The Imperial Harem System In Jin Dynasty

The research of imperial harem system in Jin Dynasty is rarely mentioned in papers, and hasn't yet studied as a seminar. Being an important political rule in Jin Dynasty, the imperial harem system has evolved from its birth into the perfection, which witnessed the process of Chinese localization of central palace, and the Nvzhen's learning of civilization in central China. The paper is to study the development of seraglio rule in Jin Dynasty. Being an important component of the central political rules in Jin Dynasty, the seraglio rule is composed of the rule of choice, the rule of queen and concubine's frame and position, the rule of etiquette in Jin Dynasty and the rule of management of Jin Dynasty seraglio. Each branch rule has mutual influence on another. Depending on the description to Jin Dynasty seraglio rule, the paper is to probe the features and roles of Jin Dynasty seraglio rule. The paper is developed into six chapters, together with introduction and conclusion:In the Introduction, the paper will first present the research significance, phase and object. A review of the domestic and overseas research findings in the filed will then be analyzed to point out the problems existing in the previous research, and to elaborate the basic thoughts, frame of the paper and specific researching methods.Chapter One concerns: the Formation and Development of Jin Dynasty Seraglio Rule. This chapter mainly discusses how Jin Dynasty seraglio rule forms and develops. Firstly, with the review of the seraglio rule before the Jin Dynasty, the paper studies the fundamental statues of seraglio rule recorded in every concubine's biography from Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang and Song Dynasty. Secondly, it observes the historical progress of Jin Dynasty from its establishment to perfection. It also studies the evolutive progress of marriage rule in Jin Dynasty. With the Nvzhen's Chinese localization, its marriage rule was also localized and experienced some change, which was fully demonstrated in the marriage rule of emperor who follows Han Dynasty's rule to set up Jin Dynasty seraglio rule.Chapter Two concerns: the Choice and Concubinage Rule of Jin Dynasty Seraglio. This chapter mainly studies the method, standard and range of choice of concubinage rule in Jin Dynasty so as to further analyze the outstanding and changeable era feature of Jin Dynasty. In this part, the group of concubine will be classified into: queen, imperial concubine, female officer, maid and eunuch, whom will be carefully studied so as to well understand the foundation of the whole Jin Dynasty seraglio group. The Jin Dynasty seraglio's choice and concubinage rule are different counting on different stage. Compared with the pre-term, seraglio's choice and concubinage rule in the medium-term was further institutionalized, restricted and fined, while in the late-term it was simplified due to the declining national affairs. In the early term of Jin Dynasty,"the girl of Nvzhen"was the only candidate for concubinage, while in the medium-term of Jin Dynasty, the distinction of different nations was discarded. Actually, the choice and concubinage rule is a marriage rule, and its foundation rested with the character and purpose of royal family. The different choice and concubinage rules in Jin Dynasty are decided by the development and transition of royal family in Jin Dynasty, which tells us that the rule of royal marriage is not unchangeable. It is influenced not only by the traditional marriage rule, also by the power from politics, economy, custom and other nations.Chapter Three concerns: the Queen and Imperial Concubine Rule in Jin Dynasty. This chapter observes the queen and imperial concubine rule as well as the inheriting throne. Firstly, the paper tells us that an emperor has many other wives beside the queen because of the complicated royal rule. All the concubines, female officers and maids should take orders from queen, for queen is the"Jing ruler"in seraglio regulated strictly by law. Secondly, in this part, the paper attempts to describe that the rule of concubine is set; the concubine's prime purpose is to give birth to children, and her status can not compete with queen"a motherly model of the nation". At early times, the number of concubinage is just small, and then it becomes bigger and bigger resting with the economic and political status together with the emperor's increasingly luxurious life. The concubines are divided into different classes and are requested to behave themselves according to the seraglio rule for each class then to keep the seraglio grade and precedence in good order. At the end of this part, the author state that the concubine rule is not only a system to give birth to royal heirs, it also determines the highest throne. Queen and concubine rule is set up to maintain the throne for direct line of descent, and the rule plays a crucial role to keep the political stability of Jin Dynasty too. However, in fact many kinds of factors at that time could lead to the failure of the direct line of descent as throne. Chapter Four concerns: the Etiquette Rule of Jin Dynasty Seraglio. This chapter mainly observes the detailed etiquette rule of Jin Dynasty Seraglio. First, the author observes the canonization ceremony for the Queen and the Empress Dowager and the appreciation ceremony for the Queen. Strictly, the queens of Jin Dynasty haven't experienced the betrothal of royal. So historical records of Jin Dynasty haven't mentioned the betrothal of royal and the queens haven't gone through the wedding ceremony by many reasons. Thus, Jin Dynasty formulates a grand ceremony for the queens who haven't gone through the wedding ceremony. Next, the author observes the etiquette rule of vehicles, clothes and honor guards. Because of their different ranks, Queen and Imperial Concubine in Jin Dynasty were different in using the vehicles, clothes and honor guards which marked their identities and status. Finally, this part makes research on the funeral rule of Imperial Concubine and the rule of judging the Queen's pre-existing behavior. The funerals for queens were more luxurious than for the ordinaries, especially to the grandma-empress, empress dowager and queen.Chapter Five concerns: the administration of Jin dynasty seraglio. This chapter mainly observes the officials'settings in the empress dowager's and queen's palaces, the rule of female officials and eunuchs as well as the administrating situation of maid-in-waiting. The rule of the Seraglio is very strict in the administration. It mapped out different rules to administrate people of different identity. In this chapter the author first observes the administration system of Imperial Concubine. To administrate daily life and affairs, different official systems for the empress dowager and queen were established, aiming to have the administration institutionalized and normalized. The seraglio official system imitated the imperial court so that the empress dowager and queen held the highest power. The daily life of the Imperial Concubine was entirely managed by the particular departments. Second, the author discusses the rule of female officials and eunuchs as well as the administrating situation of maid-in-waiting. Actually, compared with the female officials who serve the emperor, those female officials who served the queen, their grade and number were far from. Although the palace affairs were controlled by the female officials, they also should act the wives obiligations as the concubines to the emperor. Lastly, this chapter observes the management system of eunuchs and maids. The eunuchs in Jin Dynasty acted as the home ecomomics officials of the emperor in the harem, mainly charging the daily lives of the princess bins .Besides, they helped the queen to command the princess bins to maintain the law and order in the palace. As to the maids in the palace, their ranks were low to charge for some heavy work. They were ruled by the female officials.Chapter Six concerns: the characteristics and functions of the Jin Dynasty Seraglio system. The chapter mainly observes the specific characteristics and functions of the Jin Dynasty Seraglio. The system followed the characteristics of Tang and Song dynasty Seraglio system with its own featured Jurchen characteristics. With the chinesization and confucianization of the Jurchen, the supreme emperor in Jin Dynasty always considered himself as the orthodox successor of China. As a result, they learned from the Han Dynasty about a serious of political systems,which included the practice of the Han Seraglio system. Hence, Jin Dynasty Seraglio system inherited the systems of Tang and Song dynasties on the whole. But on the other hand, during the chinesization and confucianization of the Jurchen, there was also the cultural resistance against the former systems and customs, which were digested to some extent for the reason of communications. Secondly, this part observes both the positive and negative effects of interference in domestic by the princess bins. The positive effects were showed on the rationality of"mother right"and the conditions of the interferences by the princess bins, namely: under certain historical conditions, it had a positive impact on the running of the Royalty regime. The negative effects were showed on the so-called"female trouble", namely: under certain historical conditions it had a negative impact on the running of the Royalty regime.The conclusion gives a brief discussion about Jin Dynasty Seraglio system, conducting the correct understanding and objective evaluation about it. Jin Dynasty Seraglio system is one of the important parts of the political institutions in Jin Dynasty. It is the result of the chinesization and confucianization of the central political systems, exerting both positive and negative effects on the running of the Royalty regime.