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THE TRANSITION TO EMPIRE

Multiple consorts and large harems may have been a source of
prestige and gratification for late Eastern Zhou rulers, but in the end
they became simply a part of the spoils of conquest amassed by Qin
as it rolled up the empire. Just as he integrated other aspects of China
to build his empire, so the First Emperor consolidated the harems of
the conquered rulers to form a seraglio worthy of the lord of the
subcelestial realm. He built palaces and pavilions in his capital, where
he assembled the women belonging to the rulers of the states he had
eliminated.[35] One text says, "He demarcated within and without one
hundred forty-five halls and lodges, and the diverse women occupying
the rear apartments numbered more than ten thousand. An emanation
rose and surged to Heaven."[36]

Given the systematizing policies instituted by the First Emperor in
the other spheres of the new empire, it is not surprising to find that
he established an elaborate scale of ranks and titles for the women of
the harem that mirrored those of the civil bureaucracy. The system
differed, at least in titles, from that found in the Eastern Zhou. It
comprised eight ranks, and like many other Qin institutions was
adopted by the Han:

In addition, the emperor's mother was called empress dowager (huang
taihou [OMITTED]) and his paternal grandmother, grand empress dowager
(taihuang taihou [OMITTED]).[38] The titles favorite beauty (jieyu
[OMITTED]), graceful lady (xing'e [OMITTED]), elegant lady (ronghua [OMITTED]), and
compliant lady (chongyi [OMITTED]) were added by Emperor Wu [OMITTED] of
Han (r. 140-87 B.C.), and brilliant companion (zhaoyi [OMITTED]) was added

by Emperor Yuan [OMITTED] (r. 49-33 B.C.).[39] As Hans Bielenstein has
pointed out, three additional ranks were created beyond these. No
earlier than the reign of Emperor Yuan, the sequence of the fourteen
ranks was rearranged, and the individual ranks were correlated with
those of the bureaucracy. Now the harem not only possessed official
rank but also enjoyed the income that came with it.[40]

The reign of Emperor Wu is often associated with grandeur and
excess, and women were part of the display. According to the Sanfu
huangtu [OMITTED] [Yellow Chart of the Capital District]:

Emperor Wu's successors sought to outdo, him, and the increasing
extravagance of emperors in building their harems drew criticism. The
Hou Han shu [OMITTED] [Later Han History] reports, "After Emperors
Wu and Yuan, each generation was increasingly profligate and wasteful,
until the palace women numbered three thousand and their official
ranks grew to fourteen."[42] Following the restoration of the Han,
Emperor Guangwu [OMITTED] (r. 25-57) reduced the size of the harem
and the number of ranks. Besides the empress, there were only
honorable lady (guiren [OMITTED]), beautiful lady (meiren), and chosen lady
(cainü [OMITTED]).[43] The honorable ladies had a small fixed income, but the
beautiful ladies and the chosen ladies did not.[44] Subsequent Later Han
rulers did not feel obliged to emulate Emperor Guangwu's restraint,
and Emperor Huan's [OMITTED] (r. 146-168) harem reached some five to
six thousand women, the vast majority being chosen ladies.[45]

What were the origins of the wives and concubines of the Han
emperors? Unlike the pre-Qin period when the families of the rulers
of the different states married among themselves, thus practicing a sort
of class endogamy where marriages occurred among equals or near
equals (the Zhou king being a special case), once an imperial structure
was established, the ruler had no equals. Moreover, with the founding
of the Han, the matter became a bit more complicated, for the Han
founder Liu Bang [OMITTED] (d. 195 B.C.) and his followers were of plebeian
origins. Consequently, imperial marriage in the Former Han was
relatively free of the strictures that characterized not only Zhou times
but the Later Han as well. A striking example is the case of Lady Wang
[OMITTED], wife to Emperor Jing [OMITTED] (r. 157-141 B.C.) and mother of
Emperor Wu. She had been previously married to a man of rather
modest background. But her mother ended the marriage when a

fortune-teller predicted fame and fortune for her two daughters, and
she arranged to have Lady Wang taken into the harem, where she bore
three daughters and a son to the heir apparent, the future Emperor Jing.
That son ultimately became Emperor Wu.[46] Over time, however, Han
marriage rules grew increasingly rigid, due both to the systematizing
tendencies that characterize the period and to the growth of powerful
lineages.[47] Although in the early years of the dynasty the consorts and
empresses came mainly from humble origins, most of the women in
the "Annals of Empresses" ("Huanghou ji" [OMITTED]) of the Later Han
History were from great families.[48]

Already early in the dynasty there was sometimes a tension between
the Han sovereigns and their more class-conscious officials over the
choice of an empress. To the dismay of officials and historians alike,
some Former Han empresses apparently attained that exalted station
simply because the emperor was fond of them. Such putatively bad
judgment on the part of an emperor might well draw stertorous
objections from officials and was likely to bring out the strong didactic
element that always has been part of Chinese historiography.[49] The
"Wu xing zhi" [OMITTED] [Treatise on the Five Phases] of the Han History
harshly condemns women of low estate who would be empress.[50]
Among those criticized in the "Treatise" and elsewhere are Emperor
Wu's Empress Wei [OMITTED] (appellative Zifu [OMITTED], d. 91 B.C.), who had been
a singer in the retinue of a princess; the same ruler's Lady Li [OMITTED]
and Favorite Beauty Yin [OMITTED], who had been entertainers; Emperor
Cheng's Empress Zhao [OMITTED], better known as Flying Swallow Zhao
(Zhao Feiyan [OMITTED]) for her skills as a dancer and musician; and
Emperor Cheng's Favorite Beauty Wei [OMITTED], who had simply been
a palace maid.[51]

The base origins of such women bothered officials, especially
Confucianists, whose ideology centered on propriety and etiquette. As
the Han ruling house got farther from its own humble antecedents,
similar origins became less acceptable for imperial wives. Shi ji [OMITTED]
[The Grand Scribe's Records] states that only the daughters of princes
and marquises possessing territory were worthy to wed a ruler.[52] By
the time Wang Mang [OMITTED] (45 B.C.-A.D. 23) began maneuvering in
A.D. 2 to have his adolescent daughter made empress of the equally
young Emperor Ping, the principle that imperial wives were to come
from "good families" (liang jia [OMITTED]) was well established. In a memorial
to the throne, Wang said that the difficulties of the state derived
from the lack of an heir and the improper selection of imperial spouses.
He proposed an examination into the Five Classics to fix the ritual for
marriage and correct the duties of the twelve imperial wives as a means
of expanding the succession. He said that a selection should be made
from descendants of the Zhou kings Wen [OMITTED] and Wu, the Duke of

Zhou [OMITTED] and Confucius, and the hereditary full marquises (lie hou
[OMITTED]).[53]

The Confucianists' desire to have consorts from good families was
used by Wang Mang as a pretext for his own daughter's marriage to
the emperor. During the Later Han, however, "good family" (liang jia)
came to mean something different. Under the Former Han, the term
connoted a family that was pure and blameless—that is, one not
engaged in unacceptable occupations such as trade, medicine, or
manufacturing.[54] Such families did not need to have high social status.[55]
During the Later Han, however, although the term retained some of
its earlier sense, it also now clearly referred to large families of some
standing and reputation—in short, to powerful lineages.[56] These
families developed into a powerful force at court and in the government
during the Later Han, and their aggrandizement became a major
factor in weakening the dynasty.[57] Toward the end of the Later Han,
however, such families were themselves greatly weakened in the political
struggles that attended the fall of the Han. Still, their own role in
undermining the dynasty would become a warning to subsequent
rulers, and in the turmoil of the final years of the Han and during the
Three States period, Confucianist concerns with "good families"
would cease to be quite so important in the selection of imperial
wives.[58]