Concubines

The Concubines in the Imperial society of China were the woman of the emperor, high ranking officials or rich merchants.

Upon a visit of the Forbidden City in Beijing two parts can be seen. The first part is the Palace area where state affairs were handled. The second part is the living quarters and those quarters have a major part consecrated to the concubines.

Life was hard for these girls as there were many and a lot of jealousy. The concubines were graded in 9 ranks going from “beauty” to “imperial concubine”.

Every part of the court life was regulated and written down. The eunuch were the only (half) man allowed to stay in the Forbidden City. The eunuchs had to serve and advise the emperor and they had to make sure the emperor would follow the court rules. So a normal emperor would have 121 concubines. But of course some emperors enjoyed their God status and didn’t listen to their eunuchs. An emperor of that sort would have 400 to 4000 concubines. But an emperor with so many concubines wouldn’t have time to control his country as he had other preoccupations and so went in history as a bad emperor.

A concubine was selected between the ages of 12 to 14 as this is the age when she was considered the most female. A selection was made in the different provinces. The girl must be a local beauty and still virgin. Then when she passed the different tests she would be brought to the eunuchs, who made further selection and in the end the emperor could select his concubines.

The goal of a concubine was to be able to sleep with the emperor and to please him, so she could be promoted and she and her family would get more fame and richness. But a group of 400 to 4000 women fighting for one man gave a lot of quarrels and more.

So why did the emperor need all these concubines, shouldn’t he be a good housefather and take care of his empress?

Well as every little detail was controlled at the court (and a good emperor would follow these regulations), the emperor had designated times, according to the moon calendar, where he could sleep with his empress and try to conceive an heir to the throne. Those were very select days and the chance of having a child, and especially a boy, was quite small. So when the emperor had a boy with a concubine, this concubine would receive a higher grade and in the end could become the mother of the next emperor.

Because the emperor could only sleep with his wife on these designated days he had to sleep with his concubines. Here we find the concept of Yin and Yang.

Yang is “good”, “sunlight”, “heaven”, “male”, …

Yin is “bad”, “darkness”, “earth”, “female”, …

They represent all the duality around us. And because the emperor was “The son of Heaven” he was absolutely Yang, but everything should be in balance, so he needs more Yin.

He could get this Yin be special food and exercises, but the most efficient way was his concubines. By having intercourse with them he received Yin and especially if the concubine had an orgasm she would release more Yin. The eunuchs developed a way to improve the chance of an orgasm. The used the eyelid of a sheep and that was placed on the penis of the emperor.

In the writing it was also regulated how many ejaculations (losing the Yang) the emperor could enjoy. In spring he could have an ejaculation every 3 days, in summer and autumn only twice a month and in winter, as this is the coldest and darkest (Yin) month, he could have none!

To select a concubine was a tricky business. In the beginning the emperor could choose who he wanted to sleep with, but this custom was abolished by the eunuch as it is not fair to all the concubines (except for the emperor’s favorites). So different systems were tried out. A cart with a goat was set up in front of the courtyards of the concubines. Where the goat would stop the concubine could get in and was brought to the emperor. Concubines weren’t stupid women as they were also selected on their artistic and mental skills. Soon vegetable baskets were put outside some houses and the same concubines kept coming up on the cart, so this system was also terminated.

A tube of bamboo was kept by the head eunuch and inside the names of all concubines was written on separate bamboo sticks. So every day a stick was picked at random. This system was kept for a longer time, as it seemed quite successful in keeping everybody happy.

When a concubine was selected she was washed and perfumed by the eunuchs. Her naked was enrolled in a silk gown and she was brought like that to the emperor. No clothes so no possibility to hide a weapon to murder the emperor.

The emperor was given one hour to gain more Yin. While the emperor was in his bedroom with the concubine, a eunuch would stand outside. He controlled the time after one hour he would hit his big metal staff on the floor, indicating that the emperor only had 5 more minutes left.

Of course “bad” emperors would indulge more on those worldly pleasures and order their eunuch to go away or they just picked another concubine after the first session was finished.

When a concubine died she would be given a funeral according to their rank. An imperial concubine would even be buried not far from the grave of her emperor.

When an emperor would die all his concubines would go to the next emperor. But he never used them as concubines, but as advisers. The new emperor would get a new set of concubines. The old concubines would live in palaces outside the Forbidden City, except for the imperial concubines, who would normally stay close to the new emperor.