Number of three wives and six concubines

In addition, in terms of etiquette, there are strict rules on the number of concubines.

The Book of Rites stipulates: "The son of heaven has six palaces, three wives, nine wives, twenty-seven wives and eighty-one emperors".

Zhou Li: "There are 120 people in WangZhifei: the last one, the third lady, the ninth lady, the twenty-seventh lady and the eighty-first lady."

The son of heaven can have 120 women headed by the queen. The queen is the first wife and she is entitled to get along with the emperor alone. Other concubines and concubines can't be alone with their husbands, and whether to accompany them must be approved by the Queen. This system went further in the Ming and Qing palaces: after the emperor selected the sleeping concubines, he sent the list to the queen for examination, and if the queen agreed, he stamped the queen's seal. If the queen resolutely refuses to stamp this seal, the emperor often has no choice. If we want to abolish the official position and replace it, it will often affect the reputation of the emperor behind us. No one wants to take the risk except the bad king.

The emperor is the son of heaven and has the most concubines. Below the son of heaven, the number of concubines fell sharply in etiquette:

Doctors can only take two concubines, and the cremation can only take one concubine. Ordinary rich people can't take concubinage until their first wife is in her fifties and has no children. Moreover, all concubines are not allowed to stay with their husbands all night. She had to leave after their husbands fell asleep.

This rule also applies to empresses. However, rules belong to rules, and few people are willing to abide by them.

Concubine system was originally a way for men with wealth privileges to enjoy themselves. How can they let the rules bind their hands and feet?

Therefore, in addition to "concubine", there are also many names such as "Ji", "Maid" and "Geisha". After every name, there are a group of women living in pain. "Gimaifu geisha", they are actually concubines, but because they have no legal status, their experience is even worse than that of concubines.