The Hidden Fate of Children Born to Concubines in Imperial China
Eastern Chronicles
3,966 views
The future Hongzhi Emperor was born in 1470 inside the Cold Palace and hidden from his own father for five years. His mother, Lady Ji, was a Yao tribal woman from Guangxi. His protector was a deposed empress. His guardian was a eunuch named Zhang Min who would later die for telling the truth.
Inside the Ming Forbidden City, Consort Wan ran a network that ended every rival pregnancy for almost a decade. The boy with the uncut, floor-length hair survived because three powerless people refused to let the system have him. He grew up to become the only Ming emperor in three hundred years who never took a concubine.
This documentary also covers the daughters the empire discarded: Princess Changping, who lost her left arm to her own father's sword on the last night of the Ming dynasty in 1644. Princess Rongchang, daughter of the Wanli Emperor, who died in poverty in 1647 as the dynasty collapsed around her. And Wu Zetian, whose dead infant daughter became the founding mystery of the Tang dynasty's only female emperor.
A son's status tracked his mother's rank. Every imperial pregnancy was a political event. Every consort was a rival. And after every imperial encounter, the eunuchs asked one question, and the answer decided whether a child would exist at all.
This is the story of what happened to the children born to concubines in Imperial China.
The principal scholarly works consulted for this video:
— Mote, Frederick W. "The Ch'eng-hua and Hung-chih reigns, 1465–1505." Chapter 6 in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
— Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Columbia University Press, 1976.
— McMahon, Keith. Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
— Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. SUNY Press, 1996.
— Soulliere, Ellen. "Palace Women in the Ming Dynasty: 1368–1644." Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1987.
— Hsieh Bao Hua. Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China. Lexington Books, 2014.
— Rawski, Evelyn S. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. University of California Press, 1998.
— Wakeman, Frederic Jr. The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-Century China. University of California Press, 1985.
— Lee, Lily Xiao Hong, and Sue Wiles, eds. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644. M. E. Sharpe, 2014.
— Guisso, Richard W. L. "The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung, and Jui-tsung." Chapter 5 in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part 1. Cambridge University Press, 1979.
— Rothschild, N. Harry. Wu Zhao: China's Only Woman Emperor. Pearson Longman, 2008.
Primary Chinese sources: Ming Shi (Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, juan 113; Biographies of Princesses, juan 121; Biographies of Eunuchs, juan 304); Ming Shilu (Xianzong and Xiaozong reigns); Mao Qiling, Shengchao tongshi shiyi ji; Jiu Tang Shu (945); Xin Tang Shu (1060); Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian (1084), juan 199.
The Hidden Fate of Children Born to Concubines in Imperial China
Eastern Chronicles
3,966 views
The future Hongzhi Emperor was born in 1470 inside the Cold Palace and hidden from his own father for five years. His mother, Lady Ji, was a Yao tribal woman from Guangxi. His protector was a deposed empress. His guardian was a eunuch named Zhang Min who would later die for telling the truth.
Inside the Ming Forbidden City, Consort Wan ran a network that ended every rival pregnancy for almost a decade. The boy with the uncut, floor-length hair survived because three powerless people refused to let the system have him. He grew up to become the only Ming emperor in three hundred years who never took a concubine.
This documentary also covers the daughters the empire discarded: Princess Changping, who lost her left arm to her own father's sword on the last night of the Ming dynasty in 1644. Princess Rongchang, daughter of the Wanli Emperor, who died in poverty in 1647 as the dynasty collapsed around her. And Wu Zetian, whose dead infant daughter became the founding mystery of the Tang dynasty's only female emperor.
A son's status tracked his mother's rank. Every imperial pregnancy was a political event. Every consort was a rival. And after every imperial encounter, the eunuchs asked one question, and the answer decided whether a child would exist at all.
This is the story of what happened to the children born to concubines in Imperial China.
The principal scholarly works consulted for this video:
— Mote, Frederick W. "The Ch'eng-hua and Hung-chih reigns, 1465–1505." Chapter 6 in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
— Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Columbia University Press, 1976.
— McMahon, Keith. Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
— Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. SUNY Press, 1996.
— Soulliere, Ellen. "Palace Women in the Ming Dynasty: 1368–1644." Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1987.
— Hsieh Bao Hua. Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China. Lexington Books, 2014.
— Rawski, Evelyn S. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. University of California Press, 1998.
— Wakeman, Frederic Jr. The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-Century China. University of California Press, 1985.
— Lee, Lily Xiao Hong, and Sue Wiles, eds. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming, 618–1644. M. E. Sharpe, 2014.
— Guisso, Richard W. L. "The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung, and Jui-tsung." Chapter 5 in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906, Part 1. Cambridge University Press, 1979.
— Rothschild, N. Harry. Wu Zhao: China's Only Woman Emperor. Pearson Longman, 2008.
Primary Chinese sources: Ming Shi (Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, juan 113; Biographies of Princesses, juan 121; Biographies of Eunuchs, juan 304); Ming Shilu (Xianzong and Xiaozong reigns); Mao Qiling, Shengchao tongshi shiyi ji; Jiu Tang Shu (945); Xin Tang Shu (1060); Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian (1084), juan 199.