Why did the palace maids compete to 'wash the dragon hole' of the emperor every day?

According to 'History', every day after waking up, the first thing the emperor should do is 'wash the dragon's hole'. Listening to it, many people may wonder what this is? However, there was a strange thing that the palace maids had to compete with each other, even bribe the manager just to serve the emperor in this job. So, what is "dragon hole washing"?

The real meaning of 'dragon hole washing' work

The feudal conception that the emperor is the "son of heaven" (son of heaven), so each part of his body corresponds to the parts of the dragon in the legend. The 'dragon hole' here is the dragon's mouth, so when they say 'washing the dragon's hole' the palace maids will understand that it is gargling for the emperor. In fact, every morning, the emperor needed a servant to clean his teeth.

Every morning when he wakes up, the first thing the emperor does is "wash the dragon's hole".

The emperor gargling sounds like a very normal thing, but behind it contains a great moral. Every morning, the palace maids in charge of this work have to prepare high-class tea for the emperor.

The daily life of feudal emperors was very orderly. From the moment the emperor wakes up, there will be many court ladies and eunuchs around to serve. From oral hygiene to eating meals are served by the servants. The emperor hardly needed to do anything, just opened his mouth and someone brought the goods to the place. The meaning of these things was to ensure the dignity of the emperor, so that they could wholeheartedly focus on the affairs of the court.

The reason why palace maidens compete to 'wash the dragon's hole'

The first reason

The tea used to 'wash the dragon's hole' for the emperor must be first-class premium tea. This type of tea leaves, even though they have been soaked in water twice, can still be sold at a good price outside the palace when dried. For the palace ladies, of course, this is a benefit that everyone wants to have. That's why they competed for the part of serving the emperor to rinse his mouth.

Since the tea used by the emperor was of the highest quality, it could still be sold for money if dried. (

Not to mention, the part of the tea leaves used for the emperor's mouthwash had only been soaked once. The palace maidens will keep them for disposal. They will take this discarded tea leaf to dry in the sun. Because the quality of the tea leaves had decreased significantly, they still made a decent amount of money.

The second reason

The processing and sale of tea grounds to earn money is a big attraction for the palace ladies, but there is still another important reason. That is, the palace maidens all hoped to be seen by the emperor through 'washing the dragon's hole'. Thus, the palace maids will easily "take a step to heaven", be promoted to noble, if luckier, they will have the opportunity to become the emperor's favourite.

If lucky, the maidservant "washed the dragon's hole" for the emperor can be noticed and have the opportunity to change his life.

Since then, they can not only live a happy life without having to worry about clothing, all day being served by servants, but also because of that, their family members also receive warm treatment. 

This is also considered one of the rare opportunities in life for the palace maidens. Such a good opportunity, of course, no one will pass up. They found all sorts of ways to let themselves in to serve the emperor to 'wash the dragon's hole'.

This opportunity is not necessarily impossible. Because the servant gargling for the emperor took place every day. The palace maidens often had close contact with the emperor, if blessed with the emperor's favor, it was a rare chance to change her life.

To 'wash the dragon's hole' for the emperor would be considered dirty work to us today. But for the palace maidens, this job is completely worth sending hope. I wonder if anyone is willing to lose this rare opportunity?