The Emperor Guangxu and his Pearl Concubine

Emperors and kings have always surrounded themselves with young attractive women. In a commentary to the Book of History (Shiji) it is recorded that the 'rear palace' of first emperor of Qin, Qin Shihuang, had over 10,000 women. In the mid-eighth century, poets and writers surmised that the emperor Xuanzong kept between 3,000-8,000 palace women, but a couple of centuries later in the Southern Song (1127-1279), the scholar-official and historian Hong Mai (1123-1202), recorded in his Rongzhai suibi that the figure was staggering 40,000! Perhaps the emperor Xuanzong was an expert and reciting yanshi (lit: 'amorous poems,' or 'poetry of seductive allure'), but then when has any powerful ruler needed to be a connoisseur of poetry to pick or choose his women.

During the Qing dynasty, the emperor Kang Xi had three empresses and nineteen concubines. Qianlong had two empresses and twenty-nine concubines. In the nineteenth century, the emperor Guang Xu had only one empress and two concubines.

The following account by Jin Yi (1993) recounts the story of the Emperor Guangxu's favourite concubine Zhen Fei, who ended her life, as the story goes, when the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered her eunuchs to throw the 'Pearl Concubine,' into a well.

One foreign observer, M.A. Aldrich, who has seen the well first hand, suggests that Zhen Fei must have been waifer thin to fit down it. 'By looking at the tiny size of the well, he writes', 'it strikes me that the Pearl Concubine must have avoided oils and sugar extensively used my the Manchu cuisine of those days. It isn't even large enough for a midgit, let alone an imperial consort.' [PM]

Part of an album of twelve paintings produced during the reign of Yongzheng (r. 1723-1735) by the artist Jiao Bingzhen (1689-1726).

The [Guangxu] Emperor enjoyed only the company of concubine Zhen Fei. According to court rules, for security, a concubine called by the emperor had to be brought to him naked, wrapped in a great black cloak. A eunuch carried her on his back into the emperor's bedchamber. This was known as beigong 'entering the emperor's bedchamber on the back..'

In the evening the the eunuch presented the emperor with a list of women available. Then, armed with a lantern, he went to collect the chosen one. Guided by the eunuch, two female followers escorted the concubine into the side room of the emperor's palace. She washed, undressed, then announced in a frail voice: 'The emperor's wish shall be granted.' The eunuch lifted her onto his back and carried her into the chamber.

Most of the women summoned by the emperor were treated in this way, except for the concubine Zhen Fei. Instead of beigong, she did zougong: 'walking into the palace.' She was the emperor's closest companion. He sometimes summoned the concubines her liked best to where he was working, something and ordinary woman could never do! The concubine came in, disguised as a man with a Manchu cap, the long plait well hidden at the back, a pearl-covered cap on the head and thick-soled shoes, which gave her the appearance of a young scholar. Dressed like this, she could hold the emperor's inkwell and talk with him. But she did not have the right to discuss politics; she could only talk about poetry or play chess with him. This was the most enviable position for a woman in the palace.

Only the concubine Zhen Fei had this privilege…it was perhaps for this reason that the empress [Dowager Cixi] had her thrown into a well, claiming that she had discussed politics with the emperor and monopolized him too much.

Memoires d'une dame de la cour dans la Cité interdite, 1993

References

Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 'Rethinking the Imperial Harem: Why were there so many palace women?,' in Patricia Buckley Ebrey Women and the Family in Chinese History, London and New York: Routledge, 2003: 177-193.

Jin Yi, Memoires d'une dame de la cour dans la Cité interdite in Giles Beguin, Dominique Morel, The Forbidden City: Center of Imperial Power (translated from the French by Ruth Taylor), London: Thames and Hudson, 1997:108-109.