lactating mother, the standard for members of the ancient royal family. In ancient times, lactating mothers were hired due to lack of milk powder or insufficient milk from birth mothers. Nursing mothers have a long history in China. There is a record in "Xunzi · Lilun", "The nursing mother is also the one who eats." The emergence of the profession of nursing mothers has greatly liberated the hard work of the queens and concubines in feeding their children.
Another important reason for the prevalence of lactating mothers in the palace is to alienate the relationship between the prince and the birth mother, so that it is possible to prevent relatives and harem from interfering in politics. In addition, in ancient palaces, the queen may only see children about 5 times a year. Parents care about their children. Because of human nature, even the queen hopes that their children can grow up healthily. Therefore, how to choose a nursing mother is very important.
Let's take the last emperor Puyi's choice of nursing mothers as an example to introduce the unknown story of nursing mothers in the Qing Dynasty palace. On November 14, 1908, Emperor Guangxu died. According to the arrangement of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Pu Yi, who was only 3 years old, was taken into the palace and raised. At this time, Puyi had no relatives in the palace, and the nurse Wang Lianshou became his only support.
How did Wang Lianshou become Puyi's nurse? This matter should start when Pu Yi was born. In February 1906, Pu Yi was born. According to the regulations of the Prince's Mansion, the eldest son was born to find a nurse. The news about the recruitment of nurses spread quickly in Beijing. The conditions were that food and accommodation were included, plus two taels of silver per month.
was very generous at the time, and it attracted a large number of mothers who had just given birth to sign up. After a preliminary screening, the steward of Prince Alcohol's Mansion selected 20 candidates with better conditions, and Wang Lianshou was one of them. The name Wang Lianshou was given to her by Puyi. Because of her maiden name Jiao, she married to the Wang family, so she was also called Wang Jiao.
Wang Lianshou is a native of Renqiu County (now Jiaoyuanzhuang, Dacheng County, Hebei Province), Hejian Prefecture, Zhili Province. When he was 13 years old, he fled to Beijing due to floods in his hometown and went to the shaver. When he was 16 years old, Wang Lianshou was killed by his brother. In a way of half-married and half-selling, she married a servant surnamed Wang. The good times didn't last long. After Wang Lianshou gave birth to a daughter, her husband died of illness, and the lives of the mother, daughter and in-laws immediately disappeared.
At this moment, Wang Lianshou learned that Prince Jin’s Mansion was recruiting nurses, and eventually she became the lucky one among the 20 people. There are two main reasons why Wang Lianshou was selected: thick milk and dignified appearance. But it is not so easy to be Puyi's nurse. You must accept two cruel conditions: one is not to go home at will; the other is not to visit your daughter at will.
Let’s imagine that Wang Lianshou had just given birth to a daughter, who was nurtured by his mother, but he was not allowed to visit. In addition to these two conditions, when Wang Lianshou was feeding Puyi, she should not put salt and soy sauce in the food she ate in order to ensure the purity of the milk.
Puyi described in "My First Half of Life" that lactating mothers are not allowed to eat salt and soy sauce. This is "the most humiliating requirement." Pu Yi's original words were, "Use two taels of silver a month to turn yourself into a cow." In the huge palace, Wang Lianshou became Pu Yi's closest villain. However, when Puyi was weaned at the age of 9, the concubines drove Wang Lianshou out of the Forbidden City without telling him.
Wang Lianshou had a tragic ending. First, his daughter died early due to malnutrition. After Puyi became the emperor of the Puppet Manchukuo, he took her to Changchun for a period of time. When Japan surrendered, Wang Lianshou and Wan Rong were beaten to death by Japanese prisoners during the transfer process.
Reference materials: "My First Half of Life", "Pu Yi and the Nanny Wang"
