The establishment of female officials can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. According to documents, the Emperor of Zhou once established a queen, a wife, a concubine, a common woman, a royal wife, a female wish and a female history. Among them, except the queen, wife and son of heaven, it is the real wife of son of heaven, and the wife and maid-in-waiting are both concubines and female officials. The wife is responsible for the education of harem women, the woman is in charge of harem sacrifices and guests, and the imperial wife is responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the emperor. The female wish in charge of the harem sacrifice and prayer and the female history in charge of the queen's ritual duties belong to full-time female officials.
Qin and Han dynasties followed the harem system of the previous generation, and the level of concubines was further refined. Qin Shihuang divided harem wives and concubines into eight grades: queen, wife, beauty, lover, eight sons, seven sons, long ambassadors and small ambassadors. Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty classified harem wives and concubines as 14, such as Empress, Lady, Zhao Yi, Jieyu, Good Envoy, Night Watch, etc. In the harem of Qin and Han dynasties, except for the queen and wife, other concubines were concubines and female officials, all of whom had titles and ranks.
It was TaBaHong, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty who first separated concubines from female officials. He set up female posts to manage harem affairs, and his rank was equal to that of foreign officials. There are female officials with different titles, such as minister of the interior, minister of affairs, eunuch, waiter, female history, female saint, female book history and so on. The two highest and the five lowest. The Sui Dynasty established a female official system of six bureaus and twenty-four divisions in the palace, which was in charge of the palace (harem). The six innings are Shanggong, Hundreds of Million, Fu Shang, Staff Sergeant, Sheung Shui and Shanggong; Under the six innings, each bureau has four divisions, and each division has several positions with distinct levels. According to different grades, different official positions are awarded, with the highest five grades and the lowest nine grades.
The system of female officials in the Sui Dynasty was inherited by the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties, and only slightly adjusted in each dynasty. For example, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, on the basis of the former six bureaus and twenty-four divisions, a separate Gongzheng Division was set up to be responsible for picketing the imperial palace, banning and committing crimes; After Yongle, eunuchs were in favor, most of the functions and powers of female officials were replaced by eunuchs, and six innings were cancelled, leaving only four divisions of Shanggong. The Qing dynasty was a minority regime, and the emperors of the Qing dynasty inherited the empresses system of the previous dynasty: "The queen ruled the country in the palace; There is a concubine, two concubines, four concubines and six concubines, who live in the East and West Zodiac respectively, and are assisted by internal attendants. "At the same time, the position of female officials has also been abolished." Noble people, always present, promise to have no position, live in the zodiac, and diligently practice their internal duties. "
Responsibilities of female officials
Female officials inherited the imperial edict and imperial edict, led hundreds of ladies-in-waiting, performed their duties, and tried their best to manage the daily affairs of the harem. Take the responsibilities of the Sixth Bureau in the early Ming Dynasty as an example. The palace is in charge of government decrees, liberal arts, seals and musical instruments. Shangyizhang etiquette, temperament, court; Zhang clothing and cosmetics; Still eating food, medicine and utensils; Still sleeping on the mattress, sorting things, and tableware; Work on architecture, clothing, finance.
Under the six innings, there are four divisions each, and the work is meticulous. For example, the Commercial Food Bureau has set up two people who are still eating, who are in charge of the amount of food and the number of products respectively. Anyone who enters the palace with food should have a taste first. It has four departments: the catering department is responsible for cutting, boiling and frying; The brewing department is responsible for brewing and drinking wine; Pharmacy department is responsible for medical prescriptions and drugs; The minister is responsible for providing food and firewood for the imperial secretary. There are many women's histories in the fourth division, which is responsible for recording matters.
Living within the palace walls and serving the royal family, the work of female officials is extremely private. Among the female officials, there is a position of general servant, "general servant, the official name of the queen's maid-in-waiting." Its system, choose a good woman who knows books to fill in, let it remember the daily life of the palace and the blasphemy of the inner court, as a warning. "They use a brush with a red tube to record the daily life of the emperor and his concubines, and even the sexual life of the emperor should be recorded and archived one by one.
Female officials are different from lower-class maids. They are officials, have official positions and enjoy salaries. Those with high official positions, such as female officials in Liu Song, Northern Wei and Tang Dynasty, can get the best official positions. These female officials are respected in the palace and popular abroad, so some female officials can interfere in the state affairs. Those with low positions, such as female officials in the Sui Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, are only ranked fifth, and some even don't rank.
Female officials are different from imperial concubines, and female officials are ladies-in-waiting. In history, some female officials did become concubines because of their favor, but for most female officials, this may be just their psychological sustenance for life. With a slight mistake, a female official may be reduced to a palace maid, or even be punished more severely. "Anyone who commits a palace official will be held accountable for it, or punished with a bell."
The number of female officials varies from dynasty to dynasty. According to historical records: "Tang set up six bureaus and twenty-four departments, with officials 190 and more than 50 women history, all of whom chose good women"; At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were six bureaus and one division, and the total number of female officials was about 300. Because of the large number of personnel and complicated official positions, there has also been a phenomenon that "the twenty-fourth division is divided into six bureaus, and the headquarters frequently sees the wrong call".
Sources of female officials
The source of female officials in the past dynasties mainly concentrated in the following two ways:
Pick and choose. The selection of ladies-in-waiting is more common in historical records: Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, sent Chinese medicine practitioners to collude with Ye Tingcheng every year and met a good virgin in Luoyang Township. /kloc-those over 0/3 years old and under 20 years old, take beautiful and legal photos and send them back to the harem to see if they can board. Sui "Emperor Daye secretly sent a letter to Jianghuai counties in eight years, and those who read the beauty of folk girls paid tribute every year"; Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty "sent envoys at the age of twenty, chose the best place in the world, inside and outside the palace, and called them' flower and bird envoys'" and so on. Among the selected women, the most beautiful is a concubine, and the second most beautiful is a female official. Others only choose adult women. For example, in the fourteenth year of Hongwu, it was ordered that Susong Jiahu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi each have a company. Folk/Kloc-women over 0/3 years old/Kloc-women under 0/9 years old, women over 30 years old and widowed under 40 years old, originally entered the palace to take orders, and each banknote was sent to Beijing as a road fee. Building a woman is a harem, and a woman is still six. "
There is no record. In ancient China, if an official committed a felony, all his property and family members could be confiscated. Take the Tang Dynasty as an example. "People ruled by clans not only punish their able-bodied men, but also punish their wives, concubines, children and their grandchildren, all of whom are slaves." . According to "Old Tang Book", in the 13th year of Tang Xiantong, "Guo Zisi entered the cabinet door and discussed the matter of his brother Guo Jing. Jing Zhaofu was very angry and decided to kill Yu Yin today. He lost his family. Cui Shi, his wife, Zheng, Wang, Maid Wei Niang, Hiroko and other nine people are in the court "; Another example is Wenzong, "Li Xiaoben, the royal family is in the imperial history, Li is sitting, and there are women who are not in the DPRK."
The destination of female officials
Although female officials were officials, they were just handmaids in the eyes of China's ancient emperors who were "cosmopolitan". The fate of most people, from the moment they step into the harem, has long been doomed. When they are old and tired, they are either alone in the palace or sent back to their hometown, and only a few people can get honor. Yuan Zhen, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "Palace": "In the faded old palace, peonies were red, but no one came to see them. The ladies-in-waiting are already white-haired and arguing about the grand occasion of Tang Xuanzong. " I wrote about the loneliness of women in the lower court.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that "hard labor belongs to parents for five or six years, and from the time of marriage, the elderly will be allowed to return, and those who stay behind will listen to it". Yongle continued the old system. "After the woman entered the palace, those who were willing to go back to their hometown from 2000 to 50 listened; Women have been in the palace for more than ten years, and there are literate people to replace them. Those who are willing to return to their hometowns will listen to them if they are suitable. " Female officials who died of old age were "buried in their parents' homes"; Those who have no return will be carried to Jingle Hall for incineration. "All maids and officials who have no relatives will be incinerated here after their death. There are two towers in the hall, east and west, and there are wells under the towers, both of which are places for storing ashes. "
Some female officials are favored because of their talents. For example, Han, a talented woman in the Southern Dynasties, was called into the palace when Emperor Xiaowu of Song presented Zhongxing Fu. Emperor Wu of Qi was a doctor at that time, teaching Liugong calligraphy; When he was in Ming Di, he was a court attendant. Because of his profound knowledge and lofty moral status, he was honored as "Han Palace". Song Ruoshen, Song Ruozhao, Song Ruolun, Song Ruoxian and Song Ruoxun, the daughters of Sun Tingfen, a famous poet in the early Tang Dynasty, were called into the palace to serve as officials. Every time Dezong sings with the minister of poetry, he will ask five people to join in the fun. Song Ruozhao was an official in the three dynasties, and everyone called him Mr., and empresses, princes and princesses all followed the teacher's ceremony when they met.
Some female officials are famous for being loved. For example, Shangguan Waner, a female official in the Tang Dynasty, was the granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, the prime minister of Emperor Gaozong. Shangguan Yi was killed by Wu Zetian for drafting an imperial edict to abolish Wu Zetian. Just born, Shangguan Waner and her mother Zheng did not hold any ceremony together, which Wu Zetian appreciated because they were "alert and good at writing." Since they arrived in heaven, they have held the imperial edict in their hands, which is gorgeous ... but all the ministers and the whole world support them. Tang Zhongzong was reused, specializing in the patent system, and was later accepted as Zhao Rong.
Some female officials even have power for a period of time. For example, Lu (Liu Daji), a Xianbei female official in the Northern Qi Dynasty, turned out to be the nanny of Gao Qiu, the empress of the Northern Qi Dynasty. After Gao Wei acceded to the throne, he was chased as a monarch. Lu Guan worshipped Beiqi as a servant, and his son Mutipo dominated Beiqi's political affairs for several years, which led to national chaos and eventually led to the demise of Beiqi.