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.

However, further openness will lead to an extreme in the spiritual life of people. Wu Zetian said that if there were no women in the world, men would not be able to survive. We can also understand that men in the world can control women, and vice versa, women can also control men. Because the Tang Dynasty was too open and too tolerant, it directly led to the chaos in the late Tang Dynasty.

In fact, the harem of the Tang Dynasty is also very open and free, as long as the country and the people are safe, away from the political struggle in the palace, the concubines can live freely. They can dress and make-up as they wish, have their own hobbies, spend money and shop as they please, and even leave their homes and build houses in nearby gardens. In terms of income, the concubine relied on the state's support and had a relatively stable economic foundation. They had a fixed supply every day or month, such as how many taels of silver would be given to each of them every year, and how much food, vegetables, meat, tea, dresses, jewelry, shoes, cosmetics and medicines would be provided to each of them every day. Among their various living expenses, only clothing and jewelry are numerous, and the costumes of concubines include robes, gowns, skirts, robes, shoulders, crowns, tans, flat squares, hairpins, tassels, bracelets, nail covers, earrings, rings, shoes and other wearing items, all of which are jewels and luxury. Because the concubines have different grades and different honors, there is a big difference between the queen and the first lady to the ninth grade. The queen can be said to have everything, and Mrs. Yipin is at least many times or even more than ten times higher than the Fengyi of Jiupin in terms of supply. A lady will have more than a dozen palace maids to serve, from serving tea and pouring water to washing and cooking, etc., and will also pay the palace maids wages and pocket money. And the lowest-grade Fengyi is probably only served by two palace maids. But judging from the gorgeous clothes and plump figures of the concubines of the Tang Dynasty, their lives must be very good. At the same time, the concubines would also try their best to curry favor with the emperor in order to obtain a large number of rewards to increase their economic power. But because the concubines have no independent personality and are just accessories of the emperor, their living conditions will fluctuate greatly with the ups and downs of fate.