Editing Concubinage (section)

== Asia ==
Concubinage was highly popular before the early 20th century all over [[East Asia]]. The main functions of concubinage for men was for pleasure and producing additional heirs, whereas for women the relationship could provide financial security. Children of concubines had lower rights in account to inheritance, which was regulated by the [[Dishu system]].

In China and the Muslim world, the concubine of a king could achieve power, especially if her son also became a monarch.{{sfn|Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition|2014|p=122}}

=== China ===
{{Main|Concubinage in China}}
[[File:Concubine Ban's Rounded Fan.jpg|alt=|thumb|16th-century painting of [[Consort Ban|Ban Jieyu]] ({{circa|48 BCE|2 BCE}}), poet and concubine to [[Emperor Cheng of Han|Emperor Cheng]] of the [[Han dynasty]].]]
[[File:The Fourth Concubine of Hexing.jpg|thumb|Portrait of a concubine, by Chinese painter [[Lam Qua]], 1864]]
In China, successful men often had concubines until the practice was outlawed when the [[Chinese Communist Party]] came to power in 1949. The standard Chinese term translated as "concubine" was ''qiè'' {{lang|zh|妾}}, a term that has been used since ancient times. Concubinage resembled marriage in that concubines were recognized sexual partners of a man and were expected to bear children for him. Unofficial concubines ({{lang-zh|t=婢妾|p=bì qiè}}) were of lower status, and their children were considered illegitimate. The English term concubine is also used for what the Chinese refer to as ''pínfēi'' ({{lang-zh|t=嬪妃}}), or "consorts of emperors", an official position often carrying a very high rank.<ref>Patricia Buckley Ebrey (2002): ''Women and the Family in Chinese History''. Oxford: Routledge, p. 39.</ref>

In premodern China it was illegal and socially disreputable for a man to have more than one wife at a time, but it was acceptable to have concubines.<ref>Ebrey 2002:39.</ref> From the earliest times wealthy men purchased concubines and added them to their household in addition to their wife.<ref name=Hinsch/> The purchase of concubines was similar to the purchase of slaves, but concubines had a higher social status.<ref name=Hinsch>{{cite book |title=Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China |first1=Bret |last1=Hinsch |publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkley |date=1990 |page=51}}</ref>

In the earliest records a man could have as many concubines as he could afford to purchase. From the [[Han dynasty#Eastern Han|Eastern Han]] period (AD 25–220) onward, the number of concubines a man could have was limited by law. The higher rank and the more noble identity a man possessed, the more concubines he was permitted to have.<ref>Shi Fengyi 史凤仪 (1987): Zhongguo gudai hunyin yu jiating 中国古代婚姻与家庭 ''Marriage and Family in Ancient China''. Wuhan: Hubei Renmin Chubanshe, p. 74.</ref> A concubine's treatment and situation was variable and was influenced by the social status of the male to whom she was attached, as well as the attitude of his wife. In the ''[[Book of Rites]]'' chapter on "The Pattern of the Family" ({{lang-zh|t=內則}}) it says, "If there were betrothal rites, she became a wife; and if she went without these, a concubine."<ref>{{cite book |url=http://ctext.org/liji/nei-ze#n9964 |title=Nei Ze|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051012/http://ctext.org/liji/nei-ze#n9964|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Wives brought a [[dowry]] to a relationship, but concubines did not. A concubinage relationship could be entered into without the ceremonies used in marriages, and neither remarriage nor a return to her natal home in widowhood were allowed to a concubine.<ref name="Ebrey 2002: 60">Ebrey 2002: 60.</ref> There are early records of concubines allegedly being buried alive with their masters to "keep them company in the afterlife".<ref name="Concubines of Ancient China3">{{cite web |year=2012 |title=Concubines of Ancient China |url=http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/beijing-history/concubines-of-ancient-china |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608030129/http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/beijing-history/concubines-of-ancient-china |archive-date=8 June 2012 |access-date=13 June 2012 |work=Beijing Made Easy }}</ref>

Women in concubinage (妾) were treated as inferior, and expected to be subservient to any wife under [[traditional Chinese marriage]] (if there was one).<ref>Patrick Fuliang Shan, “Unveiling China’s Relinquished Marital Mode: A Study of Yuan Shikai’s Polygamous Household,” ''Frontiers of History in China'', (Vol. 14, No. 2, July 2019), pp. 185–211;</ref>  The position of the concubine was generally inferior to that of the wife. Although a concubine could produce heirs, her children would be inferior in social status to a wife's children, although they were of higher status than illegitimate children. The child of a concubine had to show [[filial piety|filial duty]] to two women, their biological mother and their legal mother—the wife of their father.<ref>Ebrey 2002: 54.</ref> After the death of a concubine, her sons would make an offering to her, but these offerings were not continued by the concubine's grandsons, who only made offerings to their grandfather's wife.<ref>Ebrey 2002: 42.</ref> 

Until the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1276), it was considered a serious breach of social ethics to promote a concubine to a wife.<ref name="Ebrey 2002: 60" /> During the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1911), the status of concubines improved. It became permissible to promote a concubine to wife, if the original wife had died and the concubine was the mother of the only surviving sons. Moreover, the prohibition against forcing a widow to remarry was extended to widowed concubines. During this period tablets for concubine-mothers seem to have been more commonly placed in family ancestral altars, and genealogies of some lineages listed concubine-mothers.<ref name="Ebrey 2002: 60"/> Many of the concubines of the emperor of the Qing dynasty were freeborn women from prominent families.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2011|p=203}} Concubines of men of lower social status could be either freeborn or slave.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2011|p=203}}

Imperial concubines, kept by emperors in the [[Forbidden City]], had [[ranks of imperial consorts in China|different ranks]] and were traditionally guarded by [[eunuch]]s to ensure that they could not be impregnated by anyone but the emperor.<ref name="Concubines of Ancient China">{{cite web |title=Concubines of Ancient China |url=http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/beijing-history/concubines-of-ancient-china|work=Beijing Made Easy |access-date=13 June 2012|year=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608030129/http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/beijing-history/concubines-of-ancient-china|archive-date=8 June 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]] (1368–1644) there was an official system to select concubines for the emperor. The age of the candidates ranged mainly from 14 to 16. Virtues, behavior, character, appearance and body condition were the selection criteria.<ref>Qiu Zhonglin(Chung-lin Ch'iu)邱仲麟:"Mingdai linxuan Houfei jiqi guizhi" 明代遴選後妃及其規制 (The Imperial Concubine Selection System during the Ming Dynasty). Mingdai Yanjiu 明代研究 (Ming Studies) 11.2008:58.</ref>

Despite the limitations imposed on Chinese concubines, there are several examples in history and literature of concubines who achieved great power and influence. Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as [[Empress Dowager Cixi]], was one of the most successful concubines in Chinese history. Cixi first entered the court as a concubine to [[Xianfeng Emperor]] and gave birth to his only surviving son, who later became [[Tongzhi Emperor]]. She eventually became the ''[[de facto]]'' ruler of Qing China for 47 years after her husband's death.<ref name=EmpressChina>{{cite book |first1= Sterling |last1=Seagrave, Peggy Seagrave |title=Dragon lady: the life and legend of the last empress of China|year=1993 |publisher=Vintage Books}}</ref>

An examination of concubinage features in one of the [[Four Great Classical Novels]], ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'' (believed to be a [[autobiographical novel|semi-autobiographical]] account of author [[Cao Xueqin]]'s family life).<ref>{{Cite web|last=China-Underground|date=2016-05-08|title=Dream of the Red Chamber|url=https://china-underground.com/2016/05/08/dream-of-the-red-chamber/|access-date=2021-10-20|website=China Underground}}</ref> Three generations of the Jia family are supported by one notable concubine of the emperor, [[Jia Yuanchun]], the full elder sister of the male protagonist [[Jia Baoyu]]. In contrast, their younger half-siblings by concubine Zhao, [[Jia Tanchun]] and Jia Huan, develop distorted personalities because they are the children of a concubine.{{Citation needed |date=July 2018}}

Emperors' concubines and [[harems]] are emphasized in 21st-century romantic novels written for female readers and set in ancient times. As a plot element, the children of concubines are depicted with a status much inferior to that in actual history.{{citation needed |date=July 2018}} The '''zhai dou''' ({{lang-zh|t=宅斗}}，residential intrigue) and '''gong dou''' ({{lang-zh|t=宫斗}}，harem intrigue) genres show concubines and wives, as well as their children, scheming secretly to gain power. [[Empresses in the Palace]], a ''gong dou'' type novel and TV drama, has had great success in 21st-century China.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://en.people.cn/102774/8067124.html |title=Top 10 Chinese entertainment events in 2012 (7) – People's Daily Online|website=en.people.cn |access-date=2020-02-23}}</ref>

Hong Kong officially abolished the [[Great Qing Legal Code]] in 1971, thereby making concubinage illegal. Casino magnate [[Stanley Ho]] of Macau took his "second wife" as his official concubine in 1957, while his "third and fourth wives" retain no official status.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aiweibang.com/yuedu/101925130.html |title=港台剧怀旧经典|website=aiweibang.com |access-date=5 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923232525/http://www.aiweibang.com/yuedu/101925130.html|archive-date=23 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Mongols ===
{{Main|Wives of Genghis Khan}}
Polygyny and concubinage were very common in Mongol society, especially for powerful Mongol men. [[Genghis Khan]], [[Ögedei Khan]], [[Jochi]], [[Tolui]], and [[Kublai Khan]] (among others) all had many wives and concubines.

Genghis Khan frequently acquired wives and concubines from empires and societies that he had conquered, these women were often princesses or queens that were [[Bride kidnapping|taken captive]] or gifted to him.<ref name=":02">{{harvnb|Broadbridge|2018|pp=74, 92}}</ref> Genghis Khan's most famous concubine was [[Möge Khatun]], who, according to the Persian historian [[Ata-Malik Juvayni]], was "given to Chinggis Khan by a chief of the Bakrin tribe, and he loved her very much."<ref>{{cite book|last1=McClynn |first1=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBZpCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT117 |title=Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy |date=2015 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0306823961 |page=117}}</ref> After Genghis Khan died, Möge Khatun became a wife of Ögedei Khan. Ögedei also favored her as a wife, and she frequently accompanied him on his [[Hunting|hunting expeditions]].<ref name="denicola">{{cite book|last1=De Nicola |first1=Bruno |title=Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206–1335 |date=2017 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=68}}</ref>

=== Japan ===
{{See also|Ōoku}}
[[File:Taikō gosai rakutō yūkan no zu.jpg|thumb|16th-century [[Samurai]] [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] with his wives and concubines]]
Before [[monogamy]] was legally imposed in the [[Meiji period]], concubinage was common among the nobility.<ref name=a05>{{cite web |url=http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/concubin.html |title=Concubinage in Asia|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326034744/http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/concubin.html|archive-date=26 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Its purpose was to ensure male heirs. For example, the son of an [[Imperial House of Japan|Imperial]] concubine often had a chance of becoming emperor. [[Yanagihara Naruko]], a high-ranking concubine of [[Emperor Meiji]], gave birth to [[Emperor Taishō]], who was later legally adopted by [[Empress Haruko]], Emperor Meiji's formal wife. Even among merchant families, concubinage was occasionally used to ensure heirs. [[Asako Hirooka]], an entrepreneur who was the daughter of a concubine, worked hard to help her husband's family survive after the [[Meiji Restoration]]. She lost her fertility giving birth to her only daughter, Kameko; so her husband—with whom she got along well—took Asako's maid-servant as a concubine and fathered three daughters and a son with her. Kameko, as the child of the formal wife, married a noble man and matrilineally carried on the family name.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sankei.com/west/news/150602/wst1506020001-n1.html |title=【九転十起の女（２７）】女盛りもとうに過ぎ…夫とお手伝いの間に子供|first=SANKEI DIGITAL|last=INC.|date=3 June 2015|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019020813/http://www.sankei.com/west/news/150602/wst1506020001-n1.html|archive-date=19 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

A [[samurai]] could take concubines but their backgrounds were checked by higher-ranked samurai. In many cases, taking a concubine was akin to a marriage. Kidnapping a concubine, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not criminal. If the concubine was a commoner, a messenger was sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parents' acceptance. Even though the woman would not be a legal wife, a situation normally considered a demotion, many wealthy merchants believed that being the concubine of a samurai was superior to being the legal wife of a commoner. When a merchant's daughter married a samurai, her family's money erased the samurai's debts, and the samurai's social status improved the standing of the merchant family. If a samurai's commoner concubine gave birth to a son, the son could inherit his father's social status.

Concubines sometimes wielded significant influence. [[Nene (aristocrat)|Nene]], wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times and [[Yodo-dono]], his concubine, became the ''de facto'' master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death.

=== Korea ===
[[Joseon]] monarchs had a harem which contained concubines of different ranks. [[Empress Myeongseong]] managed to have sons, preventing sons of concubines from getting power.

Children of concubines often had lower value in account of marriage. A daughter of concubine could not marry a wife-born son of the same class. For example, [[Jang Nok-su]] was a concubine-born daughter of a mayor, who was initially married to a slave-servant, and later became a high-ranking concubine of [[Yeonsangun]].

The [[Joseon]] dynasty established in 1392 debated whether the children of a free parent and a slave parent should be considered free or slave. The child of a scholar-official father and a slave-concubine mother was always free, although the child could not occupy government positions.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2011|p=392}}

=== India ===
[[File:Savant Singh (Reigned 1748-1757) and Bani Thani in the Guise of Krishna and Radha Cruising on Lake Gundalao LACMA AC1999.264.1 (3 of 3).jpg|thumb|right|Raja Savant Singh of [[Kishangarh]] (reigned 1748–1757) with his favourite concubine Bani Thani.]]
In Hindu society, concubinage was practiced with women with whom marriage was undesirable, such as a woman from an upper-caste or a Brahmin woman.<ref name=Has41>{{harvnb|Hassig|2016|p=41}}"In some societies, ties of concubinage were made with women who would not be socially acceptable wives."</ref> Children born of concubinage followed the caste categorization of the mother.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Parkin|title=South Asia in Transition An Introduction to the Social Anthropology of a Subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUcHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127|page=127|year=2020|publisher=Lexington books|isbn=9781793611796}}</ref>

Polygamy and concubinage prevailed in ancient India for rulers and kings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-14 |title=paa2010 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314211034/https://paa2010.princeton.edu/abstracts/100754 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref>

Before the [[Indian independence movement|Independence of India]], in [[Gujarat]], the Bhil women were concubines for the [[Koli people|Koli]] [[Tribal chief|landlords]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nath |first=Y. V. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXEbAAAAMAAJ |title=Bhils of Ratanmal: An Analysis of the Social Structure of a Western Indian Community |publisher=[[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] |year=1960 |location=[[New Delhi]], [[India]], [[Asia]] |pages=62: in Pipergota, a ruler is having a Dhanaki concubine for a number of years. But he does not live with her. He accepts no food from her. So his purity is unaffected and be remains a member of the higher society. Quite a few Bhilala land holders have Naika woman their concubines and in Baria, such relations are said to exist between the [[Koli people|Koli]] [[Thakur (title)|Thakur]]s and [[Bhil]] women}}</ref>

In medieval Rajasthan, the ruling [[Rajput]] family often had certain women called ''paswan'', ''khawaas'', ''pardayat''. These women were kept by the ruler if their beauty had impressed him, but without formal marriage.<ref name=politicsofmarriage/> Sometimes they were given rights to income collected from a particular village, as queens did. Their children were socially accepted but did not receive a share in the ruling family's property and married others of the same status as them.<ref name=politicsofmarriage>{{cite book|title=The Politics of Marriage in India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan|author=Sabita Singh |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2019|pages=153–154}}</ref>

Concubinage was practiced in elite [[Rajput]] households between 16th and 20th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ramya |last1=Sreenivasan|editor=Indrani Chatterjee |title=Slavery and South Asian History |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=136}}</ref>
Female slave-servants or slave-performers could be elevated to the rank of concubine (called ''khavas'', ''pavas'') if a ruler found them attractive. The entry into concubinage was marked by a ritual; however, this ritual differentiated from rituals marking marriage.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ramya |last1=Sreenivasan|editor=Indrani Chatterjee |title=Slavery and South Asian History |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=144}}</ref> Rajputs often took concubines from [[Jat]], [[Gujjar]], [[Ahir]], [[Muslim]] but did not take concubines from the untouchable castes and refrained from taking [[Charan]]s, [[Brahmin]]s, and other Rajputs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Sabita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bSmDwAAQBAJ |title=The Politics of Marriage in India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan |date=2019-05-27 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-909828-6 |pages=154|quote=In medieval Rajasthan, there seems to have been different categories of concubines. The pardayat was given chuda (bangles) by the Rani almost accepting her as a co-wife. Also, the Rajputs could keep woman of any caste as pardayat but not a Charan, Brahmin, or a Rajput woman.}}</ref> There are instances of wives eloping with their Rajput lovers and becoming their concubines.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Priyanka |last1=Khanna |title=Embodying Royal Concubinage: Some Aspects of Concubinage in Royal Rajput Household of Marwar, (Western Rajasthan) C. 16 Th–18 Th Centuries |publisher=Indian History Congress |page=338 |jstor=44146726 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44146726}}</ref>