture for a wet nurse to take the place of an adoptive mother to feed her own child. In ancient China, the imperial palace set up the "Milk House", which consisted mainly of women between the ages of twenty and twenty-five, who were responsible for raising the imperial son. Most of these women had just given birth and had plenty of milk, so they were chosen for this role. In addition, because some powerful people heard that breast milk can be beautified, they began to develop the Xi of drinking human milk, and the fresher the better.
Empress Dowager Cixi had the Xi of drinking human milk every night, and the requirements for these women were also very strict, often changing a batch every month. In general, in addition to nursing the child, the duties of the ancient Chinese wet nurse also included the duties of nursing the prince on behalf of the adoptive mother to avoid the interference of foreign relatives, as well as the need for breastfeeding in some special situations. These responsibilities make the responsibility of the profession of wet nurse extremely heavy and unimaginable to ordinary people. To sum up, the duties of an ancient Chinese wet nurse were not only to nurse their children, but also included a series of special duties, some of which were even difficult to accept.
Can we get a glimpse of the special aspects of ancient society in terms of the responsibilities of this particular profession? What do you think about the multiple duties of wet nurses in ancient times? Feel free to leave your comments.