Bai Juyi wrote in "The Song of Everlasting Regret": "Three thousand beauties in the harem, three thousand beloved in one body." When many people read this poem, they may think that Bai Juyi must have used an exaggerated writing technique, because three thousand people It's really not a decimal. Just remembering three thousand faces is almost impossible. But in fact, in many times in ancient times, the emperor's harem beauties were far more than 3,000 people, because the harem beauties included not only those concubines, but also many court ladies. However, among the three thousand harem beauties, only a few were lucky enough to be favored by the emperor and to obtain a certain status. Reading history books tonight, I will talk to you about the classification of the harem concubine's rank, title, and ranking. Although the emperor
can have many women, there can only be one wife, and that is the queen. The concubines of all the emperors below the empress are called "wives of concubines". According to the records in the "Book of Rites", the inner mistresses include "three wives, nine wives, twenty-seventh wives, and eighty-one imperial wives." The third wife
ranks second only to the queen, the highest status among the emperor's concubines. For example, the concubine of the emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty included Mrs. Qi and Mrs. Guan, while the concubine of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty included Mrs. Li and Mrs. Gouyi. The three ladies are the three males in the same imperial court (taishi, taifu, and taibao, with different official names in different periods), and the official rank is the first grade. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the names of the three ladies were changed to the three concubines, namely the noble concubine, the long noble concubine, and the de concubine (the rankings are from high to low, the same below). In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty named noble concubine, concubine Shu, and concubine De concubine as the three wives. After the imperial concubine, the concubine Shu, and the concubine De, the Tang Dynasty added another concubine. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the titles of concubines were changed, and an imperial concubine was added to the imperial concubine, who was the same as the vice queen, but still belonged to the concubine.
The rank of the nine men is after the third lady, and the rank of the nine princes in the same court, the official rank is the second grade. Jiu 嫔 also has different names in different periods. For example, the nine concubines in the Jin Dynasty were: Shu Fei, Shu Yuan, Shu Yi, Xiu Hua, Xiu Rong, Xiu Yi, Jie Yu, Rong Hua, and Chong Hua. The nine concubines in the Tang and Song dynasties were: Zhaoyi, Zhaorong, Zhaoyuan, Xiuyi, Xiurong, Xiuyuan, Charging Yi, Charging and Charging. There have been many changes in the titles of 嫔 during the Ming and Qing dynasties. For example, the nine 嫔 in the period of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty were: De 嫔, Xian 嫔, Zhuang 嫔, Li 嫔, Hui 嫔, An 嫔, He 嫔, 嫔嫔, Kang 嫔, and Qing Dynasty There are titles such as Xibi, Duanbi, Mubi, Xibi, Daobi, Tongbi, Xiangbi, and Jingbi. The rank of the twenty-seventh wife of
was abolished after the Zhou Dynasty after the ninth concubine, and then re-established. The Western Jin Dynasty collectively referred to the twenty-seventh women as talented people, and the Sui and Tang dynasties divided the twenty-seventh women into three groups: Jieyu, Beauty, and Talent. The title level of the twenty-seventh woman was different in different dynasties. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there were nine Jieyu, the official rank of the third grade; the beauty of nine people, the official rank of the fourth grade; the talented nine people, the official rank of the fifth grade. In the Qing Dynasty, the title of the twenty-seventh woman was noble, always present, and promised. In the Qing dynasty, self-concubines and below were only general rooms, not concubine rooms, no court clothes and crowns, and no fixed number of personnel.
The grade of the eighty-one maidens is after the twenty-seventh wives. Taking the Tang Dynasty as an example, they are divided into three groups, namely: Baolin 27 people, official rank 6th grade; 27 maidens, official rank 7th Grade; Twenty-seven women are selected, and the official rank is eight grades. In the Qing Dynasty, the title of the Eighty-One Imperial Maid was equivalent to that of an official woman, whose rank was only slightly higher than that of an ordinary Maid.
Theoretically speaking, the emperor’s concubine consists of the third wife, the ninth concubine, the twenty-seventh wife, and the eighty-one imperial wife. But in most cases, the emperor's harem will not reach full capacity. It is worth mentioning that Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youzhan had only one woman in his life, the wife of the family, Queen Zhang. He is also the only emperor in Chinese history without a concubine.
Reference: "Chinese Official Dictionary"
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