The duties of the concubine were quite simple. She existed solely and completely for the entertainment and sexual gratification of her master. She was not expected to perform any household duties or to have any responsibilities other than those of the bed chamber.
Mostly concubines served to satisfy sexual pleasure since any children that resulted from a mistress was considered illegitimate, and unless allowed by their father, had no rights of inheritance. The rich and the ruling class almost exclusively practiced concubinage. It was popular all across Asia.
Throughout history, Chinese emperors were widely known to have multiple wives–in order to guarantee an heir–and hundreds of other sexual partners at their behest and within their palaces.
Women in concubinage (妾) were treated as inferior, and expected to be subservient to any wife under traditional Chinese marriage (if there was one). The women were not wedded in a whole formal ceremony, had less right in the relationship, and could be divorced arbitrarily.
: a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married: such as. : one having a recognized social status in a household below that of a wife.
Concubines had their own rooms and would fill their days applying make-up, sewing, practising various arts and socialising with other concubines. Many of them spent their entire lives in the palace without any contact with the emperor.
Although a concubine could produce heirs, her children would be inferior in social status to a wife's children, although they were of higher status than illegitimate children. The child of a concubine had to show filial duty to two women, their biological mother and their legal mother—the wife of their father.
In ancient China, concubines are thought to have used a drink of lead and mercury in order to prevent pregnancy. (Possible side effects: sterility, brain damage, kidney failure and death.)
Concubines had to be beautiful enough to satisfy the emperor – and his parents. Social background was no barrier and many emperors chose concubines from the general public. The empress was one exception – she was always selected from the family of a high-ranking official.
Jang Hee-bin is the only case in which a concubine came from a non-noble family and became queen. Ironically, King Sukjong changed the law so that no concubine could ever become a queen after she was dethroned.
The imperial consorts were either executed by palace eunuchs or chose to commit suicide, normally by hanging themselves with a silk scarf or by taking poison. In the first part of the Ming dynasty concubines were often immolated and buried in separate tombs near the deceased emperor.
Both men and women from the upper classes, especially literati, grew their nails long as a symbol of wealth: Long nails indicated that their owners did not have to do manual labor.
A peace-loving emperor, the Hongzhi Emperor also had only one empress and no concubines, granting him the distinction of being the sole perpetually monogamous emperor in Chinese history, besides Emperor Fei of Western Wei (although the partially recognized Longwu Emperor of the Southern Ming was also known for devotion ...
Concubinus. A masculine of concubine, concubinus, "man in a concubinage", "male-lover", was also regularly used in Latin, although it is attested less often than concubina.
Classical Islamic jurists did not place any limits on how many concubines a man could have. Prostitution of concubines was prohibited. A concubine who gave birth to a child was given the special status of an umm al-walad; she could not be sold and was automatically free after her master's death.
Concubines did get pregnant, and sometimes that was their role: if the official wife was infertile then a concubine's child might become the heir, especially if the concubine was the wife's servant, making the concubine and her child the property of the official wife.
Ying Zheng also known Qin Shi Huang had numerous concubines. The Qin Dynasty, he founded (pronounced 'Chin') changed its name to China and it was he who first initiated the building of the Great Wall and construction of the Grand Canal.
According to estimates, there are approximately 100 000 “kept women” in Guangdong province alone. The tradition of the concubine may be the subject of many a male fantasy, but for the young girls, it means living in seclusion, waiting on and for the man, in a state of total dependence.
In the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), historians Sima Qian and Ban Gu both included reports on ningxing, the emperors' male concubines. From these, Pan concludes that almost every emperor during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) had or was suspected of having male partners. The best known among these was Dong Xian.
Genghis Kahn (1162-1227) had at least fourteen wives of high rank whose names we know. There were many lesser wives as well. Only the four sons of his first wife, Börte, were considered to succeed him. That was probably a good idea because it is estimated he had another 500 concubines who also bore him children.
Adultery VS Concubinage
Adultery is committed by a wife and should be charged together with the other man, while concubinage is committed by a husband and should be charged together with the other woman or concubine.
The duties of the concubine were quite simple. She existed solely and completely for the entertainment and sexual gratification of her master. She was not expected to perform any household duties or to have any responsibilities other than those of the bed chamber.
How women were chosen. The empress was always selected from the family of a high-ranking official, but other concubines were selected from the general population, and the criteria ranged from emperor to emperor.
Solomon, third king of Israel (reigned c. 968–928 B.C.E.), is said to have had a harem that included 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kgs 11:3).