The status of ladies-in-waiting is also different, and the upper level is the female official in the palace; The lower classes are ordinary slaves. For female officials, in addition to age, figure and personality, they should also master skills such as female workers. According to historical records, "All the women who were selected in the 20-year-old draft in the palace went to the palace to try all the skills of embroidery and broomsticks to see if their manners were good." Those who failed were ordered to make up for it, and then those who chose the best were taught the rules of the court. They spent an hour writing and reading every day. After finishing writing, I ordered the imperial secretary to take an examination of the school the next day and awarded six laws a year later. " The best of these ladies-in-waiting became female officials in the palace. According to historical records: "Gan Qing Palace has a wife, ranking first; Yi Shu is one person, ranking second; There are six people in Shiwan, ranking third; Twelve people are graceful and restrained, and twenty people are graceful and restrained, all of which are in fourth place. " They perform their duties, and some are responsible for serving concubines (Shang Palace); Some are responsible for the rescue ceremony (honor ceremony); Some people are in charge of clothes and meals ... but because the Qing government is in charge of personnel, finance, etiquette, security and everything in the daily life of emperors, queens and concubines, the management of female officials is useless.
Some selected ladies-in-waiting were assigned to accompany the emperor, queen, concubine, princess and brother. People of different grades have different numbers of maids. In the standard books of the Qing Dynasty, the Kangxi Dynasty stipulated that Empress Dowager Cixi had 65,438+02 maids, and Empress Dowager Cixi had 65,438+00 maids, 8 imperial concubines, 6 concubines, 4 distinguished guests, 3 frequent visitors and 2 infinite guests. The rest were assigned to work in the sixth inning. The first thing a maid-in-waiting does when she enters the palace is to shave her head and take a bath, so she can keep her hair when she is older. Little maids who have just entered the palace should be taught various manners and grooming skills by their wet nurses (old maids). The wet nurse is very strict at ordinary times and often scolds them. If you are smart and dexterous, you will be able to serve in the post for half a year and get a monthly salary. Maids-in-waiting have no customized monthly money, ranging from 4 Liang to 20 Liang. Meals, clothes, rouge and gouache are provided by the Ministry of the Interior. In fact, their main income is the reward from the palace on weekdays. If you are favored by the queen or queen mother, you can also win wealth for your parents, but most ladies-in-waiting live a miserable life. From the first day they were elected to the palace, it was like being in prison and losing their personal freedom. They were not allowed to get married until they were 25 or even 30 years old. Those who leave the palace early due to illness, folly or other reasons are allowed to leave the palace after being examined by the competent eunuch. Some ladies-in-waiting stayed in the palace for ten years because of "the needs of the empress". After leaving the palace, they are all spinsters, and even a normal marriage is very difficult.
Generally speaking, it is cremation, which is burned with fire and filled into a dry well.