On his accession to the throne in 712 A.D., Ming Huang had prospects for a good reign. The country was prosperous until 740. The emperor was a patron of literature and a great lover of music. Dissatisfied with the 3,000 women in his palace, he gave orders for a census to seek out the female beauties of his empire.
In ancient China, men of higher social status often supported several concubines, and Chinese emperors almost always had dozens of, even hundreds of royal concubines.
Emperor Wu was also known for his extravagance and sensuality, especially after the unification of China; legends boasted of his incredible potency among ten thousand concubines. Emperor Wu was commonly viewed as generous and kind, but also wasteful.
Most women in the Forbidden City were employed as maids and servants, but there was also a select group of concubines whose task was to bear children for the emperor – as many as he could father. Those who gave birth to male offspring were elevated to imperial consorts, with the empress at the top of the pecking order.
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.)
"The children of a concubine were lower in rank than the descendants of a wife, but they could inherit if the marriage of the latter remained childless."
In the first part of the Ming dynasty concubines were often immolated and buried in separate tombs near the deceased emperor. In a few cases, consorts were buried alive in a standing position -awaiting the arrival of the emperor in the afterlife.
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.
King Solomon had hundreds of wives... and mistresses, too
Obviously the Queen of Sheba enjoyed his affections, but Solomon also shared the wealth with 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines, drawn from a range of ethnicities, including the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
Appreciating what Yanzi says, Jinggong lets the official "hug him from behind". In the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), historians Sima Qian and Ban Gu both included reports on ningxing, the emperors' male concubines.
Long fingernails were a mark of high status indicating that one did not have to engage in manual labor, and in order to protect the nails from breaking Qing noblewomen wore metal guards. The guards were very often worn in pairs, one on the little finger and another on the ring finger.
Family. 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.
Cixi was a concubine of the Chinese emperor Xianfeng and bore him his only son. Upon Xianfeng's death in 1861, their six-year-old son became emperor, and Cixi, after some political maneuvering, became co-regent. This was the beginning of several decades in which Cixi had significant influence on China's affairs.
Táng Tàizōng 唐太宗 Often regarded as China's greatest emperor; technically the second emperor of Tang but really the power behind the throne even during his father's reign. He inaugurated a long period of cosmopolitan splendor and military dominance.
It was quite common for a poor father to sell a daughter to a rich man to be a concubine, to get money to take care of the rest of the family. There was also many women who were forced into being concubines simply because a rich man or ruler liked the way they looked. Concubinage still exists today in various forms.
Most modern Muslims, both scholars and laypersons, believe that Islam no longer accepts concubinage and that sexual relations are religiously permissible only within marriage. Concubinage was a custom practiced in both pre-Islamic Arabia and the wider Near East and Mediterranean.
Royal concubines
Women thus selected entered the palace with the junior 2nd rank at the minimum, and they would be granted a special title if they had a son who became Crown Prince. Royal concubines were sometimes selected from women up to the age of 20.
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.
woman who did not live under the authority of a man, either her fa- ther/brother or husband – in any case she was unmarried. As can be noted LL states that the children of a concubine could inherit only when the first wife could not provide descendants.
The concubines were punished nu having their limbs pulled off thier bodies and their heads were displayed on poles. There were eight levels of concubines. Concubines and eunuch often formed close friendships. Emperors also had male consorts.
Genesis 35:22 says, "And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it." As a result of this adultery, he lost the respect of his father, who said: "Unstable as water, you shall excel no longer; For when you mounted your father's ...
Male concubinage, the practice of keeping young boys and men as sexual companions in the court, was a longstanding tradition in many ancient cultures.
In early Chinese Dynasties, concubines who had not borne a child (regardless whether the child was male or female) for the Emperor were killed and buried alongside the Emperor: This happened during the Qin Dynasty, after the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang passed away in 208 B.C.