In recent years, palace fighting dramas set in the Qing Dynasty have appeared on the mainland TV screen, which not only set off a wave of ratings but also blew a strong "Qing Palace Wind" in society.
The core of the palace fighting drama is the word "dou", which mainly revolves around the relationship between the queen and the concubine.
Almost all Qing Dynasty palace fighting dramas portray the image of the empress as an unspoiled and fierce "poisonous queen", among which the role of Ullanara Yixiu, played by Hong Kong actor Cai Shaofen in "The Biography of Zhen Huan", is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
It seems dignified and elegant, motherly in the world, but in fact, it uses various means to exclude dissidents and frame concubines, resulting in "continuous war" between the queen and the concubines, but this is only the content in the TV series, what is the real history?
The queen and the concubines did not have to fight
In fact, these palace fight dramas are only based on the fabrication and fiction of the historical background of the Qing Dynasty, in order to create eye-catching dramatic contradictions, screenwriters often create genreized characters, of which the contradiction between the queen of the Snake Heart and the kind and innocent concubine has become the main focus of the screenwriter.
In real history, there was no need to fight between queens and concubines. The Qing Dynasty's concubine selection system followed the Ming Dynasty's draft system, but unlike the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty's showgirls were all from the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, and their birth backgrounds were better.
The "Biography of The Later Concubines" in the Annotations to the Qing History Manuscript records: "After the Kangxi Dynasty, the canonical system was prepared, the empress was in the middle of the palace, the imperial concubine one, the concubine two, the concubine four, the concubine six, the nobleman, the constant presence, and the promise were indefinite. ”
It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty had extremely strict requirements for the origin and number of harem concubines, not only that, but the management of concubines in the Qing Dynasty was also very strict, and the rank change was very small.
In the history of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 28 empresses were created, but only 2 empresses were deposed, one was empress of the Ancestral Borjigit clan and the other was the Gaozong Uranara clan.
The nobility of birth directly determines the fate of a concubine in the harem, and the history books record that most of the concubines of the Qing Dynasty are women from the families of the founding heroes, or the daughters of generals who have made great achievements in battle, as well as the gege of various fiefdoms, and have a very high social status. As the "lord of the six palaces", the empress was often the most noble person in the harem.
For example, Empress Xiaochengren of the Kangxi Emperor was the grandson of the founding hero of the Qing Dynasty, Sonny, and the daughter of Ge Bula, the minister of the Imperial Guard; Empress Tong Jiashi of Shizu Xiaokangzhang was the daughter of Gushan Erzhen Tong Tulai; and Empress Xiaozhaoren was the daughter of the first-class Gong Bao Bilong;
Empress Xiaoyiren was a first-class princess of the Tong Kingdom, and Empress Xiaokangzhang was also the niece of Empress Xiaokangzhang; Empress Sejong Xiaojingxian of the Uranara clan was the daughter of the minister of the interior, Fei Yanggu...
It can be seen from the above that the family power of the Qing Dynasty empresses was mostly outstanding, so the empress could rely on her own family power to preserve her position and power in the harem, while the concubines of low birth would be despised no matter how much they were loved by the emperor.
During the Xianfeng period, the daughter of Ji Lu, a Phijia (whose status was slightly higher than that of a slave in the Qing Dynasty), was given the title of Mei Changzai (Mei Changzai) by the emperor's favor, and was later promoted all the way to the concubine, but she was still a "lowly daughter" in the eyes of the imperial relatives and nobles.
Due to the Qing Dynasty's "family-country integration" draft system and deep-rooted concept of hierarchy, "lowly daughters" such as Concubine Mei could not compete with the empress with huge political power, and if they wanted to save their lives in the harem, the concubines not only could not compete with the empress, but also respected the empress everywhere.
The status of empress is revered
In addition to the empress's prominent family lineage, one of the important reasons why the concubines were willing to bow down to the empress was the honor of the empress's status.
In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's concubines could not follow the etiquette system and be canonized according to their own preferences, but the empress could not be canonized at will. The title of empress is both a symbol of status and a symbol of power.
The Qing Dynasty practiced monogamy, but the title of "wife" belonged only to the empress in the harem, and other concubines could only be called concubines.
The empress is not only the emperor's wife, but also the mother of a country, playing the role of "motherly world".
According to the qing dynasty's canonization system, when an empress is appointed, the emperor wants to inform the world, but when a concubine is made, it is not used.
The ceremony of crowning concubines in the Qing Dynasty was basically the same as the ceremony of appointing an empress, but the degree of grandeur could not be compared with that of the empress.
Like the emperor's canonization ceremony, the empress canonization ceremony requires sacrifices to heaven and earth and sheji, and the empress is also given the golden seal of the empress representing power.
The empress's grand wedding was also very different from other concubines, the Qing Dynasty empress's wedding was held in Kunning Palace, but the concubines did not have a dedicated cave room, but a designated palace as a cave room. The entry of an empress into the palace is "to marry", and the entry of a concubine into the palace is called "greeting".
The queen's wedding ceremony used a magnificent nine-legged golden phoenix-topped ceremonial car, while the concubines could only use wooden carriages, and the specifications of the dependents were also very different.
In addition, the route for the empress and the concubines to enter the palace is also very different, and the great Qing law stipulates that the queen must enter the palace from the main gate of the Forbidden City, representing the supreme status, while the concubines can only enter the palace from the back gate of the Forbidden City.
Entering the palace from the Great Qing Gate is the first step for an empress to open her own glorious life, and many empresses are proud to enter the palace from the Great Qing Gate.
Among them was the Empress Alut of the Tongzhi Emperor, and historical records record that one day the Arut clan had a dispute with Cixi, and in order to provoke Cixi, the Arut clan said to Cixi: "Slaves were brought in from the Great Qing Gate." ”
The implication of the Arut clan was obvious, to show off his noble status, and this sentence greatly angered the Western Empress, because Cixi herself was admitted from the back door of the Forbidden City as a nobleman.
Empress Dowager Cixi held a grudge against her, and after the death of Emperor Tongzhi, she revived the old story and killed the Arut clan on the pretext of killing them.
Feudal society pays attention to the principle of often has a degree, respect and inferiority in an orderly manner, the royal family naturally pays more attention to the etiquette of respect and inferiority, although the empress and concubines are in the harem, but the primary and secondary are different, and the status is even more different.
The empress of the Qing Dynasty had the power to regulate the harem, and could even torture concubines with a staff, so how could a weak concubine compete with an empress who held heavy power?
Conclusion
Looking at the entire harem of the Qing Dynasty, the hierarchy is very strict, we can know that the concubines of the Qing Dynasty are not capable of competing with the empress, but both the empress and the concubines have been deprived of the right to have freedom by the Forbidden City, and whether you are a grace or the lord of the harem, you must be bound by the feudal etiquette system, and the glory and wealth are not a kind of shackles for them?