"Last night the wind opened the dew well peach, the moon wheel in the front hall of Weiyang is high. The songs and dances of Pingyang are newly favored, and the spring cold outside the curtain gives the brocade robe." -Wang Changling, "Spring Palace Song"
In the ancient feudal society, the emperor's power was supreme, and many people dreamed of becoming the emperor. Probably because of the influence of court dramas, many people aspire to the life of the emperor even more, because there are many concubines in the harem. In some court dramas, we often see the scene of concubines in bed, this bedtime is a delicate matter. Some concubines never get a chance to go to bed in their lives, while others get a chance every few days.
Once you don't have a chance to bedtime, there's no chance of getting pregnant, which makes it hard to be taken seriously. If there is a chance, there is a chance of conceiving a child, which makes the status higher and more respected. Having said that, after the concubines finished their bedtime, instead of staying with the emperor for the whole night, they need to let the eunuchs send them back, why is that? Here's a brief example from the Qing Dynasty to give you an idea.
The concubines of the Qing Dynasty and each dynasty are different, not the emperor personally concubines, but a set of specialized systems. Whenever the emperor needed a late dinner, he would start thinking about the concubines' bedtime. Each concubine in the harem had a plaque with her name written on the front of the plaque. On this side of the emperor eating his meal, the other side of the honor room eunuch chief will prepare the emperor's card, the chief will put all the concubines card on a plate, once this side of the emperor finished eating, the chief will kneel in front of the emperor to serve the plate, and then let the emperor turn over.
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Once the emperor had decided, he would turn over the concubines' cards. Once the card was turned over, the chief eunuch would have the second eunuch take the card and carry the concubine to the emperor's chambers. One thing that must be said here is that for the emperor's personal safety, to prevent concubines from being assassins who sneak into the palace, concubines are required to be naked before going to the emperor's chambers.
The middle is this: the second eunuch will be sent to a concubine from the emperor's bedchamber not far from the house, there are special people to the concubines to take off their clothes, and then to the concubines of the body wrapped in red brocade, wrapped, the second eunuch will carry the concubine to the emperor's bedchamber. After arriving at the bedchamber, the concubine got into bed, and the red brocade would be taken down.
The thing that follows is the consummation. At this time, the chief eunuch and the second eunuch would wait outside the bedchamber, and once a certain time came, the chief eunuch would inform the emperor: it was time. If the emperor did not agree, the eunuch would shout again until the emperor called him to enter the bedchamber. Once called in by the emperor, the second eunuch would send back the concubine wrapped in red brocade.
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When the second eunuch was gone, the chief eunuch would ask the emperor: should he keep the dragon essence? Once the emperor said to keep it, the chief eunuch would write it down in a pamphlet, including the lives of the concubines and the time of day, so that the time could be checked against the time of day when a child was born afterward. If it was not to be kept, there would be someone to do the contraception. So the question is, why send it back to the concubines?
First of all, the first point is because the emperor's energy is limited, the next day also need to go to court, need to ensure adequate sleep, once the concubines do not go back, will affect the emperor's rest, which indirectly affects the emperor's physical health. Throughout the dynasties of emperors, because the rest is not on the death is not unheard of.
Secondly, the second point is that the ancestral system of the Palace is so stipulated, must be sent back to the concubines, may be in order to take care of the feelings of the other concubines, because the ancient life is not favored, if the concubines and the emperor to stay a night, which makes the other concubines will be how to think? Wouldn't some of the concubines be jealous, and wouldn't that cause some unnecessary trouble?
"Cloud sideburns, flower face, golden steps, hibiscus tent warm degree of spring night. The spring night is short and the sun rises high, from now on the king does not have an early morning." -Bai Juyi "Song of Long Hate"
But where a little bit of history know a little bit of history know, the harem life is very not easy, not only is the rule is more, but also between the concubines are all kinds of things, a little bit of inattention will be seized handle, once seized handle, may no longer get the emperor's favor. From a certain point of view, the reason why the concubines are not left in the bedchamber overnight, but also for the sake of the general situation of the Jiangshan considerations.