After the Zhou Dynasty, the princess engaged in sericulture production.
Ancient emperors must have people? Life is in the hands of its king, and then you have to wear clothes and brocade in a decorative car. Without life, you can't wear clothes. ? Biography of Shangshu
Just because the royal family wants their concubines to engage in sericulture production? Actually, it is not. If this is the only purpose of production, there is no need to involve so many concubines and formulate a set of rules and regulations to ensure it, so there are other purposes.
That's to meet the needs of the courtiers given by Zhou Wang. As recorded in the biography of Shangshu mentioned above, it shows that the emperor ordered the people to get clothes. Sure, here? Clothes? Not the clothes we understand now, but? Yisi? .
The hierarchy of the Zhou Dynasty was strict. In order to strengthen the needs of kingship, rulers will use all means to implement this hierarchy, and the difference in clothing is one of them. The difference between nobles and Shu Ren's clothing is mainly in the material, that is, nobles can wear clothes made of silk, and clothing becomes a symbol of aristocratic privilege, while civilians? No life and no clothes? , this appears? Life jacket? .
In the Zhou Dynasty, life clothes were all made of silk. "Justice of Zhou Rites" records: those who do not weave are silk, and those who weave are silk. The clothes of the palace, officials and doctors are all dyed with silk, and those below the scholar are all dyed with silk. Aren't you dressed? Yes, it further points out that clothing silk is a privilege that nobles can enjoy.
There were a large number of officials in the Zhou Dynasty, which made it difficult for the emperor to give orders. At the very least, the emperor has to give orders first, and where does this obedience come from? Of course, the courtiers themselves can't do it, otherwise it will be a mess and disorganized, and the harem concubines can only bear the responsibility of giving orders.
During the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty, life clothes were very important. The ordered person must first get a life suit that can reflect his identity, such as the biography of the ram? Chronicle of Zhuang Gong: Why? My clothes are also extra, so the nature of life clothes, coupled with other forms of clothes given by the Zhou royal family, led to a great demand for royal clothes such as life clothes, so the empresses of the Zhou Dynasty were very busy.
Speaking of this, many people will say, can't more men share this busy work? In fact, they really can't, because it takes several procedures from sericulture to finally making clothes, which determines that women are the most suitable producers. In addition, Zhou Wang's harem is not accessible to outsiders who want to enter.
To sum up, not all the duties of concubines in ancient harem were to pass on incense, at least not in the Zhou Dynasty. Empresses of the Zhou Dynasty headed by the Empress, as hosts, participants and supervisors of sericulture production, directly contributed to the royal economy and played an indispensable role.
The sericulture production activities of the Zhou royal family not only met the most basic clothing needs, but also met the political needs. The rulers of the Zhou Dynasty had to distinguish grades by means of costumes, thus safeguarding the supreme sovereignty of the Zhou King. That is to say, the sericulture production of empresses indirectly contributed to the autocratic monarchy through the form of living clothes.