Women in ancient times were not allowed to decide their own destinies. Ancient Chinese women had to follow the Three Obediences: “Obey your father at home. Obey your husband when married. Obey your son after your husband’s death.”
In the eyes of many, the women selected for the palace were believed to have a better and more noble life. Just by stepping into the ranks of the “three thousand beautiful women,” they began their journey to “change their fate.” To go further, they needed to constantly strive to gain favor.
“Three thousand beautiful women” is an imaginary image that refers to the countless beauties in the harem of a monarch.
The harem refers to the living place of the concubines of the emperor. In history, the term “harem of three thousand beautiful women” was used to describe the number of concubines of feudal emperors.
Although the emperor could favor the concubines as he pleased, in reality, very few could be favored and granted the position of a principal wife. Another issue was that as the number of women in the harem increased, how could new women gain the emperor’s favor? It was the emperors themselves who came up with a unique selection method.
Method 1: The Sheep Cart Selects
Emperor Tuoba Gui of the Jin Dynasty, the master of a harem with thousands of beautiful women, often had a headache when selecting a beauty to favor due to the overwhelming number of candidates.
Tuoba Gui, the emperor praised for being more intelligent than others, came up with a unique way to solve this problem: He had a cart pulled by a sheep herd, and he would sit on that cart to visit the palaces. Wherever the sheep stopped, he would choose that place to rest and enjoy.
One of the concubines in the harem, after learning about the emperor’s selection method, cleverly placed a branch of salted bamboo shoots in front of her room. The sheep, fascinated by the taste of the salty bamboo leaves, would immediately rush to where the branch was. As a result, the cart stopped right in front of that concubine’s palace.
Therefore, to gain the favor of the emperor, it was not only about beauty or talent, but the concubines also had to be intelligent and skillful in their behavior.
Methods 2 and 3: Rolling Dice, Releasing Butterflies
In addition to Tuoba Gui’s selection method, there were many other unique approaches that emperors used to choose favored concubines.
According to the records in the “Tang Dynasty Book,” the harem of Emperor Xuanzong, also known as Li Longji, had over 40,000 palace ladies. With such a huge harem, Emperor Xuanzong had to come up with his own way to choose those who would be favored. One of the methods was to play dice. Every day, the emperor would call a group of concubines, and they would play dice to determine who would have the chance to serve him at night.
Dice were compared to a game of destiny.
Another method used by Emperor Xuanzong was “butterfly divination.” The concubines would plant flowers in front of their rooms, and the emperor would release a butterfly. Whichever concubine’s door the butterfly landed on, she would be the one chosen to spend the night with the emperor. This method was similar to Tuoba Gui’s “The Sheep Cart Selects.”
Although there were a large harem with thousands of people, and although dice and butterflies were used to determine favor, there could still only be one person who truly captured the emperor’s heart. In the case of Emperor Xuanzong, it was Yang Guifei. As Bai Juyi wrote in the poem “Song of Everlasting Sorrow”: “Three thousand beautiful women in the harem – Three thousand reserving all love for only one person.”
However, receiving the emperor’s attention and wholehearted love was like a double-edged sword. The monarch, who had the power to determine their fate, could cherish a woman like a treasure but could also abandon them at any time. “Close to the emperor, like being close to a tiger,” just one action or word that displeased the emperor could lead to death.
Unspoken rule stops Qing dynasty concubines from making noise during intimate moments
During the rule of the Qing Dynasty, concubines were required to maintain absolute silence during their encounters with the emperor. They were forbidden from making any sound at all.
Why does a concubine need to be led back to the palace after being favored by the emperor?
This was the rule in the ancient harem. Once they were favored by the emperor, the concubines were escorted back to the palace to rest.
Why did the ancient Thai masseuses have a strong, unpleasant odor on their bodies?
The ancient royal eunuchs often had unpleasant odors due to significant bodily changes. They employed various methods to address this issue.
Why do concubines in the Qing Dynasty have to sleep in a crooked position and cannot lie straight?
The court ladies in the ancient Qing Dynasty had to follow a strict set of rules, including the requirement to sleep in a reclined position with their legs curled up.
