Palace Love Affairs: Romance of Love Changes Throughout Dynasties

Author: Zou Jimeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: The number of women in the imperial harems of Chinese emperors throughout history can also be considered one of the most in human history. The Book of Rites explicitly states that an emperor should have one empress, three principal consorts, nine concubines, twenty-seven palace attendants, and eighty-one maids of honor. In reality, the number of women possessed by any emperor in later dynasties far exceeds this number. The number of women in Emperor Wu's harem reached as many as 10,000, though it is not unprecedented to call it the peak. Emperor Shaozong of Tang had as many as 40,000 women, which may not be the absolute record either. These thousands of women gathered around a single emperor were given titles such as empress, consort, imperial favorite, lady, beauty, or even mere attendants and regular concubines, all of whom were the emperor's legitimate wives. However, they rarely experienced the stable and normal life of ordinary peasant couples, where men plowed and women wove, with the husband leading and the wife following. The emperor had desire but no love; to him, these women were merely tools to satisfy his lust and carriers for lineage. He was their master, with absolute discretion over their choices, favor, and disdain, determining their rise and fall, and even their life and death. This book tells the destinies and fates of these women.