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What is the life of the palace maids in the Qing Dynasty?
In the early Qing Dynasty, the female services in the palace were provided by destiny women (wife of senior officials) who entered the palace. They were temporary workers with a system of commuting and getting off work. However, during Shunzhi, Empress Xiaozhuang Wen suddenly stopped this system. Many historical materials show that it may be related to the entry of Dong Efei into the palace. This is an off-topic topic, but the Qing Palace began to establish a palace maid system.
was selected and lost. Blessing? Disaster?
In Qing palace dramas, we often see a type of palace maid, who is the dowry girl of the concubines. In fact, in real history, this kind of thing rarely happens.
Generally speaking, palace maids in the Qing Dynasty mainly entered the palace through the talent show system. The basic process is similar to the selection of concubines, and the selection criteria are roughly the same. It mainly depends on whether the woman is smart and has a good appearance. Kangxi once commented on some alternative palace maids sent from manors and slaughtered Wula in various places, saying that they were "not handsome."
It’s not that the emperor must choose beautiful palace maids, but appearance has always been an important evaluation criterion. The talent show time is tight and the task is heavy. It often takes hundreds of people to see in half an hour. Apart from their appearance, they probably can’t tell anything.
The palace maids in the Qing Palace only serve the female rank, namely the concubines of the empress dowager, concubines, princesses, princesses, and grandsons. The quota of palace maids under each rank is limited, and only if there is a shortage of personnel in the palace will be replaced by registered women. Some people are elected at the age of thirteen, but they may enter the palace at the age of seventeen. When a princess gets married, she often chooses dowry from several women to the princess's mansion. Although she is also a palace maid, she may not have entered a real palace in her life.
We often see a type of palace maid in Qing palace dramas, which is the dowry girl of concubines. In fact, in real history, this kind of thing rarely happens. The emperor's concubines had to enter the palace alone after the draft, and had no right to bring any outsiders into the palace. Even if you marry the queen, there is still no such possibility. Only when the prince marrys a concubine can the dowry girl join the palace to serve with her master.
The Forbidden City outside the gate.
Although the task of the palace maids is not very heavy, they are slaves to serve people in the end, especially officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (composed of Shangsanqi Baoyi Banners), who are even more unwilling to let their daughters go to the palace to work as jobs. Their daughters are spoiled ladies at home, so how could they bear these hardships?
For example, the Wanyan family, the Wanyan family, the first family of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the daughter of the River Governor Lin Qing participated in the selection of palace maids. After being elected, his son also wrote a poem "He Damei Leaves the Sign" to show the whole family's celebration. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the pattern of the family of the Interior Government had been formed, and officials could often use unspoken rules to no longer allow their daughters to work in the palace.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi lived a luxurious life and liked to show off, so she took the lead in expanding the staffing of palace maids, and the number of palace maids increased sharply. During the Xuantong Dynasty, there were only the queen mother and four concubines, but the number of palace maids was as high as 122. We have watched many Qing palace dramas. In order to show the palace pomp, the harem always stands full of palace maids, but this phenomenon only occurs in the Forbidden City in the late Qing Dynasty.
There are many palace maids in the late Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Palace is still relatively humane to the palace maids. The palace maids of all dynasties are often lifelong. Once they enter the palace gate, they are as deep as the sea. They not only contribute their great years, but also never make a name for themselves. In the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi issued an order for palace maids to leave the palace to marry at the age of 30. Yongzheng further shortened the service period to twenty-five years, which was roughly ten years, and many people could even leave the palace at the age of 21 or 2.
After they left the palace, the emperor often in charge of marriage and formed a convention. In this way, the palace maids have hope for their lives. Although life in the Qing Palace is boring and serving people is suffering and burdened, they can be liberated after the service period is over. Especially when the emperor personally argues with marriage, it is not only an honor, but also the betrothed family must be much higher than their own family.
Who creates a strange marriage that is 42 years apart?
Regarding the palace maids leaving the palace, there are often such scenes in Qing palace dramas. Some concubines are domineering by nature and are unwilling to let the palace maids they are used to. If they do not report them to the age when they leave the palace, it is equivalent to forcibly detaining the palace maids in the palace. In fact, the concubines are basically unable to get involved in this kind of thing. Every year, the emperor instructs the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check which palace maids should leave the palace that year. The minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the eunuchs in charge of the Jingshifang and others hand over this matter, which has nothing to do with the concubines.
For example, a report on the internal affairs office in the 11th year of Yongzheng's resignation shows that this job was handled by Prince Zhuang Yunlu, Minister of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department of the Interior Department first selected the eight banners and reported to the emperor, and the imperial guards had to combine the eight characters for them. Only when the eight characters were combined could the emperor give the marriage, which shows how formal it was.
Although there is no interference from concubines and the emperor is the decision, it does not mean that the palace maids must marry well. The same file for the 11th year of Yongzheng's reign, there were three palace maids accused of marrying that year. Two of them were married to the escort (fourth rank official) among the Eight Banners, and they were roughly the same age, but the third one was given to a 71-year-old infantry academy!
Although it is also a sixth-rank military position, the career of an old man in his seventies is like raising a toad in a glass jar has a bright future and a way out. Although this palace maid was a little older, she was only twenty-nine years old, and an old couple with a difference of 42 years. In that era, when a girl passed the door, she was probably respected as an old lady, and she might even live in the same family for four generations. This situation is really not normal.
Some palace maids in the Qing Dynasty had a tragic fate.
If the Qing Palace has always been like this, there is nothing to say about marrying the palace maids who left the palace to an elderly and helpless bannerman as usual. It can only be said that the palace maids have bad fate; but they married three people in total, two of them are normal, and they are both high-quality "bachelors". Suddenly, a 71-year-old old man popped up, which is suspicious.
There is also a folk rumor about pointing marriage, which is to point the palace maids to eunuchs, which is nonsense. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a system of "the flags and people do not intermarry" and although the palace maids were in the guise of the Baoyi family, they were bannermen after all. In history, there are many poor bannermen who pretended to be civilians because of poverty and secretly married ordinary Han people, which is equivalent to obtaining some bride money through their daughters. This type of case is mostly recorded in the archives, but the parties involved were sentenced heavily, and some were even sent to the frontier.
In the palace, the emperor did not allow such things to happen under his nose, let alone marrying the palace maid to a eunuch who had "incomplete six senses". Moreover, the Qing court always attached great importance to the historical lessons of the Ming Dynasty and was very sensitive to the troubles of the eunuchs and palace maids in the previous dynasty. They were prohibited from being too close in terms of explicit laws and regulations, and the matter of eunuchs and palace maids "paired food" (fake couples) was even more strict.
The Qing Dynasty palace maids must abide by many regulations.
On the fifth day of the September 16th year of Qianlong, a palace maid under the position of Concubine Luo of Ningshou Palace climbed over the wall to the outer courtyard, went to the residence of eunuch Zhao Guobao, and committed suicide with a sharp blade. The emperor was shocked when he heard this. What serious incident did a teenage palace maid climb over the wall and run to the eunuch's house to commit suicide?
If a palace maid dies in the eunuch's house, whether it is suicide or murder, it must be a huge responsibility. After several trials, the Shenzheng Department used the punishment of the stern mouth, but Zhao Guobao's confession was basically not moved.
Fortunately, the palace maid Wu Niu who committed suicide by committing suicide was rescued, and Shenxing Department interrogated her. After Wu Niu confessed, it turned out that the eunuch Zhao Guobao had always been domineering in the palace. In his early years, a palace maid Bayanzhu was washing clothes for him. Later, when he was over, he asked Wu Niu to do these things.
Judging from Zhao Guobao's confession, he wanted to lead the case to a dispute arising from his relationship. Before he was punished, he told him about "favor" with Wu Niu, and even if he was slap in his daily bullying of the palace maid, he refused to explain. It can be seen that although the Qing Palace managed "paired food" strictly, it would not be punished the most, otherwise he would not have to conceal it.
However, there is some controversy in the word "friendly" in the archives. Some people believe that "friendly" may have meant that the relationship between the two was good, not the relationship between men and women. However, even if there is no controversy, this matter is still just an individual case. The issue is not yet clear and scholars need further research. Although the system is strict, it is also implemented by people. For example, the way eunuchs get along with palace maids in real life. Judging from this case, it is not as simple as the system.
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