Why It Sucks to Be Every Concubine Rank (in the Qing Dynasty)

It's 1852. You're fourteen, sitting in a mule cart outside the back gate of the Forbidden City, and the emperor is about to decide your whole life in a few seconds. If he keeps your name tag, you'll never live outside these walls again. Start at the very bottom of the Qing harem and climb all 8 ranks: Answerer, Constant Attendant, Noble Lady, Concubine, Consort, Noble Consort, Imperial Noble Consort and Empress. Every step up brings more silver, more rules and more enemies. 0:00 Shown to the emperor at 14 0:41 The selection: a few seconds 1:38 Rank 8: Answerer 3:03 Rank 7: Constant Attendant 4:19 Rank 6: Noble Lady 4:54 The baby that isn't yours 5:33 Rank 5: Concubine 6:26 Rank 4: Consort 7:32 Ranks 3 & 2: Noble Consorts 8:12 A real climber: Cixi 8:36 Rank 1: Empress 9:17 The empress who cut her hair 9:53 The last rung 10:39 Why you have it better Dramatized for storytelling. The main character is fictional; ranks, salaries, quotas and examples (Yongzheng, Cixi, Qianlong's second empress) are based on Qing palace records, including the Guochao Gongshi (1742) and the Qing statutes on court dress, plus modern histories of the Qing court. #history #qingdynasty #animation