Editing Lady-in-waiting (section)

===China===
[[File:A palace concert.jpg|thumb|Tang dynasty court ladies on ''[[A Palace Concert]]'' painting]]

====Han====
The ladies-in-waiting in China, referred to as ''palace women'', ''palace ladies'' or ''court ladies'', were all formally, if not always in practice, a part of [[Imperial Chinese harem system|the emperor's harem]], regardless of their task, and could be promoted by him to the rank of official concubine, consort, or even empress.<ref name="Ebrey date? page?">{{harvnb|Ebrey|p=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2017}}

The emperors of the [[Han dynasty]] (202 BC–220 AD) are reported to have had a harem of thousands of 'palace women', although the actual numbers are unconfirmed.<ref name="Ebrey date? page?" />

====Song====
At least during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), palace women were divided in three groups: imperial women (consisting of concubines and consorts), imperial daughters (consisting of daughters and sisters of the emperor), and the female officials and assistants, who performed a wide range of tasks and could potentially be promoted to the rank of concubine or consort.<ref name="harvnb|Chung|pp=960–1126">{{harvnb|Chung|pp=960–1126}}</ref>

Women from official elite families could be chosen to become empress, consort or concubine immediately upon their entrance in the palace, but the emperor could also promote any female court official to that post, as they were officially all members of his harem.<ref name="harvnb|Chung|pp=960–1126" />

The female court officials and attendants were normally selected from trusted families and then educated for their task.<ref name="harvnb|Chung|pp=960–1126" />

====Ming====
During the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), palace women were sorted into roughly the same three categories as in the Song dynasty.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hsieh|first=Bao Hua|date=1999|title=From Charwoman to Empress Dowager: Serving-Women in the Ming Palace|journal=Ming Studies|volume=42| issue=42 |pages=26–80| doi=10.1179/014703799788763371 | pmid=22026040 }}</ref> However, female officials and assistants in the Ming dynasty were organized into six established government groups, called the Six Bureaus: the Bureau of General Affairs, Bureau of Handicrafts, Bureau of Ceremonies, Bureau of Apartments, Bureau of Apparel, and Bureau of Foodstuffs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China|last=Hsieh|first=Bao Hua|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2014|location=London|pages=179–208|chapter=Ming Palace Serving-Women}}</ref> These groups were all overseen by the Office of Staff Surveillance, headed by a female official.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Concubinage and Servitude|last=Hsieh|pages=184}}</ref>

Women workers in the imperial palace were distinguished as either permanent or temporary staff.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Concubinage and Servitude|last=Hsieh|pages=180}}</ref> Permanent palace staff included educated and literate female officials serving in the Six Bureaus, and [[wet nurse]]s caring for imperial heirs or other palace children.<ref name=":0" /> These women received great wealth and social acclaim if their jobs were performed well.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Concubinage and Servitude|last=Hsieh|pages=181}}</ref> Seasonal or temporary palace women included midwives, female physicians, and indentured contractors (these were usually women serving as maids to consorts, entertainers, sewing tutors, or sedan-chair bearers).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cass|first=Victoria B|date=1986|title=Female Healers in the Ming and the Lodge of Ritual and Ceremony|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=106| issue=1 |pages=233–245| doi=10.2307/602374 | jstor=602374 }}</ref> These women were recruited into the palace when necessary and then released following the termination of their predetermined period of service.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Female Healers|last=Cass|pages=236}}</ref>

Throughout the Ming dynasty, there was frequent movement between the palace service industry and the low levels of the Imperial Harem.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hsieh|title=From Charwoman to Empress Dowager|journal=Ming Studies|pages=45}}</ref> Although emperors frequently selected minor consorts from Imperial serving women, few selected women ever reached the higher ranks of the consort structure or gained significant prominence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hsieh|title=From Charwoman to Empress Dowager|journal=Ming Studies|pages=46}}</ref>

As the Ming dynasty progressed, living and working conditions for palace women began to deteriorate.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Concubinage and Servitude|last=Hsieh|pages=187}}</ref> Lower-ranked serving women working in the Imperial palace were often underpaid and unable to buy food, leaving them to support themselves by selling embroidery at the market outside the palace via [[eunuch]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hsieh|title=From Charwoman to Empress Dowager|journal=Ming Studies|pages=127}}</ref> Overall, living conditions and punishments for misbehaving eventually grew so bad that there was [[Palace plot of Renyin year|an assassination attempt]] against the [[Jiajing Emperor]] by a group of serving women.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618–1644|last=Lee|first=Lily Xiao Hong|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2016|location=Hoboken|pages=543}}</ref> Led by palace maid Yang Jinying in 1542, the failed assassination attempt involved several maids sneaking into the emperor's bedchamber as he slept, to strangle him with a curtain cord.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary|last=Lee|pages=543}}</ref> The attempt ultimately failed, and all the women involved were put to death, although this type of violent revolt by serving women had never been seen before in the Ming dynasty.<ref name=":1" />

Due to slanderous literary propaganda written and spread by male officials and Confucian authors, higher-class female officials also saw their power begin to weaken throughout the Ming dynasty.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women in Imperial China|last=Hinsch|first=Bret|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2016|location=London|pages=147–174}}</ref> These prominent government men began to disparage having educated women in government and state roles in response to the influence Imperial women had held over the nation in the past.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women in Imperial China|last=Hinsch|pages=148}}</ref> This prompted a gradual overtaking of female official roles by palace eunuchs that continued throughout the remainder of the dynasty.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hsieh|title=From Charwoman to Empress Dowager|journal=Ming Studies|pages=125}}</ref>

====Qing====
The system of palace women continued mostly unchanged during the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912), when a class of imperial women acting as consorts or concubines, who had not previously held other roles, existed. However, female court attendants were also all available for promotion to concubinage or the position of consort by the emperor.<ref name="Walthall date?, page?">{{harvnb|Walthall|p=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2017}} During the Qing dynasty, imperial women were selected from among the teenage daughters of the Manchu official banner families, who were drafted to an inspection before they could marry.<ref name="Walthall date?, page?"/> Similarly, ''palace maids'' were drafted from lower official and banner classes before they could marry.<ref name="Hsieh Bao Hua date?, page?">{{harvnb|Hsieh Bao Hua|p=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2017}} After their selection, palace maids were educated as personal attendants to consorts, female officials within court rituals or other tasks, and were also available for the emperor to promote to consort or concubine.<ref name="Hsieh Bao Hua date?, page?"/> Below the palace maids were the maidservants, who were selected the same way by a draft among the daughters of soldiers.<ref name="Hsieh Bao Hua date?, page?"/>