How many concubines usually live in a palace in the Forbidden City?

In the Qing Dynasty, only queens with concubines and concubines or above could have independent main halls and palaces. Therefore, naturally, there is not one concubine in each palace in the Forbidden City, but many concubines live together. Generally speaking, there are about three concubines living in a palace in the Forbidden City.

The structural layout of the Forbidden City is strictly prohibited. However, after inheriting Ming property, the Qing court living in a second-hand house was different. The Qing emperors lived in hall of mental cultivation, not the Qing Palace. The Queen's original residence, Kunning Palace, became a place of worship. The queen and many concubines live in the East and West Zodiac.

As the name implies, the East and West Zodiacs are divided into the East and West Zodiacs, collectively referred to as distribution. Needless to say, the queen can naturally live alone in the palace. After all, the Palace of Kunning can't stand it. The queen's request to treat the ordinary palace as a dormitory was embarrassing. However, other concubines are not so beautiful and live so spacious.

According to the etiquette system of the Qing court, there are one concubine, two concubines, four concubines and six concubines below the queen, and there is no limit to the number of ordinary concubines below the concubines. With the above wives, you can live alone in the main hall of a palace, so there are thirteen people, not to mention the queen who occupies a palace.

Actually, there is no need to worry. First of all, as long as the queen is still alive, the imperial concubine will not easily settle down. If an imperial concubine can get such favor, she must be favored in the Sixth Hospital, and there won't be too many concubines in the emperor's harem. Although there are two concubines, four concubines and six concubines, no emperor has all the concubines during his reign in history of qing dynasty.

In all the palaces of the Forbidden City, there is a main concubine who lives with one or two ordinary concubines with low status. Generally speaking, they are noble, promising and eternal. No problem for nobles. Wuji in the Qing dynasty may not have a separate room, or even live in an ordinary shop, which is very different from TV dramas.

The size of the harem in the Qing Dynasty was also the smallest in all previous dynasties. Even Emperor Michelle Ye of Kangxi, who had the most concubines, had only 40 empresses, which was a far cry from the traditional "three thousand concubines in the palace, a rare beauty". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, several emperors had few concubines, even dissatisfied with the East and West Zodiac.