How to select palace maids How to select palace maids in the palace in ancient times?
Concubines, as a product of the ancient imperial society, played an extremely important role in the ancient court, up to tens of thousands, and concubines according to their duties, can be roughly divided into the management of the emperor's daily life affairs, palace people, in addition to the most basic palace affairs of the **, palace maids, weaver girls, etc. So, how did so many palace maids come about? According to their selection method, they can be roughly divided into three stages: before the Han Dynasty, from the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, and during the Qing Dynasty.
Before the Han Dynasty: prostitutes were mostly prisoners of war.
Before the Han Dynasty, due to the generally small size of the palace, the number of concubines was not large, even in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the number of concubines was only a dozen. Coupled with the slavery system before the Western Zhou Dynasty and the long-term wars during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, prisoners of war became the main concubines.
Before the Western Zhou Dynasty, most slaves were at the bottom of the slavery system as prisoners of war, but some slaves were also selected to serve the Son of Heaven in the royal palace. Although slavery was abolished during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the protracted war still produced a large number of prisoners of war, and female prisoners of war were also selected to serve in the palace.
Due to the war, the composition of these captives was often complex, including captured civilians, as well as enemy concubines, ** relatives, and even the emperor's concubines and the daughters of members of the imperial family.
From Han to Ming: Elected from the people"Good woman"
From the Han Dynasty onwards, with the expansion of the size of the court and the improvement of the system, the scale of the court began to expand. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the number of harem concubines exceeded 1 000; During the reign of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, the number of harem concubines reached 5 000 or 6 000; During the Sima Yan period of the Jin Dynasty, the number of harem concubines began to exceed 10 000; During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty, the number of harem concubines increased to 40 000, and then began to decrease; During the Ming Dynasty until the end of the Tang Dynasty, the number of harem concubines remained at or below 10 000.
Due to the rampant prostitution and the increasing frequency of wars, the imperial court began to select a large number of people from families over the age of 13 and under the age of 20"Good family"to maintain the normal operation of the imperial court. The imperial court began to select a large number of people from families over the age of 13 and under the age of 20"Good family", and after the selection is over, they are sent to the imperial court. The so-called here"Good family"Not to those who have sinned or not sinned, but to:"Good people and untouchables", that is, seven traitors who were not in the army, or the incorrigible, wizards, merchants, and hundreds of children of workers. Children of workers.
The early selection is relatively simple, and the basic conditions are:"Good family", for example, the Book of Jin - Emperor Wu Ji records that in the ninth year of Taishi (273),"The edict recruited the children of the secretary of state to prepare for the six palaces, and the election was unfinished, and the right to prohibit marriage"。In this year, Sima Yan issued an edict to select women under the Guozi Prison to enrich the harem, and temporarily banned the marriage of women in the parliament when the selection was not completed. In the first ten years of the reign of Tai (274), the Zizhi Tongjian wrote"Zhaoliang's son and the young general took 5,000 people into the palace to select women, and the mother and son in the palace cried, and the voice came from outside", once, 5,000 people were selected to enter the palace.
Over time,"Casting"The process was gradually standardized and standardized, and the Ming Dynasty was a model. When it comes to the draft, anyone who is 13 to 16 years old"Good family", such as Ji Yun"Empress Yi'an of the Ming Dynasty"In the first year, the Ming Dynasty Tianqi Xizong selected 5,000 global women aged 13 to 16 and divided them into dozens of groups in the capital. The first is the internal inspection selection, on the first day, the tall, short, fat, and thin ones are all eliminated; The next day, check the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, hair, collar, shoulders, back, those that are not suitable are eliminated, listen to their voices, a little strong voice, weak tone, ugly, blurred, stammering; On the third day, measure their arms and legs, then have them walk a few dozen steps to see how many they have"Fat"！On the third day, measure their arms and legs, and then ask them to walk dozens of steps and observe them"Plump"Extent; People with slightly shorter wrists, slightly larger fingers, slightly lighter bodies, and nervous behavior are eliminated.
After three days of selection, the remaining more than 1,000 concubines were used as palace maids. But this was not the end, the emperor also ordered the palace maids to take them to the secret room, caress their breasts, smell their armpits, and look at their muscles, and then selected 300 people to be the palace maids. After entering the palace for more than a month, according to their temperament, etiquette and the emperor's wishes, fifty people were selected as concubines.
Qing Dynasty: Same"Occupy"Alien law.
The Qing Dynasty basically inherited the palace maid system of the Ming Dynasty, but the selection methods and selection ranges were very different. There were two kinds of women elected to the court in the Qing Dynasty, namely maids and concubines, and there were no strict boundaries in the early Qing Dynasty, and they were separated after the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661). The palace maid is the daughter of the Eight Banners**, and can be selected as a concubine or assigned to the son of a prince or minister. The court maid was subordinate to the inner court's coat and collar, and her status was lower and was used by the inner court.
The Qing Dynasty will be the whole banner of women into the household registration, all women aged 14 to 16 must participate, every three years, if for some reason do not participate in the next time, but also to make up the levy, after the levy does not make up, private marriage is strictly prohibited. Until the date of enlistment, the household department will first report the information of all the female dependents of each banner participating in the enlistment to the household department, and then the emperor will decide the date of enlistment, and the household department will be decided by the owners of each banner and banner, and then decided by the household department.
Those who are selected on the spot can go home and marry themselves, while those who are eliminated and registered must be redrafted. The eunuchs will conduct a primary selection of show girls in the palace, the imperial garden, the Tiyuan Palace, Jingyixuan, etc., and the emperor or the queen mother will read it out, that is, the winner will leave a name plate, and the one who is not selected will leave a name plate. Then the show only retains the card, and then regularly obtains the re-election, the re-election, does not keep the card, which is the so-called departure.
Once selected as a woman, there are usually two destinies: one is to be given to the emperor's son or clan, and the other is to stay in the palace and serve the emperor and become a candidate concubine. If you become a candidate for consul, the process is more complicated, first of all"Escalation", after several times"Second look", selected"Name"To stay on the panel; And then there were"Upper name"""。Upper name", that is, the name chosen by the emperor himself remained on the plate. Finally, passing"Stay overnight", but also to review, the talent selected a few people to stay in the palace, and the rest of the adjustment.
In addition, some ** also sent their wives to the court to win the emperor's favor. However, these women were only a minority compared to the large number of women in the court.