Ancient palace maids were forced to sleep on their side: The real reason why everyone is angry!

In feudal times, the palace maids were divided into two ranks. The highest level are the palace maids who specialize in serving the emperor, their jobs are quite light and they are highly rewarded. The remaining ranks are palace maids who specialize in hard manual work.

Not only being "exhausted" of labor, but just making a little mistake, this group of low-ranking maids can be severely punished. What makes posterity feel the most pity for these palace maidens is an ironic rule of the court: Palace maidens are required to sleep on their side!

The low-ranking palace maids in the past had to work very hard.

In the book "The palace maids talk over the land" (roughly translated: memoirs of the palace maidens), author Ha Vinh Nhan (who worked as a palace maid in the Imperial Palace) wrote: "According to the regulations of the Qing court, the palace maids when When you go to sleep, you are not allowed to face the sky, you must bend your legs and lie on your side." 

"For two hands, one hand must be clamped between the legs, the other hand is on the body. If one of the hands is numb, the position of the two hands can be interchanged, but the posture must remain the same." Why are there such strict rules?

1. Save time

Although the area of ​​the palace is very large, the number of people living in it is also extremely large. Most of the spacious and spacious palaces were for the emperor and his concubines. As for the servants working in the palace, although the number was extremely large, they were only arranged by the court for a place just enough to live and sleep.

Due to the limited living space, the palace maids could not have separate beds. Therefore, they can only sleep together on one long bed. To help save space, all maids are required to sleep on their side.

2. The emperor's superstition

The feudal emperors always considered themselves "Son of Heaven" (son of heaven) and would receive protection from the blue sky, the gods. Therefore, they must always maintain a state of reverence with the gods at all times. According to the emperors, not only themselves, all people living and working in the palace must have the same attitude of respecting the gods as themselves.

Therefore, even in a state of sleep, the palace maidens are also required to keep the most elegant sleeping position, not to offend the blue sky. The act of sleeping, which is said to be disrespectful to the Supreme Being here, is lying on your back, facing the sky. That is one of the reasons for the confusing rule: women must sleep on their side.

3. Let the palace maidens not be able to sleep well

Part of the essence of this regulation is for the maidservant to be self-aware of her inferior status, remembering her mission every hour and every minute. And there is another reason, which is that they cannot sleep well.

Due to the nature of the work, the palace maids are not allowed to sleep well!

The work of the palace maidens is extremely hard, regardless of day and night. But sleep is an indispensable physiological need of the body, no one can work continuously around the clock. Therefore, in order to serve the masters well, the palace maids had to work shifts and take turns on duty. When on duty, they must move to the master's palace as quickly as possible, without delay.

The court's regulation to sleep on the side was also to serve the interests of the owners in this palace. Why?

We all know, having to stay in the same position while sleeping is extremely uncomfortable. That has greatly affected the quality of sleep of the palace maidens, making them unable to sleep well. And only when they can't sleep well can they easily wake up, quickly go to the work site.