How to choose concubines in Han Dynasty,

Let's talk about the Han dynasty first

The most demanding emperor in the history of choosing concubines.

Accustomed to the love stories of Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty and his concubine Yang Guifei, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Wei Zifu, many people think that the emperor's choice of spouse must be quite arbitrary, and he likes whoever he likes. Of course, these are only a few cases. In ancient times, emperors had very strict standards for choosing concubines. Candidates should not only come from a famous family, but also be free from acne pits, bad breath, rhinitis, bromhidrosis, hemorrhoids, beriberi and any gynecological diseases.

Of course, these are just general rules. In the Han dynasty, the emperor had strict standards for choosing concubines. Today, this seems incredible.

Herry Liu, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, must be a man who loves scientific measurement methods. Every part of the harem concubines has a strict concept of size. The height must be seven feet one inch, the shoulder width must be one foot six inches, the hip circumference should be three inches wider than the shoulder, two feet seven inches from the shoulder to the palm, four inches from the palm fingers, three feet two inches from the thigh to the toe, and eight inches from the foot. ...

After such a measurement, I really don't know how many girls can meet the standard. This is not harsh, it is simply unreasonable! At the same time, I can see that this space-squeezed cities must be a boring person. The beauty of women is that they are all different, fat and thin, and each has its own advantages. Once the three thousand concubines in the harem have become an assembly line product carved out of the same mold, what fun is there as an emperor? Of course, you can imagine that even if you become Herry Liu's concubine, you must keep your original figure for decades, neither fat nor thin, otherwise your figure will not be standard, and you will taste the fall out of favor in the cold palace!

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Ming dynasty harem: if you want to be a queen, you have to pass the TEM-8 exam.

In the Ming dynasty, anyone who wanted to be a queen had to pass Grade 468 step by step, just like today's English major exam. Only after Grade 8 was he qualified to be a master of the world. According to the Biography of Empresses in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the political chaos in the harem of past dynasties and compiled the Female Training in the first year of Hongwu as the "family law" for managing empresses. In the selection of concubines, in order to prevent collusion between the powerful officials of the DPRK and the harem, it is stipulated that "all sons of heaven, princes, concubines and maids should carefully select good women for them, and those who enter will be blessed, so concubines are more popular." Moreover, women who prefer to choose poor homes try their best to help the emperor be thrifty. Of course, this is just a good wish. However, the system of choosing a queen in the Ming Dynasty was very standardized, and the process was roughly divided into "eight customs", which were screened out step by step.

The first level is "auditions". When the emperor got married, eunuchs were sent to all parts of the country to select beautiful girls aged 13 to 16, and 5000 were selected by Zhonghai. These 5,000 people are equivalent to getting a beauty pageant "admission ticket". The royal family paid a number of silver coins as bride price and travel expenses, so that the parents of the selected girls could send their daughters to Beijing for election within the prescribed time limit.

The second level is called primary election. In this primary election, we will choose a big venue, and eunuchs will arrange a row of girls for every1000 people, sorted by age, and after reading them one by one, eliminate those girls who are slightly taller, shorter, fatter or thinner. 1000 people will be eliminated in this primary election.

The third level is called inspection. On the second day of the primary election, these girls who passed the primary election continued to line up. Eunuchs carefully examined everyone's facial features, hair, skin and, of course, very strict "size". As long as there is one violation, they are ordered to "stand aside". Then let everyone report their family status, name, age, etc. To examine their timbre and manners, and eliminate those who are hoarse, inarticulate and have poor manners. In this way, two thousand people were screened out.

The fourth level is choice. The eunuchs measured the girls' hands and feet with a ruler, and then asked them to walk dozens of steps to see their posture and charm. As a result, those with big feet and thick wrists were eliminated again. Finally, 1000 beautiful women were called into the palace to continue to take the "grading examination". And the eunuch's mission has come to an end.

The fifth floor is staying in the palace. Arrange the old palace moths separately, lead the beautiful women to the secret room one by one, explore their breasts, smell their armpits and inquire about their texture. Its physical examination is as strict as choosing an astronaut. Through physical examination, it was determined that 300 of them became palace maids who were selected to stay in the palace.

The sixth level is gold. These 300 beautiful women who stayed in the palace were carefully observed by the emperor's special correspondent for a month. According to their temperament and speech, they were judged whether they were gentle, honest, intelligent and virtuous. According to this, 250 people were screened out, and the remaining 50 people were automatically promoted to concubines.

The seventh level is "choose three". The so-called "choosing three" means that the empress dowager or the toffee chooses three out of fifty people for the emperor to decide. This is somewhat similar to the "one armor and three places" posted after the imperial examination. Take the election of Emperor Mingxi as an example. At that time, Liu Guifei personally summoned 50 people, and selected three people, namely Queen zhangyan, Guifei and Duan.

The eighth level is King James. Liu first told the emperor about the beauty of zhangyan and other three people, and then Xizong personally summoned these three people directly. Seeing three gorgeous beauties, Xizong was really in a dilemma, so he let Zhao make a decision. Agree with zhangyan, so zhangyan was appointed as the queen of the palace, Wang was named a good princess, Duan was named a pure princess. That year, zhangyan was fifteen years old.

Generally, the two beautiful women who accompany the election after the "three elections" will be named imperial concubine, but some will be given gold and silver coins to return to China. For example, when Ming Guangzong was a prince, he chose the crown princess, and Liu Dagu and the Guo sisters entered the final round of competition. Brother Guo was elected as the crown princess, but his sister and aunt Liu were unsuccessful and returned to China after being given gold coins. According to the report, Aunt Liu feels that she is worth a hundred times. After returning to her hometown, she didn't want to marry an ordinary person and worked as an old maid all her life.

It is a pity that the selected empresses failed to assist Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants and keep Daming Mountain because of such a strict post-election system in the Ming Dynasty.