THE CONCUBINE…THE REAL STORY – Part 1

I promised in the back of The Concubine to post the real history behind the story I created. There’s way more than I can tell you in a simple blog. Chinese history is vast and complicated. However, here’s a snippet as it feeds into my book. First a quick backdrop on Emperor Xian Feng.

Yi Zhu was born in 1831 and succeeded the throne in 1850 at the age of 19. He inherited a crumbling dynasty that faced challenges not only internally, but also from Europeans. The Taiping Rebellion began in 1851, and spread to several provinces with amazing speed. Xianfeng dispatched several prominent mandarins and Imperial relatives to crush the rebellion with limited success. Several Muslim rebellions in the southwest began in 1855.

Now, from my primary source, I’ve condensed the following. This is paraphrased from The Stone of Heaven by Levy and Scott-Clark

After 27 months of mourning his father, Xian Feng did indeed host a pageant of fertility on June 14, 1852. All suitable daughters of Manchu aristocrats were to present themselves to the Imperial Household Office. Girls with buck teeth whose hairs were growing in the wrong direction need not apply. Only 60 girls, walking awkwardly in platform slippers hung with pearls and jade, were allowed to rustle over the five marble bridges that spanned the Jade Belt River, crossing the cobbled expanses f the Forbidden City’s outer courtyards. The girls were poked, prodded, and measured for signs of good fortune and fertility. Eventually 28 perfect specimens were selected, then paraded before the Dowager Empress who awarded them a position in the Son of Heaven’s seraglio. Every woman wanted to become a Imperial consort, high consort, or consort as only these women could bear the Emperor’s child. But most would become lesser concubines who rarely slept with the Son of Heaven at all, and only then to arouse him before one of the senior members of his harem was carried into the bedchamber.

So, the base set-up for The Concubine is factual. My next blog will talk about what I changed and why. If you have questions, please feel free to comment and I’ll address them as best as I can.