[Video/Mao Liping]
[Abstract]
In the special topic of choosing show girls , there are two kinds of show girls in the Qing Dynasty. One is the Outer Eight Banners talent show. The selected show girls are used to be the emperor's concubines and to point out marriage to the royal family; the other is the Interior Affairs Office coated show girls, selected to be palace maids. Today we will talk about the palace maids of in the Qing Dynasty .
The House Office Talent is held every year. The selected show girls enter the palace and the palace maids who have expired during their substitute service, forming a group of mobile female servants in the palace. You may think that the families of the Ming and Qing dynasties all had many maids and maids. For example, in " Dream of Red Mansions ", there must be more than a dozen big girls who serve Baoyu alone, right? Then don’t the concubines in the harem serve more maids?
Film and TV series data pictures
In fact, there are not so many. In the late Qing Dynasty, Xia Renhu said in "The Old Beijing Trivial Notes" that "there must not be more than 500 palace maids to customize." That is to say, the entire palace maids cannot exceed 500. However, we did not find such a clear number of people in the official documents. The Qing Dynasty's palace rules only clearly stipulated the number of palace maids that can be used by concubines of different positions: the empress dowager has the highest status, and twelve palace maids, ten empresses, eight under the imperial concubines and concubines, six under the imperial concubines, four under the nobles, three under the nobles, and two under the promised position.
If we calculate according to the fixed amount of the main position of a queen, an imperial concubine, two imperial concubines, four concubines, and six concubines in the palace, there will be less than one hundred palace maids used for the main position of the concubine above. Of course, there are no fixed amounts of nobles below the concubine, and promise, which is difficult to count, but the number of palace maids they use is also small, so the total number will not be too large.
Moreover, the Qing emperors always liked to claim to be frugal, and the attendants used very little. For example, in the 29th year of the Kangxi reign, the emperor once said, "There are only 134 concubines in the Qianqing Palace, and the orders of the old mothers and more than the palace maids are ordered to sweep the palace maids, and there are only 134 people." That is to say, there were only 134 palace maids in Lian Ma’s mother. In the 56th year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong also said, "As for the concubines in the palace, the women who were sent to the women, the princes and grandsons, etc., there were only about 200 maids." That is to say, there are less than 200 people in the palace, including concubines, palace maids, and nanny mothers. Is this a comparison of frugality with my grandfather?
Of course, Qianlong was suspected of being sloppy at this time. After all, at this time (the 56th year of Qianlong), he was over 80 years old, and there were indeed very few concubines in the harem, and the number of women in the palace was correspondingly small. Kangxi said that in the 29th year of Kangxi, he ascended the throne at the age of eight, and in the 29th year he was thirty-seven, in his prime, and Kangxi was the one with the largest number of concubines among the Qing emperors. However, this also proves from another aspect that the limit on the number of women in the palace was indeed very strict at that time.
Film and TV series data pictures
By the 48th year of Kangxi, Kangxi mentioned the number of palace maids again. He said, "In the Ming Dynasty, there were 9,000 palace maids, and 100,000 in the internal prison. The food cannot be everywhere, and there are people who starve to death on the day. Now there are only four or five hundred people in the palace." Although he said that the four or five hundred people in the palace included, and whether the palace maids and eunuchs and were included, it can still be reflected that the number of servants in the Qing palace was indeed not much compared with previous generations. Another thing to be noted here is that according to the historical records I have seen, there were no palace maids arranged by the emperor, only eunuchs served, and the palace maids only served in the palace of concubines.
The palace maids enter the palace through the talent show, and usually go through a period of inspection and training. "Qing Bai Lei Chao" records that after entering the palace, the palace maids should "try to use all the skills of embroidering brocade and holding brooms, and observe whether their rituals are appropriate. If there is any disagreement, the order will be given. Then choose the best ones and teach the rules of the court... The handsome ones serve the concubines' daily life, and then they are Shangyi and Shangyi."
Judging from the records of the Qing Dynasty court archives, Xu Ke’s statement is basically correct. After the palace maid enters the palace, he will be assigned to follow a "big palace maid" to learn how to do work. "Big Palace Maid" is also called "Big Girl" or "Big Girl". It refers to those senior palace maids who have been in the palace for a long time. They are responsible for teaching new palace maids various work and manners, and are sometimes called "aunts" by new palace maids.Xin Xiuming, an eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty, recalled: "When the palace maid first entered the palace, he first learned work, needlework and thread from the girl in the lower room, and learned standing rules. He called the girl the aunt. If he didn't study well, the girl had the right to beat him. The girl was even more powerful."
For example, on March 18, 2018, Shoukang Palace palace maid Ping An committed suicide by jumping into a well. According to investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ping An was selected into the palace in December last year. He had only been in the palace for three months. He studied work with the great palace maid Quanxi. Quanxi entered the palace at the age of fourteen. He was already twenty-five at this time and was a veritable "great palace maid".
According to Quanxi's confession, Ping An was stupid in sewing and threading, and he didn't do it well, so he dismantled and did it again and again. He twisted two or three days ago on her right arm, and then used a feather duster to thrust her left arm a few times. As a result, Ping An was still not doing well, so Quanxi slapped her two more mouths. Quanxi said that Ping An was beaten and she still had her meal as usual that night, and the two of them slept in the same room. The next morning, I woke up, and I was not at my side. I searched everywhere and reported to the eunuch, and finally found it in the well and was killed.
After coroner and Wenpo's injury test, it was proved that "Ping An was beaten and injured in a minor wound, and it was not a fatal place. The commission committed suicide, not a coercion to death." That is to say, Ping An was not considered to be persecuted by Quan Xi, but committed suicide. Although Quanxi did not commit "forcing people to death", he still handed over the eunuch in charge to beat him forty and then expelled him from the palace.
Film and TV series data pictures
The great palace maid beats the little palace maids not entirely because of bullying newcomers. They are responsible for teaching the little palace maids work. If they are not taught well, they will also be implicated.
For example, in March of the sixth year of Xianfeng, two new palace maids, Jinruhe, were added under the position of Jiapin of Shoukang, and the two great palace maids, Sufeng and Suyan, were responsible for teaching them how to do it. Let’s talk about it first here. Some viewers may ask, “Didn’t you say that the girls in the last episode of the bannermen have no names, they are all called Daniu Erniu? Why do the palace maids mentioned just now have names? Most of the palace maids with names were given by the concubines after entering the palace. For example, the file indicated that Jinru's original name Daniu and Jinyi's original name Siniu. The palace maids were not sisters from the family, so Jinru Jinyi and Sufeng Suyan were obviously given auspicious and elegant new names after entering the palace. Otherwise, it would be difficult to distinguish between the two girls.
Unfortunately, Jinru and Jinyi are relatively stupid, and their learning work is not effective. They were sent out of the palace less than a year after entering the palace. The great palace maid who was responsible for teaching them was also punished for this, and Su Yan was beaten ten times. Therefore, it is also stressful for the grand palace maid to bring new palace maids. As we just said, Quanxi is already twenty-five years old and is at the age of leaving the palace. I probably hope to train a successor quickly so that I can successfully hand over the job home. However, when I meet a clumsy newcomer, I will inevitably be impatient. In addition, when these great palace maids entered the palace, they probably grew up with the blame of the previous great palace maids. They thought it was common for new palace maids to be beaten, but they did not expect to force the little palace maids to death, and they were also punished for this.
Therefore, the first year of the new palace maid entering the palace is still quite difficult. You have to learn a lot of work and etiquette, and you have to endure the discipline of the great palace maids. Even if you meet a kind-hearted palace maid, if you are not neat enough and your mind is not flexible enough, you will not be able to escape the fate of being beaten by the harsh master and the concubines.
In June of the 20th year of Daoguang, Yanxi Palace Ling Chang sent a palace maid named Da Niu under his command. Da Niu entered the palace in November of the previous year and spent more than half a year in the palace. Perhaps his conditions were not good. Ling, who had a low degree of distribution, often did some rough work under his command, but was still unable to do it.
file records that she first accidentally slapped a kitten when she passed the threshold, and was beaten by slapping the face; later she was beaten by a handboard because she was greedy for picking the apricot on the tree in the yard; and she accidentally trampled the kitten while feeding the cat. The next day the kitten died, and she was beaten by dozens of left and right arms; and because the cat grabbed her hand, the kitten was killed, and the next day the kitten died, and the next day the kitten was beaten by another handboard; a few days later, the girl accidentally kicked the porcelain basin of the handboard, and was beaten by twenty more hands. Perhaps because she could not bear the big girl's clumsiness, Ling often reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sent her out of the palace.
After reading this record, you may think that this big girl is indeed stupid and reckless, and has taken the lives of several kittens. Ling often likes to raise cats very much, so she cannot tolerate the big girl's behavior. However, Ling Changzai also has her own problems. The big girl we just mentioned was beaten by Ling Changchang himself. Generally, the palace maids make mistakes and are beaten by eunuchs. It can be seen that Ling Changzai is a ruthless character.
Film and TV series data pictures
According to records from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the year before Da Niu was sent out of the palace, two palace maids were sent out of the palace under Ling Chang's reign. Although the reason for their resignation was due to illness and the other was due to stealing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted routine inspections on the palace maids and found that both of them had purple bruises on their bodies. On the second day after Da Niu was sent out of the palace, another palace maid named Erniu was sent out in Yanxi Palace . It has been less than a year since Erniu entered the palace. The reason for being sent out was also stupid and there were scars on his body. Historical records show that the second girl was the palace maid under Shang promised. Some scholars have verified that Shang promised Ling Changzai. She was demoted from Promise to Changzai on the day when Da Niu was sent out of the palace. She was probably even more bored, so she beat and sent the palace maid to vent her anger.
It seems that Ling Changzai is indeed irritable and often beats the palace maids. Emperor Daoguang is probably very dissatisfied with her behavior, so she was demoted to the position. Moreover, judging from her living in the Yanxi Palace, she should have been very unpopular.
Ling Changzai is not the most cruel. When we were talking about the princess topic, we once mentioned Qianlong’s favorite little daughter and Princess Xiao’s biological mother Concubine Dun , and once beat a palace maid to death. In the Qing Dynasty, some palace maids were thrown into a well or hanged themselves because they were beaten or insulted by their master, but they were not often beaten to death by their master. Therefore, Qianlong himself was shocked at that time and issued an edict saying:
"Yesterday, Concubine Dun ordered a woman in the palace and ordered her to kill her. The matter was shocked... If Concubine Dun was not handled seriously, the love and law were not allowed to be settled, and it was not enough to make the people in the palace know that the police were afraid of... It is related to human life, and his offense is not light. It is said that he had been employed by Princess, so the amount has never been reduced. If we consider the case, it would be too much to dismiss Yi's position!"
Although it was necessary to handle it seriously, for the sake of Princess Hexiao, he still lost his position and was only demoted by one level, and changed from a concubine to a concubine, and asked Concubine Dun to take out 100 taels of silver to the parents of the palace maid as the cost of burial. Although Concubine Dun was restored to Concubine Dun's position more than a year later, it is certain that the emperor did not allow the concubines to be too harsh on the palace maids. This is also one of the reasons why the Interior Affairs Office needs to conduct detailed inspections when the concubines want to send out the palace maids, which is a constraint on the concubines. If the palace maids are seriously injured, the concubines' impression in the emperor's mind and their position will be affected.
Silly palace maids will be sent out of the palace or stay in the palace to do rough work, while those skillful palace maids will become the confidant maids around the concubines.
First of all, palace maids also have differences in their origins. Yongzheng once clearly ordered, "Whoever selects a woman who is in the palace of a queen, concubine, concubine, or nobleman, the daughters of a noble family can be selected. If you meet a nobleman and choose a woman below, you cannot select a daughter of a noble family. If you are a daughter of Tang, a lieutenant, a lieutenant, and a casual man in armor, you can all be selected."
When we talked about the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has formal official positions, and many of them have high positions. However, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their daughters still have to participate in the talent show, and there is a possibility of being elected as palace maids. The meaning of Yongzheng's words is that the maids of high origin serve the master with high rank, and the maids of low origin serve the concubine with low rank, otherwise the relationship between the master and servant and the background may not be easy to straighten out. For example, if a person agrees, he may be just the daughter of an ordinary bannerman, and the father of the palace maid who serves her is an official of a third rank or above, this is not suitable.
In addition to their origins, the main thing that determines the division of labor between palace maids is their sensitivity.
Empress Dowager Cixi's palace maid He Ronger recalled in "Hidden Maids Talk about the Gossip of the Palace Maids" that the ones who can enter the Chuxiu Palace are the best people who can work with the Lady Buddha.Then there are different levels here. Those who clean the house and clean the bricks in the morning are ordinary and high-quality; those who can give the old lady close to her body to smoke and tea, and serve the old lady to eat snacks are the best; those who can work in the room at night are inspected and are absolutely reliable and are very reliable; those who can change clothes for the old lady during the day, serve the old lady big and small, wash the old lady's feet, bathe and clean the body at night, and those who can serve the old lady at night are very special. That is to say, the closer the palace maids to serve the concubines, the more flexible, safe and reliable they are often selected after layers of investigation.
Data picture
In the inner court, in addition to serving the master, there will also be various interpersonal relationships. For example, we just talked about the relationship between the new palace maid and the old palace maid. In addition, the palace maids also have to work with the eunuchs. During the live broadcast before, some viewers were very interested in the "paired food" issue, and I also gave some answers. Let's take this opportunity to make some more additions.
First of all, palace maids and eunuchs are the two main groups of servants in the palace of concubines, and many things need to be completed in cooperation, which is beyond doubt. The eunuch in the first palace also has management responsibilities for the maids in the palace. If the maids do something wrong, the eunuch in the leader is also responsible. Like palace maids, eunuchs are divided into grades, including eunuchs in charge, eunuchs in chief, and eunuchs with low status.
"Palace Maids Talk about Past" records that when the palace maids entered the palace, in addition to recognizing a large palace maid as their aunt, they also recognizing an old eunuch as their uncle or "adoptive father". With the teachings of the great palace maids and the care of the old eunuchs, their lives in the palace would be a little easier. But this kind of recognition of relatives is actually forbidden in the palace. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the emperor noticed that the palace maids and eunuchs had recognized their relatives and immediately ordered a ban. However, during the Xianfeng period, we can still see that this ban was repeatedly reiterated, which shows that this is a phenomenon that has been repeatedly banned.
In addition to acknowledging relatives with eunuchs, there are also palace maids and eunuchs forming "eating" or "vegetarian households". These two statements basically mean the same in the Ming and Qing courts, that is, palace maids and eunuchs forming couples similar to couples. There are some records of good relationships between palace maids and eunuchs in the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, in the 16th year of Qianlong, the palace maid Wu Niu climbed over the wall to the eunuch Zhao Guobao's room in the middle of the night and attempted suicide with a knife.
In the later investigation, Zhao Guobao said, "We are in love with each other, it is a matter of washing clothes, socks and other things for me, but later they are not in a good relationship." But Wuniu refused to admit that they were in a good relationship, saying that Zhao Guobao said bad things about her in front of his master, and that she stole the master's things. Wuniu was afraid of being driven out of the palace, so she ran to Zhao Guobao's room in the middle of the night to commit suicide. However, Wu Niu admitted that she was washing Zhao Guobao's clothes and said that Zhao Guobao "beats and scolds her from time to time for four or five years, and recently sued him in front of his master as a thief and curse people." It can be seen that the two were intimate and tense relationship.
Film and TV series data map
Although the Office of the Internal Affairs did not give the relationship between Wu Niu and Zhao Guobao whether it was a quasi-eating, after all, the Qing Dynasty rulers were unwilling to accept or admit that the fact that the banner girl had an affair with the eunuch, the quasi-eating phenomenon existed since Han , and this was also the trend in the Ming and Qing courts. Although eunuchs were physically castrated, they also had emotional needs. The palace maids were inevitably empty and lonely for more than ten years in the palace. Therefore, it is reasonable to have a pair of palace maids with similar personalities and eunuchs to comfort each other's lonely hearts. The protagonist of "The Palace Maids' Talks about the Past Record" said that Cixi betrothed her to an eunuch named Liu. "Qing Bai Lei Chao" records that there are even palace maids and eunuchs who lived together for the rest of their lives after leaving the palace.
Finally, we said before that the Qing Dynasty palace maids had a service period and could leave the palace to marry after the expiration of their term. Therefore, there would be no problem of "white-headed palace maids" in the previous dynasty, which was also a kind of mercy of the emperor to the banner girl.
How many years does the palace maid have to serve be considered as the expiration of her term? There is no fixed number in the literature. In the 16th year of the Kangxi reign, the emperor said, "Any palace maid who is over thirty years old will be sent out to ask his parents to choose a maid, and young women will be selected to supplement it." That is to say, the palace maids cannot leave the palace until they are thirty years old.If we calculate based on the calculation that we entered the palace at the age of fourteen or five, we had served in the palace for fifteen or sixteen years by the age of thirty. The time was really not short. Moreover, a thirty-year-old woman was absolutely old in the Qing Dynasty and it would be difficult for her to get married. Therefore, the later emperor continued to shorten the service life of the palace maids.
As soon as Yongzheng ascended the throne, he ordered the "palace maid to be twenty-five years old and to leave the palace", which shortened the service period by another 5 years. Later, he shortened the service period of the palace maids to 5 years. It is stipulated that "all women who enter the palace for five years will be given the honor of the holy person to leave the palace and hire a marriage." If you enter the palace at a normal age, those who are about 20 years old can leave the palace and get married, which is more humane.
Unfortunately, the 5-year limit has not become a custom-made product. Among the materials we have seen, there are still many palace maids who have served for more than 5 years after Yongzheng. For example, Quanxi, we just mentioned, entered the palace at the age of 14 and was still in service at the age of 25. However, after the Yongzheng Dynasty, there were indeed few palace maids older than 25 years old, so the regulations for leaving the palace at the age of 25 were generally followed by successive emperors.
The Qing Dynasty emperor asked the palace maids to leave the palace after the expiration of their period, which was out of the so-called "kindness" towards the banner girls, and on the other hand, it was actually a blow to the concubines. The palace maids have a day when they leave the palace, but they have to die in the palace. And every few years the palace maids around them have to be replaced. Often, they finally cultivate a caring palace maid, and the girl is about to leave her. Therefore, concubines often ask the emperor to delay the time for their palace maids to leave the palace, or ask them to come back to serve after they leave the palace. The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty repeatedly reiterated that once the palace maids leave the palace, they must not enter the palace or have any contact with their master. The concubines could only constantly adjust themselves and re-adapt to the newcomers around them.
Film and TV series data map
In short, although the Qing Dynasty stipulated that palace maids had service periods and did not have to die in the palace, it was also pitiful that girls were forced to leave their families at a young age and went to the palace to serve their masters and suffered all kinds of harsh criticisms. The Qing emperor shortened the service period and was kind to the palace maids, but it also made it harder for the concubines to have credible maids to rely on in the palace. So although some of them beat the palace maids because they were not favored and had a bad temper, wasn’t they also a pitiful and pathetic group?
Of course, there are not only palace maids, but also various nanny mothers. What kind of group are they? What is the difference between division of labor and palace maids? We will explain it to you in the next episode.
This article is an exclusive article by Observer.com. The content of the article is purely the author's personal opinion and does not represent the platform's opinion. It may not be reproduced without authorization, otherwise legal responsibility will be pursued. Follow Observer.com WeChat guanchacn to read interesting articles every day.
