皇帝的妻子们 Emperor’s Wives

皇帝的妻子们 Most emperors in the history had only one queen at one time, but numerous junior wives who were divided into many levels. In Qing Dynasty, there were 8 levels of them including the queen as the highest level. Qing emperors had less wives comparing with Han people’s emperors. Emperor Kangxi had 55, which was more than any other emperor in Qing, but a Han emperor might have over 1000. The queen’s sons had bigger chances to become the heir. When the heir became the new emperor, his birth mother and his father’s queen (may be the same person) both become the empress dowagers.

后妃的选择 Choosing of Queens and Junior Wives Most of these wives of high levels came from powerful and well-educated families. Once a girl became the emperor’s woman, she would be considered a member of the royal family and no longer that of her parents’ family. She would represent the emperor in front of other people, even her parents would become her servants. Most of these women never got to see their families after marring the emperor. http://www.tudou.com/playlist/playindex.do?lid=3865969&iid=18893904&cid=22

后宫生活 Life in the Emperor’s House Life in the Emperor’s house was usually very boring and they couldn’t go outside of the palace at will. Most of these women didn’t get to see the emperor too often. They fought with each other to get more attention from the emperor or bigger chance for their sons to become the heir.

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