When ancient couples were sleeping, why did they let the maid stay by the bedside, weren't they embarrassed? This topic seems to unveil a veil of mystery in ancient married life. In this seemingly intimate realm, why did ancient couples need a maid to stay by the bedside? Are there deep cultural and moral beliefs behind this practice?
The feudal master-servant relationship led to the maid being reduced to the owner's property.
In ancient Chinese feudal society, the social class hierarchy divided people into two polarized groups. The elites of high society enjoyed the double blessing of court glory and family wealth. They have mansions that cover several acres of land, and they have a decent and dignified appearance. On the other hand, the small people in the market are living a precarious and poor life, stretched thin, and surviving.
In a polarized social structure, the tight hierarchy also deeply affects the master-servant relationship within the upper class. The lowly maid became the second only servant in the rich family. They came from poor backgrounds and were forced to become the property of wealthy nobles, and had to undertake the daily labor of serving their masters.
Historian Li Qingming pointed out that the essence of the feudal master-servant relationship lies in obedience and dedication. As the maids in the house, the maids have no autonomy and little room for bargaining.
The master's orders are absolutely binding on them. The arrangement of sleep time naturally also depends on the owner's preferences. The maids must be on call and obey all the requests of their masters.
In the master-servant relationship, the maid can be described as the weak person in power. They need to endure the arbitrary dispatch and even punishment of their masters. Any act of disobedience or negligence may result in flogging.
Because of this, the maids have also developed a humble and obedient character. They see themselves as part of their master's family, and they take it as their duty to serve their master. This obedience and humility have also become the magic weapon for their survival.
Over time, these maids have been like robots without self-consciousness since their childhood, repeating the mechanized work of serving their masters all day long. They have long been accustomed to refusing to think and judge to intervene, and when the master's orders come, their bodies react faster than their brains, and they are accustomed to carrying them out.
But in the middle of the night, when no one is paying attention, when they are facing the empty and silent room, will there be a trace of doubt in their hearts, even feelings of loneliness and pain? No one knows about this.
The cultural significance of the maid's vigil in the context of the master-servant relationship.
Judging from the perspective of modern people, it is undoubtedly cruel and inhumane to ask a maid to get up from the warm and comfortable bed at four or five o'clock in the morning and stand and wait all night. However, in the context of ancient feudal society, this contains profound cultural connotations. This is an extension of the master-servant relationship, and it is also a way for the maid to express her loyalty to her master.
In ancient times, the night was full of unknown dangers for ordinary people. Liang Qichao once described the poor living conditions of the peasants in ancient times: "The windows are not complete, the households are not full of fans, the walls are more than empty, the rooms are leaky, and the grass halls are tiled and dilapidated. "Not only are these modest dwellings invulnerable to the cold of the night, but they can also be vulnerable to predatory beasts.
And the maidens seem to have become the stabilizing force brought about by this darkness. Historian Chen Dashan pointed out that by keeping vigil in the master's bedroom, the maids gave the owner a sense of psychological security. They seem to have become the patron saints of expulsion from darkness and danger. This sense of security also makes the owner more relaxed during sleep, which contributes to physical and mental health.
In addition, the maids' vigil also reflects their loyalty and dedication. Standing for a night was undoubtedly hard, but the maids never complained. Instead, they use it to prove their intentions, hoping to be rewarded by their masters. This dedication has also become one of the ways for them to improve their status.
The maid's vigil also has the effect of strengthening the relationship between master and servant. Historian Wang Tianming analyzed that by making the maids deeply involved in all aspects of their master's life, this custom strengthened their sense of dependence and subordination.
Maids will feel that they share the fate of their master, which helps to stabilize their centripetal force towards their master's family. This also makes the owner mentally satisfied, and feels the importance of the maids. This sense of symbiotic identity of master and servant not only perpetuates feudal customs, but also deepens the persistence of this unequal relationship.
Look at the changes in the relationship between master and servant through the custom of vigil.
If we compare the long river of history to a big river, the master-servant relationship customs of feudal society are a huge drifting iceberg in the river. Each era it flows through has been carved and precipitated in its own way, so that the appearance of this iceberg is also quietly changing.
Historian Yang Dan pointed out that the evolution of the master-servant relationship is a gradual process. The hierarchical system, which began to form in the Shang Dynasty, has been gradually deconstructed after more than 2,000 years. Among them, the changes in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China were particularly crucial.
In the late Qing Dynasty and the ** period, there was a major turning point in the relationship between master and servant. On the one hand, the education and cultural level of the maids has improved greatly, and they have also gained more autonomy and can choose to leave the host family to support themselves. On the other hand, the ideas of equality and freedom in the West also began to penetrate, and the absolute shackles of the master on the maid were broken.
In this magnificent historical tide, the maids have also experienced the ups and downs of their own fate. From the study of ancient social customs, we can clearly see two major turning points in the fate of the maids. The first time was in the context of the high prosperity of urban culture in the Song Dynasty, when a large number of maids climbed to the status of ladies through their intelligence and talents, and even sat on an equal footing with their masters. In the picturesque Jiangnan garden, these talented maids and their master Gao Shi lived a heart-to-heart literati life.
However, the good times did not last long, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the relationship between master and servant returned to the original point. The maid has once again become a plaything in the hands of its master, losing its autonomy both in life and spiritually. Their fate is completely controlled by their masters, and they are subjected to the double devastation of jealousy and vicious slander. This countercurrent almost washes away the progress that preceded it.
It was not until the early Republic of China, with social progress and the introduction of Western thought, that the status and destiny of the maid really opened a turnaround. A group of maids who have been baptized by new ideas go out of their homes and seek their own liberation in factories. Historian Liu Xiaoming pointed out that this was an important moment in feudal history when women were awakening to themselves. It not only changed the fate of individual maids, but also promoted the improvement of the status of women in the whole Chinese society.
At present, with the further development of society, the master-servant relationship has evolved from a strict power relationship to a cooperative symbiosis between employees and employers. Maids become employed and can enjoy the protection of labor laws and regulations. The relationship is more egalitarian and more humane.
When we see the maids waiting at the door of the master room in the luxurious mansion today, their faces are no longer humble and haggard, but calm and proud. The changes of the times are engraved on the slightly raised corners of their mouths and their gradually upright posture. This also indicates that the master-servant relationship in the past has officially entered history, and women have begun to have equal status and dignity with men.
Epilogue. The river of history is rushing endlessly, and we can look forward to the brighter and majestic distance it leads to. In the face of those seemingly peculiar and incomprehensible ancient customs, we must not only criticize the feudal elements in them, but also understand the social roots of their production with tolerance. Perhaps it is this inclusive mentality that can make us a boulder of warmth and understanding in the long river of history.
Today, in the 21st century, we finally have the opportunity to objectively examine and judge history, eliminate the anachronistic factors, and retain its enlightening significance. The custom of the maid's vigil will eventually settle down in history and become an insignificant but indispensable mark on the road of moral and institutional perfection of human civilization.