Everyone wants to have the love of the emperor and give birth to healthy little princes. But the harem is so crowded, how will the ancient emperors decide the nightly “schedule”?
It is true that there are eunuchs who offer cards with the names of each palace for the emperor to choose, but this method is difficult to avoid bias and gossip.
In some documents, including the book “The Discoverers” by the famous historian Daniel Boorstin, it is recorded that the Chinese harem has long had a way of dividing the time of visitation according to certain rules, ensuring evenness. regularly higher.
This division is based on the long-standing belief of the Chinese and Asians in general: calculate age and destiny according to the lunar calendar, associated with the cycle of the moon !
The Chinese harem has long had a way of dividing time according to certain rules.
The Chinese imperial palace believes that women are most fertile on the nights of the full moon, because at that time the woman’s Yin will be strongest, ensuring a harmonious balance with the emperor’s Yang nature. On those nights, the child that was formed also possessed an extraordinary and outstanding aura.
As a result, the queen or concubine will be favored with the emperor on moonlit nights. Conversely, the time of the new moon will be reserved for concubines of lower rank.
In addition, not only the East but many other cultures also associate the Moon with childbirth. For example, Diana in Roman mythology is both the god of the hunt, the god of the moon and the god of fertility.
What about science, what do they say about the link between moonlit nights and fertility?
There are many theories, such as: moonlight will affect the hormone melatonin – which determines a woman’s menstrual cycle. During evolution, humans were also exposed to moonlit nights for thousands of years; due to the moon night affects the functioning of the human body and brain… However, the number of studies on this issue is not much, so it remains a mystery.
Going back to the ancient Chinese imperial palace, if by the last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, still applied the method of dividing the time of the night according to the moon night , the South China Morning Post estimated as follows:
How to divide the time of the market according to the moon night.
Every 15 nights, the Queen is always “sure” for 1 night. Hoang Quy consort (1 person in position), Quy concubine (2 people in position), Phi (4 people in position) will fight to keep 2 nights.
The remaining 12 nights (or less) at the time of the waning moon will be a thrilling “stage” between the frequencies, the gentlemen respond… The number of these beautiful concubines is unlimited, sometimes hundreds or thousands of people.
In fact, from the noble level down, many people don’t even have their own rooms, but live together. Most of them could not be close to the Son of Heaven all their lives, forever confined within the four cold walls of the Forbidden City.