Discussion How much Chinese folks hate concubine born children

Everybody, here's something I recently found out, in the xianxia novels, the concubine born kids actually have it easy. In actual ancient China, people really didn't like children of concubines. In fact in their very vocabulary, the word for "son born of a concubine" can also be translated to: "disaster", "sin", "evil"; it can also be used as a noun, which translates into "devil" or "demon" and it can also be used as an adjective which translates into "treacherous", "traitorous", or "unfilial".
So you can guess how they must've actually been treated...

 

I don't know what xianxia you have been reading but they usually do not have it easy. The larger the influence of the family the worse it gets. Royal families have entire purges of bloodlines or anyone that's a threat of inheriting their position.

 

at what novel use that kind of definition? sorry bec i never saw any of those novel

 

Well for the royalty , it dépends of how much thé emperor / king favors the concubine . For everything else I don t know.

 

Only in novels. In reality she'd get poisoned or her kid would lol, then again they do in novels as well, but then we get the reincarnated poison emperor rebirth.
(if anything the emperor could get rid of the primary wife if her family wasn't influential and take the concubine as main wife, problem solved)

 

Forget concubine. They seem to bloody hate adopted children. Anytime an 'adopted son' is brought up in Xianxia, they're a megalomaniac that hurts/kills members of the family.

 

It s not like they all died though just like in novels . It rly dépends , After all those concubines themselves are also vixens sometimes and it s thé empress or Queen or crown prince who ends up dying. There were cases like that in China History After all.

 

Not only xianxia, look at Return of the Swallow.

 

True. It also depends on who their backing is, who they can bribe or blackmail, the talents of the child etc. Check out Devourer of Destiny on RRL, it has a really good second arc where all these children compete against each other as puppets for their mother or sects trying to control the country. Instead of using force they use the royal family as a game of schemes to get dibs on resources, lol.

 

There are several cases of actual Chinese emperors upon taking the throne killing off all of their half siblings and any of the concubines who could possibly be pregnant

 

Not surprising considering how much negativity I see when the more than one partner topic is brought up or said characters appear.

 

Well, the matter is more complicated than simple hate for the concubines. After all, even an emperor must have limits in marrying. And since an emperor usually uses marriage as a political tool to safeguard and establish his might, he uses concubines for his love and desires.

Now, the simple math really says that a primary wife has power compared to heavens if compared to that of a concubine (generally). And that is very well true. But politics and women go beyond that. There are several grasps at power and hidden intrigues vying for power. And a woman who has love of an emperor is not easy to deal with. And if an emperor loves a woman, how can he not love a child from her ? Off course, the primary wife holding the power can deal with them and make it a harsh life or terminate their life.

But, almost the same can be done to the primary wife. After all, she might hold power in her kingdom, but in the harem, power goes to whoever the emperor favours. And if the emperor is entranced with the concubine, the primary wife will be neglected and will be there for customary purposes.

There are also groups that form. The wives of emperors know that they can't stop him from having concubines, or they will earn his ire and their purpose would also be fruitless. So for the above mentioned reason, they take it upon themselves to present the emperor with concubines of their faction, whom they can use and manipulate afterwards. This way, the concubines and their children are already under the factions of official wives who are vying for power with each other.

Actually, the complication doesn't even end here. But extending it from here would require much greater effort and research from my part, which I am vary of the moment.

But in answer to the original question asked in the thread, it all depends on the circumstances. Whether it be ancient or modern. Remember, there were actually elephants in the harems of some emperors. So in the modern world where some women are actually hitting it of with the dogs, you shouldn't find it strange in terms of it never happening before.

Generally, the society or the people around favour the first wife in these days. But all of this changes if her behaviour wasn't right, or if the second wife has a dramatically important background. Or, you are living somewhere where polygamous relationships aren't any news at all.

 

looks good , thx for the recommendation , gonna try it. I saw that lastest chapter was 2 month ago , is it on hiatus or completed ?

 

I'm guessing you checked on Qidian site. He deleted everything after arc 1 on there due to... well, Qidian being Qidian. Royalroad has the complete story, last update 16 hours ago.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/18730/devourer-of-destiny

 

Its not like only the Chinese does that, in general if your claim to being emperor or king rest on your bloodline it makes sense anyone else with the same bloodline is a potential threat.
Arabic kings also have harems with a king having 500 sons the daughters dont count, and when the new king is crowned he is the only one living, dont remember a date or anything but recall the number of 500 sons kinda blurrily without details.
In the west there are cases of a brother kills his only brother to take the crown in example england as a famous example.

 

Thanks , gonna read this now xD.

 

The world operates on different sets of rules, with the top one being "strength is everything"
Do not expect the world to follow our world unless the author deems it so

Besides, the genre is 'fiction', not 'non-fiction'

 

Many xianxia with a male character don't touch up on that topic too much, but even when they do they are never treated well. And the ones with a female MC, calling someone a child of a concubine is always used as an insult.

 

Because if you cheat, it is the childrens fault for being born. And it is the concubines fault for letting you rape her. And its also the concubines fault she didnt fall on a stairway and miscarraige. And it is not you fault for wanting to rape women. So please, dont be guilty at all.

 

Thats why i get kind of offended when people get upset because i say i dont like reading harems. Harem in japanese novels is entirely different than these historial based xianxi novels. Something fluffy like girls having tea and cookies in Japanese novel look all cute and stuff same scene in chinese novel is all women sitting rigidly fighting for power no cuteness just vialness and they all try to kill the queen and whoever beds the ML its off putting and ruins my mood yo.