The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-12-18
CHINA,S IMPERIAL HAREM,

When the present emperor reached
narrisgeable state the empress dow
lger picked out for him his No. l
| wife, whom he married. and with
whom, 1t is said, he has lived ever since
in great happiness. The next thing to
be done was to select for him his sec
ondary wives or con cubines, of whom
he is said to possess about six hundred.
An imperial concub takes the place
In Chinese etiquette of gentlemen and
ladies in waiting, lords of the bed
chamber, lords of the robe, lackeys,
and, to a certain extent, even servants
q regiment of them, TO be prepared for
any contingency that may arise.
The applicant must be young, be-
tween thirteen and sixteen years of
age. She must not be too short nor too
tall, neither too thin nor too stout.
Her skin must be smooth, soft and free
from blemishes eruptions, or birth
marks. Her mouth must not be too
large and her teeth must be beautiful.
Her hair must be long, lustrous and
silky, her scalp must be white and like
ivory, and her breath must be sweet.
Morally, she must have a fair knowl-
edge of the teachings of the great
writers upon ethics; intellectually she
must be bright and intelligent; able TO
paint, draw, embroider, raise silk
worms. sing. play musical instruments,
and understand domestic economy.
She must be free-born, as must also be
Il = act
be respecta ble, well bred, and of good
character.
There cannot have been a very large
supply of women in China who could
comply with all of these conditions,
because while any woman in the en-
pire would be only too happy TO become
member of the monarch's harem, only
about two thousand presented them
-elves at the Office appointed by law.
Here they were subjected to a rigid
examination
The judges, or censors, were very
strict, and allowed no margin in regard
TO any of the qualifications. Where
girl, otherwise perfect, was half inch
shorter than the height prescribed by
law. she was immediately rejected: SO
was a very beautiful young woman that
just exceeded the higher limit One
was thrown back because she had
slight mole on her back. A slight de-
feet in a tooth, an abrasion on foot
produced by q shoe, bad discoioration
on the waist made b. wearing the belt
too tight, extra heavy eyebrows, too
thick neck, too large d hand, too
sharp an elbow. too angular knee, all
these were sufficient 10 render an aP
plicant ineligible.
The physical examination threw ont
over one-half of the list. This was fol-
lowed by the mental examination The
judges talked with each girl separate
", so as 10 determine their general in
telligence. Ii they appeared stupid,
ignorant, too bashful. frivolous or too
forward, they were likewise excluded
This examination eliminated one
third of all that remained They were
then tried in regard TO their accom-
plishments and music: they received
various instruments, which they were
asked 20 play. They were given songs
which they had 20 sing. They were
given silk wherewith 10 embro!der
Nearly al passed this examination
with flying colcrs, not more than one
fifth OF those who took part IN i being
disqualified
After this came the examination in
morals The girls were piled with
questions so a. TO ascertain whether
their knowledge was only stolen from
books or was the result Of their OWE
free thought They were also exam
med as TO precedence. flial duties
marital relations and general eePo-t-
ment This again GeoarTed a third
and left only about Eve hundred eligi-
ble Out Of these the censors took
away those who were no; particularly
attractive, graceful nor digniSed, ,esv-
ing about four hundred and on; 81
these in turn the best two hundred
were selected IS inmates of the mon
arch's ssragiio This was only about
four years ago Since then ether eN-
amina.ions have been h2d and ful
number chosen 20 iii up the hzrre-n
ranks
The selecting ot cousorts FOR the eo-