A Survival Guide to the Qing Harem

Chapter 27
Don't worry, there are policies, and we have countermeasures.The palace rules are not so ruthless, and it also provides another method for the concubines who miss their families. "Every New Year's Day or accidents at home, eunuchs and palace maids can go to their natal homes to visit their parents." That is to say, you can send your chief eunuchs and maids to visit your family during the holidays or when there is something wrong at home, and ask the eunuchs and maids to help you see how your parents are doing and whether your brothers are filial or not.However, you have to be cautious, because the regulations also say, "Propaganda of all internal and external matters is strictly prohibited." What do you mean?You must not let the eunuchs and maids spread the word, saying what is the matter with the Long Live Lord, and what is the matter with the Empress Dowager?

Seeing this, you breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, I didn't say Long Live, I just want to ask if my father has been promoted. Has that family feud in our family been killed?" Oh, don't, just ask this, It's also a taboo!Concubines are not allowed to participate in politics. What do you mean by asking so many questions?Avoid suspicion, avoid suspicion is the most important thing.You may only care about your family, but the emperor may think that you just want to take the opportunity to blow the pillow and interfere in the affairs of the court. Isn't that looking for abuse?Once you enter the palace, you have to be cautious in your words and deeds, if you don't die, you won't die.

What?You also want to meet other people besides your parents.Alas, maybe we can meet each other in our dreams if we are destined!

How about printing a brochure and distributing a few copies in each palace |
As the saying goes, "no rules, no circle".Modern management believes that it is the most scientific and efficient to use the system to manage people at any time.As the highest administrator of a country, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty also had his own set of rules for the management of the inner courtyard of the harem.There are thousands of people living in this huge Forbidden City, besides the emperor himself, there are also concubines, concubines of former emperors, princes and concubines and their maids, eunuchs, nannies and so on.Without a set of effective management norms, it is easy for some things that the emperor himself does not want to see happen.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus, as nomadic peoples, did not have a relatively systematic set of management regulations.Many court rules and regulations are only in accordance with the emperor's order and the habits of the ancestors. In other words, the court norms at this time are that the emperor has the final say and the rules of the ancestors have the final say.If you unfortunately travel back to the time before Qianlong came to power, then you have to be a man with your tail between your legs and cross the river by yourself. The emperor himself can't find a rules and regulations to explain to you.Everything can only be explored by oneself, humbly ask all the elder queen mothers, concubines, maids, and mothers for advice, and be careful to watch their words and expressions to avoid making mistakes and being punished.

This lack of a system just makes people feel unreliable. If something happens that the emperor doesn't want to deal with or the ancestors didn't encounter it, it will inevitably make people feel difficult.In order to solve management problems and improve the level of governance, Emperor Qianlong, who had money and leisure but also cared about things, issued the "Existing Rules and Regulations in the Imperial Palace", which specifically established regulations for the management of the Forbidden City.From the empress dowager down to the little eunuch, everyone must act in accordance with the regulations.If you traveled to the time after Emperor Qianlong's palace regulations were promulgated, you would be very lucky. At least you can clearly know what can be done and what can't be done.

The only exception to this palace rule is still the emperor himself. Even if he did something out of the ordinary, everyone has to do something special.Who made you live in this feudal era where "there is no king in the world"?To put it modestly, it is the boss of the sky, the emperor ranks second, and the imperial power is concentrated at the peak. Who dares to set rules for the emperor?Therefore, Emperor Qianlong introduced policies not only to manage the harem, but also to maintain his imperial power.This privileged class is unbalanced!

If you want to get along well in the harem, you need to be familiar with the "Regulations" as a prerequisite. Let's study it in depth together.To put it simply, this book is divided into names, jade certificates, etiquette, banquets, book treasures, allusions, clothes, palace rules, palace points, shop palaces, encounter happiness, set up, enter spring, thank you, money and food, There are [-] categories including Suixiu, Punishment and Eunuch, which stipulate the basic necessities of life for concubines, eunuchs and maids in the harem, the etiquette of court banquets, reward and punishment system, etc.In terms of content, these [-] categories can also be simply integrated into four regulations:

One is to stipulate the treatment of harem concubines, court ladies and eunuchs.For example, the "Regulations" clearly stipulates that the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager live in the Palace of Compassion and Ningshou, and the concubine lives with them in these two palaces.When the queen and concubines are registered, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will issue gold treasures and gold books. If you are lucky enough to be a queen, the emperor's decree alone is not enough. He Virtue, the golden book that appoints you as the queen, these are actually useless, but it is equivalent to your ID card in the royal family, which means that you can work with the certificate.

Looking at the "Queen's Treasure" in your hand, you feel so beautiful in your heart, and feel that you can turn clouds and rain in the harem.But wait a minute, although it is stated in the "Regulations" that the queen is in charge of internal governance, concubines assist the queen's internal governance, and the nobles are below the rank of internal affairs, but there is no specific content about internal governance and internal affairs.This is tantamount to a blank check.The emperor said, Empress, my harem is under your control.But in fact, he didn't say a word to let you manage.

There is another person who actually manages the affairs of the inner palace. One is the one who manages the affairs of the royal family, which is the famous House of Internal Affairs. From the emperor's small treasury, the wedding etiquette of the emperor, prince, and princess, to raising cats, dogs, and pets for the royal family. All institutions are under its management.All the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are dedicated to serving the royal family. All of them are centered on the emperor's personal life needs. There are more than 50 branches, twice the number of officials in the six ministries, which shows the luxury of the emperor's life.The other is dedicated to managing the affairs of the harem, called the respect room.Up to which concubine the emperor slept with at night, down to the allocation and punishment of eunuchs and maids, it was all a matter of the respect room.

Looking at this regulation, you are not depressed, are you?Now that you have achieved the position of queen, you might as well take it easy, whoever cares about these trivial matters, and you, just sit on the throne and accept the congratulations from the concubines during the festival.

Although you can't hold the power and turn the clouds and rain, but the Queen's treatment is not just for nothing. The "Regulations" stipulate that you can get 1000 taels of silver as pocket money every year, and hundreds of silks, satins, furs, gold and silver utensils, etc. For daily necessities alone, you can receive one chicken and one duck, 25 catties of pork, a plate of mutton, 25 catties of fresh vegetables, and dozens of catties of various rice noodles and dried fruits.In addition, if you give birth to a prince, you can also get 1000 taels of silver and 30 pieces of various fabrics, and if you give birth to a princess, the silver and fabric rewards will be halved.If you only want glory and wealth, then being a queen is a lot of money. You know, ordinary officials at that time could only get 20 taels of silver and fifteen shimi a year. Grandma Liu said in "Dream of Red Mansions" that the peasant household can live a very good life with [-] taels of silver a year.

Let’s take a look at the second category of palace regulations, which mainly stipulate the etiquette of the harem, such as how to celebrate the birthday of the queen and concubines, who can come to congratulate, how much gift money, how to choose beautiful women, how to worship gods and stoves, etc.The water here is also very deep, and the name of a birthday can reflect the class gap.The birthday of the queen and concubine is called "Qianqiu", the birthday of the concubine can only be called "Shouchen", the birthday of the noble is called "Birthday", and it is often called "Birthday". Legal birthday gift.A few concubines who had befriended with each other gave some handkerchiefs and purses, which counted as birthdays.But the queen is different. She can receive the statutory six taels of gold, 900 taels of silver, and more than 60 bolts of different fabrics.This is comparing people to people, and it makes people mad.

The third major category of regulations is the maintenance and decoration management of the palace.For example, when to set up sky lanterns and longevity lanterns every year, when to hang door gods, when to clean gardens, gutters, and do general cleaning, etc.

The fourth category is the determination of the duties and functions of eunuchs and court ladies and regulations on punishment management.If you accidentally transmigrate into a court lady, please be sure to recite the "Regulations" sooner or later, and use the energy of the college entrance examination to study in depth!Don't underestimate these management systems. It's not fun to do anything wrong. Don't think that eunuchs and maids are employees, and the emperor is the president.In the Forbidden City, the fate of doing wrong things is very miserable. Even the empress was thrown into the cold palace and died miserably, let alone the eunuchs and maids at the lower level.If the maid speaks loudly, she will be punished; if she does something that the master dislikes, she will also be punished.He even felt that life was too difficult, and he wanted to die, but he had to be punished. The "Regulations" stipulated that if a eunuch and court lady committed suicide with a sharp weapon in the palace, she would be beheaded; if she failed to hang herself, she would be hanged.It's desolate that you can't even die on your own.This person walks to a high place, and the water flows to a low place, so it's no wonder that all the beautiful court ladies are eager to curry favor with the emperor, and climb up step by step.

Their jewels and emeralds are beautiful, do you want them too?I'm sorry, you're not good enough | Treasures in the treasury and objects of reward

At any time, it is difficult for a woman to resist the temptation from jewelry.As the most concentrated female settlement in the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that there is really no place where women in the court of the Qing Dynasty are more enthusiastic about jewelry.No matter what the purpose of coming to the palace is, you have to face such a horrible reality. There is only one emperor, but there are three thousand beauties in the harem, not counting the maids who do chores for the beauties.Whether you are a little maid who intends to make a living, or a concubine who intends to compete for favor, you cannot live without basic necessities.This "food" is a big pot of rice, "living" is arranged by the leader, and "travel" is your own compound. You don't have to worry about it, and it's not your turn to worry about it. Therefore, you have nothing to do every day, and only one "clothes" can Used to pass the time.

It is said that "one emperor, one courtier", and the dressing is the same. The Tang Dynasty had the style of the Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty had the customs of the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the customs and habits also changed with the changes of the rulers.Therefore, if you want to be a person who is at the forefront of women's fashion in the Qing Dynasty, you must understand the dressing habits of Manchu women.Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Manchu women had the habit of wearing flowers on their heads, not just one or two, but all over their heads.Cough, this image reminds you of a flower that Grandma Liu planted when she entered the Grand View Garden, right?Don't laugh, and listen to me one by one.The Manchus have lived in the severe cold of the Northeast for a long time, with short springs and summers and long autumns and winters. The plants are all hardy trees, and brightly colored flowers are very rare. The colors that can be seen over the years are "white mountains and black waters" plus various greens, so the Manchus especially like them. All kinds of gorgeous colors, beauty-loving women prefer to dress themselves with short-lived and gorgeous flowers, from [-]-year-old girls to old ladies with thinning hair like to wear flowers all over their heads, and even very trendy girls, directly in Tie a vase on the head, and then put all kinds of flowers into the vase.This trendy idea has completely defeated the modern "non-mainstream".

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the dress of Manchu women became popular all over the country.In the early Qing Dynasty, the country was not rich, and the empresses and concubines of the Qing Dynasty were still accustomed to adorning themselves with flowers.In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the country developed steadily, so the headdresses of concubines gradually changed from cheap flowers to luxurious pearl flowers.Emerald ivory from Yunnan, jade from Hotan, pearls from Northeast China and even colored gemstones from overseas have entered the palace continuously. They have been made into various kinds by the skillful craftsmen of the palace’s jewelry workshop——the Palace Manufacturing Office. , All kinds of exquisite jewelry, and then placed on the dressing table of the concubines.

According to the craftsmanship, the manufacturing office is divided into more than a dozen different handcraft workshops, such as flower making, silk making, jade making, tooth making, enamel making, etc., and undertakes the production of imperial items for the entire Qing court. Many handed down masterpieces.To this day, we can still see the results of the top handicrafts of the feudal dynasty that once flourished in the Palace Museum.

(End of this chapter)