Concubines in the past had a terrifying "privilege" that even the main wife did not have.

In feudal Chinese society, concubines were seen as mere commodities, bought and sold without any significant rights, and did not even have an official position in the husband's family tree.

However, what few people expect is that these lowly concubines possess an enviable "privilege".

When a family committed a serious crime and was sentenced to extermination - the punishment of killin.g the entire criminal's family - the concubines were not executed.

The reason was that the feudal genealogical system did not recognize them as official members of their husbands’ families. They were just bought women, without any real status. It was this very disregard that helped them escape the sword of justice. Instead of being kille.d, they were reduced to slavery, forced to do hard labor for the rest of their lives. A cruel punishment, but at least they kept their lives.

In reality, the lives of concubines in feudal times were no different from those of slaves. They were forced to serve, work hard, and at mealtimes were only given leftovers. They were not allowed to sit at the same table with their husbands, were not allowed to speak up, and were often yelled at and beaten.

So why do many women still accept to be concubines? The answer lies in their powerlessness in the old society. Women did not have many options, especially those who were poor or had families in debt. To survive, they were forced to sell themselves as concubines, knowing in advance that their lives would be full of suffering.

Status of women in ancient times

As the Son of Heaven, the Emperors in China could favor any woman, as long as the Emperor liked her and desired her.

For this reason, in order to change their lives overnight, the concubines in the harem often used all kinds of tricks to compete for the Emperor's attention and favor. Only the palace maids were always afraid of being favored by the Emperor.

According to analysis by the historical site Qulishi (China), the reason why the palace maid class feared being favored by the Emperor stemmed from the following 3 reasons:

Aware of the disadvantage of origin

Looking at the historical reality of China, it is not difficult to see that most of the palace maids who had the opportunity to be favored by the Emperor did not have a good ending. The reason is because they were more aware than anyone else of the disadvantage of their origins in the imperial palace at that time. Because the majority of the palace maids came from the servant class in society, without a solid support system. After entering the palace, they all gave up all their ideals and hopes in life, only hoping to be lucky enough to protect their lives until they left the palace.

The palace maids knew that they would never have the right to properly enter the palace as their masters, so even if the Emperor happened to take a fancy to them, it could only be considered a momentary impulse. Because they had no backing, no status, no legitimacy, even if they were favored, they could easily be executed for a single careless action.

The ancients said "being close to the king is like being close to a tiger", so if the king takes a fancy to them, their lives will probably be more precarious than being a normal palace maid.

Because they clearly understood this disadvantage, most of the palace maids would rather live a life of servitude to protect their lives than be.t everything on the rare sincerity of the emperor.

Inability to survive in fierce battles

During the feudal period, most Chinese emperors had no shortage of concubines. Because there were so many concubines, everyone had the mentality of wanting to be favored, so the harem has long been likened to "a place where people eat people", a battlefield without swords but extremely fierce between beauties.

Therefore, whoever was favored by the Emperor would naturally become the center of attention of the entire harem at that time. Especially for the concubines who were once favored, once they discovered new rivals that threatened their status, they would definitely try every means to find a way to remove the obstacle.

Meanwhile, the palace maids, who were already at a disadvantage in terms of background, how could they have enough power to fight against the concubines who had both backing and followers, and were well-versed in the myriad tricks of the harem?

Moreover, in the palace, there was no shortage of beautiful concubines at that time. The deat.h of a palace maid or a small concubine from a servant class background would soon be forgotten.

This is also the reason why among the countless lucky palace maids who are favored, the number of those who can hold out until the end is extremely rare. The rest quickly fall out of favor, and even lose their lives due to the dark struggles in the palace.

History has recorded such palace maids, who were noticed by the Emperor or even loved, but then they had to accept a very painfu.l ending.

During the reign of Emperor Song Guangzong, the 12th emperor of the Song Dynasty, Empress Li Fengniang was known for her cruelt.y, willing to use the most savag.e methods to prevent other women from getting close to her husband. There was a palace maid who, while bringing water to wash her hands, made the king admire her soft, white hands. It was just an act of holding her hand to admire it, but the queen later ordered her hand to be cu.t of.f as soon as she discovered it.

There was a concubine named Ky Thi (later Queen Hieu Muc) who was favored by the king and even gave birth to Prince Minh Hieu Tong Chu Huu Duong. It was thought that she would have a happy ending and change her life, but this was met with the jealou.s eyes of Van Quy Phi. Van Quy Phi knew about the matter and sent someone to force Ky Thi to miscarry.

This man later, out of compassion, protected Ky Thi. After the bab.y was born, she was secretly raised in the palace and was only allowed to meet her father at the ag.e of 6. In the end, the palace maid was still murdered when she was only 24 years old.

Palace maids are not qualified to carry a dragon's pregnancy.

In ancient times, medicine was not yet developed, so contraceptive methods could not be considered absolutely safe. Therefore, unwanted pregnancies were still common in the harem.

For the palace maids who were favored by the king, if they accidentally became pregnant without being granted a title, they would definitely be sentenced to deat.h. Because even if they carried the bloo.d of the royal family, having a disadvantaged background would cause the king to lose face, so it would be even more difficult to keep the pregnancy. Furthermore, even if they received a title and had the right to carry the pregnancy, the other concubines in the harem would stop at nothing to cause these palace maids who had no background or support to miscarry. The ancients had a saying "mother is precious to chil.d", any concubine or beauty would want to seize the opportunity for their children, so they would stop at nothing to remove all obstacles.

What is more worth mentioning is that ancient medicine still had many limitations, and many times, miscarriages made it difficult to save one's life. If one was lucky enough to save one's life, one's body would be damaged and it would be very difficult to have the opportunity to be favored or to get pregnant again.

Once in such a situation, their lives will be pushed into the tragic footsteps of countless concubines who fell out of favor in the palace.

There were also other palace maids who were also favored by the Emperor but did not become pregnant. After their term of service in the Imperial Palace was over, they were often allowed to return to their families. However, the months that followed were often filled with loneliness and sadness because no normal man dared to love them, to avoid offending the King. In more painfu.l cases, they could be buried with the Emperor when he died.

From the above evidence, it is not difficult to see that the king's favor towards the palace maids is something that brings more misfortune than blessing. Therefore, most of these palace maids wish to be stable servants, to keep their lives until the day they leave the palace, and do not have the desire to step up to the clouds, only to be dragged into endless blood.y wars behind that magnificent wall...

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