In ancient palaces, in addition to eunuchs serving the royal family, there are also a large number of palace maids who also serve the royal family. They undertake many complicated work in the palace with eunuchs every day, and life is also very difficult. However, many people see through film and television dramas that the treatment of palace maids is still good. not only wears clean and tidy clothes, but also has good luck to become a concubine's personal maid. Their status is incomparable. If there is any special situation, it is even possible to be favored by the emperor. These are all unknowns. Is this really the case? In fact, the real living conditions of ancient palace maids were extremely poor. They were ruined and ravaged by others, which can be said to be no different from livestock.
Palace Maid System Strict Selection Standards
In ancient times, in order to change the current situation of family poverty, or to find a place to settle down, in addition to marrying a good family, the worst strategy is to be a maid for wealthy families. Of course, it is best to be able to enter the palace to be a palace maid. Although they are both slave classes, one is to serve the landlords and the other is to serve the emperor, and then the nature will be great.
Sometimes, the family members were eager to send their daughters to the palace as palace maids. First of all, because out of a sense of family honor, the people in ancient times all had the idea of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and had high respect for the emperor, that is, their children can serve the royal family, which is definitely the glory of the entire family. , whether they are eunuchs or palace maids, as long as they serve the royal family, they will receive corresponding rewards. It can be said that this is a job with an iron rice bowl, and the rewards received are not a small amount, which is equivalent to the current level of the working class. It is definitely enough to supplement the family and support their parents' old age.
However, not everyone can be a palace maid. Before this, it must be strictly screened. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, the royal family only had . As palace maids, the royal family did not believe in people from other ethnic groups. They were worried that people from other ethnic groups might pose a threat to members of the royal family. Only people from their own ethnic groups could trust them. Then it depends on the appearance and figure of the palace maids. If they are ugly, too tall or too short, they will be eliminated on the spot. Although is not a concubine, they are all service personnel. If they are not as good as the image, wouldn’t it be a slap in the face of the royal family?
In addition, some dynasties still need to assess palace maids to see if they have the ability to wait for you, such as needlework, laundry, cooking, etc. If you don’t have these abilities, why should you become a palace maid, you will definitely be expelled directly. But even with so many requirements, the number of palace maids in the palace has remained at the level of thousands or even nearly ten thousand since ancient times, which is really shameful.
The real life is terrible
Although becoming a palace maid is something that many civilian women dream of in ancient times, when their dreams come true, they face a terrible life situation. First of all, every palace maid will be arranged to different institutions or departments in the palace to be responsible for the corresponding responsibilities. This work is likely to last a lifetime. Without special circumstances or changes in the palace, these palace maids will work until they die in their positions. It can be said that they do the repeated work of the people every day like robots, without any meaning or value for improvement in ability. Over time, they will inevitably feel boring.
Then they must be careful when working every day. If something goes wrong, or offends the concubine and the emperor, they will face the danger of beheading. . Sometimes, even if these palace maids do not make mistakes, they are likely to be executed wantonly. For example, if some concubines make mistakes and anger the queen or the emperor, the palace maids will be killed like their concubines. In the late Qing Dynasty, the palace maids who served Empress Dowager Cixi only combed off a few normal hairs that fell off by Cixi , and were immediately dragged out and beheaded.
What's wrong with these palace maids? Life and death are all based on the ruler or their own masters. No one defends her, nor does it have the clear law to protect their rights. In the eyes of the ruling class, these palace maids are slaves driven by randomness, no human rights can be spoken of, and no one cares about their life and death.
The living environment of the palace maids is not as good as imagined. As people in the slave class, they do not have their own room. They all sleep in a large bunk bed in one room, and they are one by one. Even if they turn over, they have to be careful, otherwise they will disturb others' rest. In addition, the environment will definitely be dirty and messy, the room is full of odor, bacteria are everywhere, and , and they don't have time to clean up because they usually serve the royal family members. If they go out early and come back late, they don't have time to clean up their personal hygiene. The food they eat is also a big pot of rice. The master or the emperor and others don't have the turn to eat it. At most, they will fill their stomachs. What is the final outcome of
?
Although being a palace maid in feudal society was considered a way out, not only for food and accommodation, but also for wages. The important thing was to serve the emperor and be able to see many things, once you became a palace maid, you must be prepared to face various changes. First of all, follow your master to die, or be buried with the emperor. Sometimes when the concubine died, the palace maid who once served her lost support, and they were old, they would be sentenced to death for their concubines to be buried with them. Similarly, if the emperor died first, there would be a palace maid with them. For example, when Zhu Yuanzhang died in the Ming Dynasty, he asked 46 beloved concubines and a group of palace maids to be buried with them.
Another situation is that they are likely to be ravaged by men in the royal family and then abandoned them. After all, in the eyes of these royal families, the palace maids are not worthy of their attention at all. In the end, the palace maids died alone in the palace like abandoned items. After death, they were just hasty things, and no one would remember them.
also have some luck, and may be dismissed home when they are old. Generally, the royal family requires the age of the palace maids to be around 15 to 30 years old. If they are older, they will not be able to do so. First, the average life expectancy of the ancients is low, and they will die at about 40 or 50 years old. Second, they are old and weak, either sick or unable to take on the work of their own, especially forty or weak. They are especially consuming resources to support these elderly and weak. It is better to send them home as soon as possible and absorb a new group of palace maids. However, these palace maids also face difficulties after being dismissed home, that is, no one wants them. After all, they are already half-murs and still from the palace. Who knows whether chastity is still there, and they can only spend the rest of their lives alone by relying on their past savings.
Conclusion
Generally speaking, the situation of ancient palace maids was very poor. They had no rights to their own. They were bound in the palace all their lives and lived the same life as livestock. They really made people feel deeply sympathetic. At the same time, it also made us hate the darkness and sin of the feudal dynasty. However, the dark era like this has completely become history, and feminism has been well liberated. Now the concept of equality between men and women is deeply rooted in people's hearts. I believe that women will also achieve more achievements in the future and provide more power for social development.
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