| Spotlight On: The Rear Palaces Of Dynastic China (Part 4) |
[Jan. 25th, 2005|06:12 pm] |
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I finished the inking for Chapter 2!! *runs 2nd victory lap* I gotta FTP it to the server and get approval before I tone it. So far I've been timing myself, and it took me about 8 days to ink this 24-page chapter. Hmm... considering the detail, that's okay, I guess. And FINALLY, I'm getting to finish my Rear Palace series. This has been bogged down for too long.
Concubines
And then, there are the concubines. There are also female servants and female palace administrators besides the concubines, but I have placed these last 2 categories separately because in most dynasties, their functions and freedoms differ vastly from the concubines. These 3 groups have overlapping dutues, but they are all the property of the emperor and can be summoned and dismissed at whim.
While their numbers are not particularly large, the concubinage system makes up the backbone of the rear palace. Drawn sometimes from the families of nobles and others from the ordinary populance - the function of a concubine is simple; to entertain the emperor, and to give him children (preferably boys). However, even if a concubine bears a prince, it is no guarantee of their position, as technically speaking only the male children of the empress can become the crown prince. As a result, should a concubine enter the rear palace when the emperor is aged, their life can be nasty and short. To maintain the prestige of the emperor, there are measures in place to ensure that women from the rear palace don't fall into the hands of other men (including the new emperor) after the current emperor's death. The most common is to force the current concubines to become nuns - they are shuttled away from the palace and into a nunnery where they will stay for the rest of their lives. Those that managed to have children can stay at the palace, but without their former titles or prestige. Only the empress will survive the purge as the empress dowager, and as you can see, a system like this can engender alot of competition to sire a prince, poison rivals and overthrow the current empress. An intelligent concubine will be one who knows how to keep the emperor's attention on her, protect her own son, form alliances with the eunuchs and female servants as a source of intelligence gathering, arrange for rivals and their children to be poisoned, and engender ways to overthrow the empress. There has been more than a few concubines in Chinese history who managed to overthrow the current empress to become one herself, and eventually the empress dowager. Some of these empress dowagers than held the reins of power in court, notably one who dismissed the infant emperor she placed on the throne to become the emperor herself.
Concubine Rankings
Concubines are given rankings, just like servants of the bureaucracy. What rank a concubine has at the beginning depends upon her political connections, though the commoners with no political backgrounds are just slotted into one of the lower ranks unless they are unusually beautiful. The concubines who were with the crown prince before he ascended the throne are usually given all the top spots. As expected, the ranking system means a concubine can move up and down the ladder in ways of promotions or demotions, depending on the favour of the emperor (or not). There are limits to how many concubines can be in a certain category, and if a category is full, there is nothing that can be done about it until a slot is freed up. Competition for spots can be fierce, as ranking can at times mean everything. A higher-ranked concubine will have a room to herself, more grants of cloth to make clothes with, more female servants, more access to high-level eunuchs (who at this stage are eager to be sycophants), and gifts of money and jewels from the emperor to bribe the servants with. Naturally, this also means more time and money to spend on her looks, and more access to the emperor. It is these higher-ranking concubines that the emperor is likely to see first, while the lower ones can only wait for those rare opportunities when the emperor may stumble by (highly unlikely). Many lower-ranked concubines live and die within the rear palace without even having once seen the face of the emperor.
Ranks of Concubines
Here are the ranks of the concubines according to different dynasties, which also doubles as a concubine's title. Concubines are referred to by their rank and last name - a concubine with the name "Wang Er" and ranked a Meiren will be addressed as "Wang Meiren". Unfortunately, while I'd like to provide translations of these titles, it's difficult since much of it can be ambiguous and archaic in meaning, and I don't have the original Chinese words with for them.
Han Dynasty
Furen
Meiren
Liang-ren
Bazi
Qizi
Changshi
Shaoshi
Unranked Servants
Han Dynasty - Emperor Wu
Jieyu
Jin-e
Ronghua
Chongyi
Unranked Servants
Han Dynasty - Emperor Yuan
Zhaoji
Jieyu
Jin-e
Ronghua
Meiren
Bazi
Chongyi
Qizi
Liangren
Changshi
Shaoshi
Wuguan
Shunchang
Same rank: Wuyuan, Gonghe, Yuling, Haoling, Liangshi, Yezhe
Tang Dynasty
Grade 1: Yinfei, Dufei, Shufei, Guifei
NB. There are only 4 grade 1 concubines - they are named after the 4 virtues of women: Yin (virtue), Du (morality), Shu (ladylike), Gui (elegance)
Grade 2: Zhao-yi, Zhao-yong, Zhao-men, Xiu-yi, Xiu-yong, Xiu-men, Zhong-yi, Zhong-yong, Zhong-men
NB. There are 9 in all, in descending order, known collective as the "Nine Concubines" (guiban)
Grade 3: Jieyu (9)
Grade 4: Meiren (4)
Grade 5: Cairen (5)
NB. Wu-Chao, the only female emperor in history, started life at this grade. She was promoted to Zhao-yi at the reign of Emperor Guo Zhu, then got rid of the empress and became one herself. After Guo Zhu's death she became emperor.
Grade 6: shilin (27)
Grade 7: Yunu (27)
Grade 8: Cainu (27)
Unranked Servants
Qing Dynasty
Huangfei (1)
Guifei (2)
Fei (4)
Ping (6)
Unlimited numbers: Guiren, Changzai, Daying
NB. Concubine selection took place every 3 years, and the chosen ones are automatically given the title guiren or onwards. The rest, which will be servents, become daying and usually stay that way.
To Be Continued... |
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