In the early Western Han Dynasty, the emperor's first wife was called the queen, and the remaining concubines were called madam, beauty, beloved, eighth son, chief envoy, and young envoy. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the number of women in the harem doubled, and the concubines were named Jieyu, Ao'e, Ronghua, and Chongyi.

During the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, Zhaoyi was added, including Wuguan, Shunchang, Wujuan, Huanhe, Yuling, Baolin, Liangshi, etc. Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty and was called Emperor Guangwu. Emperor Guangwu unified the harem system of the previous dynasties and stipulated that in addition to the queen, there were only nobles, beauties and maidens, and later he added palace servants and concubines.

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Concubines in ancient times were born for the emperor. They hoped to be favored by the emperor, because only in this way can they have a beautiful life of their own. Once a woman enters the harem, there are usually three results. The first result is to obtain status and then live a mediocre life in the harem.

This situation is very common. The second result is to gain the emperor's favor and give birth to a prince for the emperor. This kind of concubine will have a very bright future. The other kind of concubine will die in the palace. During the period, I never saw the emperor. It was not easy for concubines in ancient times to gain the favor of the emperor. They had to meet the following three conditions.

1. Strong background

The former dynasty and the harem are always connected. Of course, in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the selection of concubines should be mainly poor women, in order to solve this problem problem. If this woman is of noble birth, and her father or brother is an official in the court and holds an important position, then the emperor must give her some favor.

2. Strong means

If you want to get the emperor's favor, you will naturally need more sophisticated means. In ancient times, many concubines were able to gain the favor of the emperor through some means.

3. Winning the heart of the emperor

This type of woman depends entirely on luck, which of course has a certain relationship with the first two conditions, but some women do not need to use any means, and their background They are not particularly noble, but they can get the emperor's favor. For example, Zhao Hede and Zhao Feiyan are like this. Sometimes the emperor doesn't have to have a reason to like a concubine, so being able to get the emperor's favor is the most important thing.