The Emperors of ancient China all owned a huge harem – the residence of the Empress Dowager, Empress, concubines and eunuchs. Not inferior to the imperial court, the harem was complicatedly organized, with harsh competition and intrigues for annexation.
The head of the Chinese harem is usually the Empress, the official wife of the king. The Empress is especially respected by the people because she is considered the “mother of the world”. Only the King and the Queen Mother of the King have a higher position than the Queen, all the rest must obey her orders. Besides the Empress, there is the Empress Dowager – the Queen of the previous King. Famous empress dowagers in history were Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty (who later became the first female Emperor of China) and Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty.
The concubines are selected for the palace according to many strict criteria.
Under the Empress are the concubines. The number and rank of concubines varied by dynasty. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, a harem would have a queen consort, two concubines and four concubines. Below that are the concubines and concubines, the number of which varies according to the king’s reign, possibly up to hundreds, thousands of people.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an official system was established to select concubines for the harem. The selection process will take place at the Forbidden City every three years. Candidates aged 14-16 are selected based on background, appearance, virtue, character and health status.
To ensure that there are no illicit love affairs, men are absolutely not allowed to enter the harem, the only exception being the eunuchs. Not only serving throughout the day, many eunuchs also engaged in political affairs to gain power and position. During the Ming Dynasty, about 100,000 eunuchs were brought into the palace to serve the King and his harem.
In a palace that was overcrowded with women, competitive jealousy was inevitable. Everyone wanted to win the favor of the Emperor, aspire to be crowned Empress, and especially to give birth to a prince. Sometimes, the Empress and her concubines split into factions, colluded with the eunuchs, and harmed each other. When they achieve their desires, the concubines will have a higher status, and of course the eunuchs will too.
The eunuchs were the only men allowed in and out of the harem.
Conspiracy to harm each other in the harem appeared densely in history. The beauties favored by the Emperor or born a prince automatically become a thorn in the eyes of the rest. One of the famous concubines with insatiable jealousy and extremely cruel tricks was Zhao Xin of the Han Dynasty. At that time, King Luu Khu adored a beautiful concubine, Vong Ngang. Chieu Tin was jealous and slandered Vong Ngang as a plot to harm the king. The king believed, sent someone to torture Vong Ngang, she ran away and threw herself into the well to commit suicide.
The harsh life in the deep palace has made the weak girls become cold-blooded and iron-clad. During the Tang Dynasty, one of the King’s concubines, Vo Mi Nuong, was intent on killing her newborn child and slandering the Empress Vuong. As a result, the Empress was deposed and Vo Mi Nuong became the new Empress. After the Queen was exiled to the palace, Vo Mi Nuong also ordered her subordinates to torture her with cruel tricks to avenge the days when she threatened and harmed her.
During the Ming Dynasty, King Hien Ton’s wife Van, due to her inability to get pregnant, decided not to let anyone else give birth to the king. A concubine surnamed Ky was pregnant with a dragon and gave birth to a baby boy, but fearing that mother and daughter would be harmed, a eunuch hid the baby in a safe place. Some time later, when the king heard about it, he was happy to welcome the mother and daughter into the palace. Van Quy became angry and immediately killed Ky Thi. The other eunuch was too scared to swallow the gold and committed suicide.
The war in the harem is as cruel and fierce as the political one.
As a matter of course, most of the concubines had tragic fates after the King died. Many were even buried alive with the King to serve him in the afterlife. So you can see, life in the harem is not only velvet and peace.