- I think in this drama, the male lead has few children because: 1) He's often away at war. 2) He's not keen on any of the women, the scenes of him trying to visit them one by one and talk to them only to be driven out by his dislike of them was funny. 3) There's something nefarious going on in that household. The first main wife was poisoned, the quiet concubine miscarried, his sister-in-law's son died at a young age. Maybe someone is scheming against the children/pregnancies. 4) I think in novels and dramas, the male and female leads have fewer children than the average at that time - it makes for a nicer romance novel. I often read that the main couple have like 2-4 kids, but you never read about, they had 15 children and lived happily ever after...
I enjoy historical c-dramas, but some things I didn't know until I started reading english translated historical web novels (likely a mashup from different novels):
- Wives are masters, concubines are slaves. The main wife (the legitimate wife) has a different wedding protocol (sometimes very, very complex procedure, from betrothal gifts to exchanging birth numbers etc.), comes in the main door, gets to wear certain colours, and her own biological children are the legitimate "di" children and are treated differently, she is the legal mother of ALL the children, helps appoint new concubines, etc. Concubines are technically slaves, and can be bought and sold and given away like chattel. Concubines unceremoniously come in the side/back door, wear different wedding clothes (like in Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion, when she can't wear a phoenix crown b/c she's a concubine), etc. Technically, a wife can punish and even sell away her husband's concubines. (Classic example is after the Emperor dies, the new Empress Dowager gets rid of his old favourite concubines)
- Because of polygamy, instead of Lord and Lady Smith, you'd have instead Lord Smith, A-Shi, B-Shi, C-Shi, D-Shi - in other words, to tell the women apart, they'd be referred to by their maiden names. In some novels, the main wife would be Madam Smith (like Madam Xu and Madam Luo in this drama), but sometimes the main wife would also be referred to as Madam A, or A-Shi. Concubines would be referred to by their maiden family names.
- Children get their status from their parents. If everyone has the same father, then their status is dependent on their mother. Same with the imperial princes. If your mother is the Empress, your status is higher than if your mother was a palace maid.
- Di children are more precious, they are the legitimate bloodline and get their parents' backing. Inheritance law is involved, too. Di-born daughters were expected to marry as men as main wives, to continue their legitimate bloodline. Di-born daughters would be taught more, socialize with other di-born noble children, and learn to manage a household and accounts.
- The children of concubines are illegitimate "shu" children, and have to address the main wife as "mother", and their own concubine mother as concubine-mother. Shu-born daughters were usually married as concubines to men of higher status, or married off as main wives to shu-born men of lower status.
- That's why it's such a scandal that the di-born daughter of Duke whatever in the drama, decides to marry the male lead as his concubine. All of her future children will be shu-born, of the illegitimate line. Her children will have to call another woman "mother".
- Slaves are cheap. People can be born into slavery, captured or indentured (sell themselves) into slavery, or sentenced to slavery as punishment by the government. Servants are usually slaves, I think - although, maybe that's just the way they refer to themselves, as "this slave...". Slaves can be beaten, punished to death, sold to traffickers, sold to brothels, etc. A master can destroy the slave contract and set them free.
- Girls are considered adults around age 15 (depends on the era), and are usually engaged before and married after that age. Noble girls stay "in the boudoir" to keep their chastity/reputation. If their reputation is sullied, it's either death or shotgun marriage. If a noble girl is considered "sullied"/"fallen", the other girls in her family will also have their reputation/marriages suffer, and nobody may even want to marry them, cutting off their families' future alliances.
- Boys reach the age of majority a few years later, like 18 (again, depends on the era). If the family is wealthy, the boys would get bed servants (tongfang) soon after puberty. I think this is what happened to the quiet concubine in this drama, she used to be the Old Madam's maid, and was sent to be the ML's concubine.
- The patriarch would be in charge of the outer courtyard (the part of the house the leases with the rest of the world), but the matriarch would be in charge of the inner courtyard (family matters). Wives, concubines, would be chosen and brought in by the matriarch. (Of course, you also have the stories where the men bring home concubines that they got outside.)
- In this drama, the male lead is the younger son, and his father and two older brothers have died. He has to listen to his mother. Filial piety is super important. Officials can lose their positions if they're not filial. He's also away at war often, so his mother has even more power/control at home.
- After marriage, concubines almost never visit their own maiden families outside, while the main wife usually visits her family a few days after the wedding.
- After marriage, the women still have to be super careful to stay at home and not be outside at night in case their reputation suffers. If they are unchaste/reputation sullied, they can be discarded, concubines sold away. (This is why Concubine Qiao schemed against our FL, to get rid of her).
- After marriage, men could continue to get new concubines, bed servants, etc.
- When a woman marries in, she brings along her dowry. The dowry is her property, and is not to be spent by the husband. It's supposed to be used by the wife for her own purposes, and when her own children grow up, the dowry goes to her own children. So a man who spends his wife's dowry is looked down upon. So it's a big deal when the FL in the drama take out her own dowry to buy rice to help her husband's family. I like how the ML knew all about it and compensated her.
- When marrying in, a main wife may bring in "dowry maids". The idea is that these are her maids, she owns their life-death contract, and if the main wife is pregnant, she can send her dowry maids to the husband's bed to serve him. They become concubines, and they are on the main wife's side, and are controlled by the main wife because she has their slave contract. If the main wife does not do this, then during her pregnancy, a different concubine may serve the husband, obtain favour, and become her rival.
- Maids are all young. Once they reach a certain age, they are released from service to marry, return home, continue as older female servants (momo/mama), etc. For palace maids, they are released later, in their twenties.
- Marriages were usually not love matches. Marriages were arranged for status/economics/alliances. If you consider that boys and girls are kept separate after age 7, and marry after 15, they may not have the judgment to choose good arranged marriages, so their families arrange the marriages for them. Also, marriage requires a bride price and dowry, not to mention other financial considerations, which involves the family assets, so another reason for families to arrange their kids' marriages.
mochachen:
Bowties are cool:
DeDe:
