Daming Palace Harem Zhang Baotong 2017.11.30

In the refreshing and cool Taiye Pool, the clear water of the lake is flowing gently, and several small boats are drifting in the lake. Some of the boats were accompanied by one or two concubines, while others were seated several ladies with similar interests. They were rowed by the maids, touring the lakes and mountains, looking at the beautiful scenery of the palace, or singing and chanting poems, or talking and laughing. It caused people to stare incessantly as they walked across the covered bridge in the lake.

Under the sycamore tree in the courtyard of a deep palace, there are more than a dozen women sitting around to cool off. Some of them are sitting with fans, some are untying their bags on the piano, some are doing makeup in front of the mirror, some are embroidering around the case, and some are resting and talking. But from their demeanor, we can see their loneliness, dullness, emptiness, boredom, and hatred. A concubine wearing a jade lotus crown sits on a fan, a female official on the right is tied in a purple robe, her hands are fanned, and two other women are standing on the left side with grooming utensils. The other two stood opposite each other. On the right is a concubine, loosely dressed, as if she had just fallen asleep, and was grooming in the mirror. The person holding the mirror on the left is dressed in men's clothes, wearing a Tang scarf, a red robe, and a loosely tied belt. The two people facing outward have round faces and broad cheeks and plump bodies, which should be palace maids of higher status. The one with her back outward, who is smaller in size, should be a maid of lower status. There is also a palace maid sitting on a high stool, facing inward, with her back outward, turning her head to look at the eyes, and talking to the palace maid on the left. The palace maid on the left side was standing leaning against the paulownia tree, and was turning to respond. From their loose and scattered scenes, it can be seen that they are a group of concubines with very low quality.

At this time, in the Palace of Eternal Life, where the emperor lived, the emperor and his favorite concubines were enjoying themselves, singing and dancing. The musicians played the "Song of Neon Clothes and Feathers" in unison with the piano and sheng. The Neon Dress Feather Dance, also known as the Ni Dress Feather Dance, is a court music and dance of the Tang Dynasty. The music is beautiful, the idea is exquisite, the dance is soft and gorgeous, and graceful. It is the culmination of song and dance in the Tang Dynasty, and it is still worthy of a bright pearl in the history of music and dance. More than thirty people gathered in the main hall, divided into three groups. Ten people per group. With the accompaniment of musicians, the palace maids first came on the stage in 30 people, singing and dancing at the same time. As the dance music changed, only 10 people were left to continue dancing. These 10 wore green floating skirts, with long sleeves fluttering with the dance, resembling flying into the sky. Then, 10 other women in pink fluttering skirts appeared, and their dances were soothing and elegant, like colorful butterflies flying among the flowers, which made people feel beautiful. Then there are 10 palace maids wearing purple floating skirts singing and dancing. Their dancing posture is ancient and mysterious, like immortals descending from the sky. The wonderful and beautiful dancers seem to be like fairies flying from the Moon Palace. Then 30 people danced in groups again, and a woman like Yang Yuhuan wore a pure white floating skirt and danced solo in the accompanying dance of everyone. Her dancing posture is like a colorful butterfly flying, a peacock opening the screen, sometimes like a light cloud strolling, the moon shadow is miserable, sometimes like a chaotic snow lingering in the wind, and the wild geese falling, which can not make people dreamy and addicted.

Seeing the quaint, luxurious and idle scene of the concubines in the harem of the Tang Palace, we can't help but wonder that in our impression, those concubines who "once selected into the imperial palace and loved by thousands of people" enjoy glory and wealth, but they are like canaries in a cage, and a thick palace wall cuts them off from the real world, and sometimes they are implicated in politics and cause death. Therefore, people do not believe that the life of the palace concubine will have such leisure and ease.

However, the Tang Dynasty was an era of political innovation, cultural tolerance, ethnic integration, and economic prosperity, which gave women more space in terms of freedom and openness. The biggest characteristic of the women of this dynasty is that they have both ability and political integrity, wisdom and virtue. Female politicians, female activists, female poets, generations of talents, and even more beautiful women, with the momentum of women not to let their eyebrows go. For example, Empress Changsun, Princess Wencheng, Wu Zetian, Shangguan Wan'er, Princess Taiping, Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Yang Guifei, Yu Xuanji, Xue Tao, etc., this is an unprecedented female momentum, which also created the unique personality charm of women in the Tang Dynasty. Women in the Tang Dynasty were in the feudal era, and although they did not get rid of the shackles of male superiority and inferiority, they still fought hard for their rights in the era of the patriarchal system. In terms of family status, in terms of social status, from the perspective of women's participation in politics, education, social interactions, marital autonomy and other aspects, the Tang Dynasty was more free, men and women were more equal, just like it, don't like it, don't suppress their feelings, in fact, the Tang Dynasty people did not deliberately open up, but the self-confidence of a great country, and did not deliberately.

The Tang clan is actually the Xianbei Houyi, and the Hu people are very popular. In the Tang Dynasty, people experimented with various behaviors about the integration of Han culture and ethnic minorities, and at the same time, sexual openness also precipitated the mainstream of the Chinese nation through blood dissolution and customs, which was the result of a nation's destiny choice. The Li Tang royal family has always been filthy. After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, he took the wife of his deceased brother Li Yuanji as his own, and made his brother-in-law his concubine Yang. After that, Li Yuan rebelled against his father, brother and son, Li Ming, the king of Lujiang, and after Li Shimin killed him, he included his wife in the harem to accompany him. Li Zhi of Tang High School had an ambiguous relationship with Li Shimin's talented person "Wu Mei" when he was the crown prince, and after succeeding to the throne, he let his mother-in-law become the queen. Tang Xuanzong Li Longji took his daughter-in-law Yang Yuhuan as his concubine, and the number of courtesies in the palace was the same as that of the queen, which can be described as "the love of the daughter-in-law". There are also Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, Empress Wei, Princess Anle, two pairs of mother and daughter openly keep male pets and fornicate with the palace; Princess Gaoyang has an affair with the monk and gives the two maids to her husband, which seems to be a kind of "sexual" exchange. Women in the Tang Dynasty could not observe chastity and not value chastity. It is a common phenomenon for women to remarry after divorce or widowhood, and it is not condemned by public opinion. As many as 23 princesses remarried in the Tang Dynasty. Many daughters of bureaucrats and nobles remarried, and the wives of common people could also remarry after their husbands died. The prominent eunuch families were also not afraid to marry widows. The son of Prime Minister Song Jing married the widow Xue. Yan Tingzhi's wife married Wang Yan after the divorce, and later Wang committed a crime, and Yan also saved him. After the death of Wei Ji's wife, Li Shifu, she took the initiative to defect to Wang Jin, and Wang Na was his wife. Han Yu's daughter married his disciple Li Han first, and then married Fan Zhongyi after the divorce, which shows that the scholar family does not prevent her daughter from remarrying. The Tang people do not regard extramarital sex as a shame, but rather as a affair. Meng Shi, the wife of a great businessman in Weiyang, recited poetry at home, and as far as a teenager was concerned, he was like a send, and he was as young as stealing a moment's joy. So Meng Shi had a private relationship with him. The daughter of Zhao Yu of Changshan traveled alone in Lin Xue one day, and saw that an officer in brocade clothes was very heroic, so she said: If I get this husband, I will die without hatred. The officer said: "It's okay to be a husband for the time being?" Zhao said, "For the time being, you will also be a husband." So the two of them parted happily in the woods. Outside the court, any village can see the wine flag facing each other, singing and dancing to level the peaceful scene, the brothels in the Tang Dynasty are open, it is normal for dignitaries and nobles to make friends and have prostitutes, and the great poets go in and out of the brothels, and it is not enough to travel with prostitutes, it is just a way to make friends.