A Day in The Life of an Imperial Concubine

hey everyone welcome to the double chin show I'm Dan I mean we're coming at you with another ancient Chinese video so here we go I think you guys will really enjoy this because it's a subject that you guys requested and something I've always been interested in we're talking about the Imperial concubines of ancient China a while back we actually made a video about the daily life of Chinese emperors and you guys really like that so you requested to know more about the Imperial concubines of ancient China there have been countless dramas and movies made about China's imperial harem hopefull throughout the dynasties and it's a really fascinating subject that not a lot of people know about I mean it's like all the most beautiful ladies in China all living together who wouldn't be interested especially since the lives of the Emperor's wives and concubines were often kept secret behind closed doors what do they do all day do they just wait around for the Emperor to visit them maybe play an ancient game of mahjongg I mean did they just walk around the ancient Palace catching pokemons all day how do they entertain themselves how much freedom do they really get we're also curious so we did some research and luckily a lot more information is now available because the Internet since the most successful information was about the most recent dynasties we're going to tell you guys a little bit about the lives of Imperial concert's living during the great Qin Dynasty but before we get into all of that here's a quick bit of history about China's imperial consort system China's imperial consort system was first established in the Western Zhuo period which was around ten forty six to seven 71 BC this is China's third dynasty so as you can see this system was in place very early on at that time there was already the idea of the Emperor and the Empress representing the two parts of the universe the heaven and the earth as well as yin and yang Man represented the heaven in yang the woman represented the earth and Yi the role of the Emperor was to rule and the role of his Empress was to obey his commands remember this is ancient China since the Emperor is all-powerful and considered to be the father figure to his people his wife the Empress must be a mother figure and role model to all women across the country therefore her conduct is strictly regulated so that she may remain a respectable figure how well the Emperor's family is managed is a direct reflection of how well his country is managed as a result the rankings and regulations are heavily enforced in the Imperial harem and amongst all consort they are also required to be morally outstanding have a righteous heart be kind respectful nurturing and graceful they must also embody the virtues a feel a piety frugality and refrain from indulging in luxury oh and on top of that they should be talented and well-versed in poetry dance music literature instruments chess calligraphy and painting what is this ancient Miss Middle Kingdom of course it also helps if they're very good-looking but mostly the other stuff only the best for the Emperor and the best genes for his children according to ancient Chinese text sampler was to always have an abundance of wives and concubines surrounding him in fact the various concerts of the Emperor were considered to be similar to his court officials they were to have fair rankings and each must play her role well the imperial consort system was far from complete when it was first put in place during the Jo dynasty but it gradually became more formalized with each passing dynasty when the Tim dynasty gain control over China it established an imperial harem and the number of consorts increased greatly compared to previous dynasties by the last dynasty the Ching dynasty China's imperial consular system was extremely well defined during the reign of emperor kangxi from 1661 to 722 there were eight official classes within the Imperial harem each with a specified headcount but Empress quanto one imperial noble consort long ways say two noble consorts a fate for consorts face Siddhant six Imperial concubines children unlimited noble ladies queen and unlimited first-class female attendants challenge unlimited choice lady or second-class female attendants that I don't know what's up with these titles because they kind of sound like idols given to flight attendants because there was a good deal of flexibility afforded to the Qing Emperor on how many concerts he could take the difference between each Emperor was huge for example emperor kangxi was said to have approximately fifty to sixty consorts whereas emperor guangxu was known to have only two consorts apart from his empress so back to our topic for today what's it like to live as a Qing Emperor's consort well it depends because the experience does vary according to ranking obviously better if you're ranked higher because you are afforded your own living quarters with personal ladies-in-waiting the higher your rank the more people you get to take care of you you also get better food and get to accompany the Emperor on more occasions you also get a better allowance better clothes jewelry table where basically you're living the life the bad thing you think a very lonely life and get to be quite boring the good thing is you're surrounded by luxuries and fun little activities to brighten your day entertainment let's stop with entertainment during their time off which is when they are not accompanying the Emperor at some sort of formal function these ladies played a lot of games many of them enjoyed a nice game of C on T or Chinese chess they also like to play G to PI or Chinese playing cards another unique game is Touhou a game during feast which the winner was decided by the number of arrows thrown into a distant pot the concerts also really enjoyed using the swing yes just the regular swing and felt that swinging in the air was a semi heavenly activity because they were flying in the air so similar to a western court the ladies of the Qing Palace frequently watched musical performances the famous Empress Dowager sissy in particular was a big fan of the musical theatre other activities included fishing sightseeing flower gazing and raising puppies dogs were so popular at the chain Court that there was a special quarter in the harem to house the pets there were also people specifically tasked to take care of them at times the palace house more than 100 dogs and parade ordered says she was also known to bring 10 of her favorite pets on her outings also apparently the Ching dynasty Manchurians were big fans of snow during the winter the emperor would even go play in the snow with his consorts dressed in warm silks and furs so Emperor's can have fun I know you probably think I can do all these activities in one day out keep in mind this was a time where there was no TV or social media there were no forms of electronic entertainment and people live generally at a slower pace if you asked me it was probably a good thing since many of the Imperial Cheng consorts lived to be over 90 years old now moving on to health and beauty speaking of longevity Qin Dynasty Imperial consort slipped really long lives and it's not by coincidence these women understood that you need more than a pretty face and a nice personality to win over the Emperor good outlive everyone or at least a the Emperor until his death on top of regular meals the consorts also ate things like birds nests suit honey walnuts pine nuts wolf berries sesame and jojoba all these foods are known to reduce aging they also ingested flour based dishes such as rose lotus osmanthus chrysanthemum acacia flowers Magnolia these ingredients help the consorts look better and feel more energetic it's also pretty obvious that since pretty much every consort is talented well nourished and naturally attractive why had to pay extra attention to look nice in order to gain the Emperor's favor the concerts relied on natural remedies to enhance their beauty for example Qin Dynasty consorts were very particular about hair care they washed their hair using a blend of Chinese medicinal herbs such as chrysanthemum powder and they also took Chinese medicine that improved hair quality and prestige at sis you would even use different combs for different parts of her hair and scalp to properly distribute oil along the hair maintain cleanliness and improve blood circulation as a result she had a head of shiny black hair until her 70s by the way sissy was famous for her beauty she was selected amongst many young women as a teenager to enter the palace and she was soon elevated to the title of Imperial concubine she wore Emperor samples only son and eventually became one of the most powerful women in the Qin Dynasty court now let's talk about food but of course the Chinese put a lot of emphasis on achieving health and proper nourishment through food the Ching dynasty courts were big foodies and tea drinkers Wu they were meticulous about eating healthy food that also tasted good and with the proper table setting and tableware there were strict regulations in the court kitchens on the nutritional value and quality of the raw ingredients while condiments to be used the cooking temperature and the table setting now is probably a good time to tell you guys that not all consorts got served the same food yes the court kitchen is highly skilled so any dish served probably tastes amazing but the higher your title the better your food and more of it is served to you for example the Ching dynasty Empress is served approximately 21 pounds of premium meats 13 pounds of regular meat one chicken one duck four liters of grain 12 pounds of flour and sugar 2 pounds of honey one pound of dried fruit three pounds of oil 33 pounds of fresh vegetables 66 pounds of milk and ten bags of tea per day not month day these were converted calculations from Chinese measurements of course and from there each lower-ranking gets slightly less for example an imperial noble consort will get less amounts in the Empress but still the same variety however a first-class female attendant will only get around five pounds of premium meat and two pounds of regular meat every day and five chickens per month still nowhere near starvation all the RAI ingredients served in the Imperial harem must be of highest quality and are imported to the capital from all over the country the militaries in each locale must offer the court a large quantity of a local delegates depending on the locale this could be deer wild boar bear pheasant tyre bone pigs salted fish Swan raccoon bears pause sturgeon etc in addition the chain dynasty royalty were big tea drinkers the main drink with the palace was tea at the time the geodon province produced the most tea so the best kind would be offered to the imperial court and enjoyed by the consorts the famous Dragon Well simple haunting tea and be motrin were enjoyed in the summer whereas pour and other black teas were served in the wintertime the rule of thumb is the more yellow the China the higher ranking of the consort the Empress and the Empress Dowager used all yellow China whereas the Imperial concerts dishes are yellow with green dragon print the imperial concubine dishes are blue with yellow dragon print noble ladies get green dishes with purple dragon prints how to keep track of all these colors fashion this is my forte speaking of color indicators it seems like status can often be seen in colors in the Qing Imperial Court save strict regulation and meticulousness that's seen in every part of the Imperial Qin Court of course applies to dress as well at a formal ceremony the Emperor the Empress and all imperial consort must be appropriately dressed according to written rules on these very informal occasions the Emperor and Empress wear bright yellow consorts wear golden yellow and concubines wear champagne this is so that everyone knows everyone's place immediately by looking at their clothes the Qin Emperor's consorts had four main types of ropes for four different occasions there's the formal a ceremonial leave rule which is worn when accompanying the Emperor to worship the gods or ancestors morning meetings or large-scale ceremonies there's a semi-formal seafood which is worn for sea festivities auspicious occasions such as feasts and the Emperor's birthday then there's the ordinary tomfool which is worn to smaller worshipping ceremonies or to pay respect and finally there is the casual bein full which is worn for the consorts living in her own quarters during her free time the Ching dynasty was ruled by materials were a fashionable bunch during this era the Imperial clothing was colorful and adorned with intricate embroidery done by hands of course the Imperial consorts had many precious jewels for accessories which they wore from head to toe starting with headdresses hair pins earrings necklaces bangles bracelets rings nail covers yes that's a thing on their perfume bags and so on so there you have it guys a little peek into the lives of Qin Dynasty Imperial consorts it does seem like there were materially satisfied but as you can imagine it can't be easy vying for the attention of the Emperor amongst dozens if not hundreds of other women and then try to be the first one to have a son talk about pressure I know right and also if Emperor passes away his concerts are pretty much sent to this area designated for widows and that place isn't any fun at all don't want playing with puppies you basically become a semi monk because you make offerings to the gods every day and reflect about life after becoming a widow okay if you can't play with puppies anymore I mean that's it like I'll just I'll just move out well but not only love you so they actually can't have any sort of fun because it's considered kind of like why your husband died like you're not supposed to be like oh like you don't like playing around every day that's unfortunate because they can't get married to the next emperor he's gonna have his own set of imperial consort exactly so basically the rest of their lives are like designated for mourning almost that's only if the Emperor dies early yes well we try to find more precise schedules of the period consorts but it's really hard to find a good source on that I know I've been looking in Chinese but there's a lot of information about the Emperor's schedule because it's well documented but really not that many people know that much about the specific schedule of imperial consort so let me ask you me would you have liked to be an imperial consort I want to say probably not good I like when I was very little is kind of like the Disney Princess thing you want to be a princess when you're a little but when you grow up you realize that actually most Royals they have sold like they have a very strict schedule they usually for especially for concerts they don't really see their family and everything is I mean it's not super fun yeah it seems like they have all the things they ever wanted materially but I just feel like they're kind of bored maybe sitting around and all that boredom maybe leads to like you some infighting because I hear a lot like each concubine wants their child to be the next yes and you see so many TV shows and movies made about and I don't know how much that's exaggerated but I internationally get matched one hundreds and hundreds of women living in one spot and they're all vying for one man's attention and what and the after they have sons right and and the ones who have sons are the ones who are very loaded they're promoted because you know that's the next potentially the next Emperor and then you have to decide which of those sons becomes the next Emperor and then also that's another thing and it's just it sounds like a lot of work but it sure makes for good drama right guys anyways let us know what you think about this video and what you'd like to see more in terms of historical cultural and educational videos about ancient China and check out some other videos that we made about traditional Chinese culture here and also guys we have a brand new channel where Mike Lee and I play with awesome cool children's toys awesome yeah check that channel out and we always really like making these uh historical and cultural videos for you guys we do and we try to get very accurate sources so for this video actually did all of the calculations myself for all the numbers and I'm not super gonna math so there might be some discrepancies please forgive us we do try hard to make these as accurate as possible right anyways guys thanks so much for watching this episode see you later hi

Channel: The Chen Dynasty

Views: 1,762,560

Rating: 4.8543558 out of 5

Keywords: ancient china, imperial china, chinese concubines, concubines, royal concubines, harem, hou gong, hougong, qing dynasty, manchu dynasty, empress, emperor, cixi, dowager, yongzheng, kangxi

Id: yKWj48P0qyI

Length: 14min 11sec (851 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2016