Cung Due is a film genre that once stormed China’s television industry. Many movies of this genre are welcomed by Vietnamese audiences such as: The story of Nhu Y’s harem, Chan Hoan’s harem, Dien Hy’s story…
The content of these films revolves around the battle of the concubines to win the favor of the king. Therefore, in these films often appear impregnated scenes.
And what makes archery fans wonder why the Emperor of China lives in the Forbidden City, which has a vast scale of up to 72ha with 800 different large and small palaces but only on an extremely narrow bed. ? It is only about 2m long and 1m wide.
Compared to today, this size is quite narrow, not even providing comfortable sleep, but the strange thing is that in the past, not only the emperor but also the queen and concubines used such a bed.
Wishing for a long life
The ancients greatly valued longevity, and many emperors also aspired to a life of “eternal immortality”. Therefore, in order to prolong life, many Chinese kings sent people to search for elixir of life, even blindly believing in doctors who could prepare elixir without losing their lives.
In addition to searching for the “eternal” medicine, they also have many forms of rituals, concepts, … to convey their desire to have a long life. In Chinese, the word “bed” is similar to the word “school”, the word “crocodile” with a narrow meaning is synonymous with the word “shou”. The word “narrow bed” sounds similar to the word “longevity” when pronounced. So not only in the palace, the kings used narrow beds in the hope of prolonging their life.
Suitable for room size
In feudal times, the ancients considered the construction of a house to be a big deal, directly affecting the owner. So there are many taboos in the construction and layout of space.
For the Chinese, a bedroom that is too big will easily lead to disaster. The narrower the bedroom, the better it is for the owner.
Therefore, in the royal palace, the rooms, especially the royal palace, are mostly designed to be the lowest and narrowest. The bedroom area never exceeds 10m2. To match the space of this room, the beds will also be designed to be more compact.
Besides, the rooms in the palace are often built of wood. Normally, the weight-bearing capacity of wood is limited. Therefore, the smaller the crossbar, the more solid the room will be. The beds are therefore also designed with commensurate sizes to facilitate the arrangement and arrangement of the room.
Based on the number of conjugates in the palace
The Emperor of China owns a harem with thousands of beautiful women. Most of the concubines have their own palaces. Therefore, the number of rooms that the court provides is not a small number. Moreover, the emperor only had one and could not visit all the concubines every day.
According to imperial regulations, if appointed to impregnated, the concubines will be taken to the emperor’s palace. In case the emperor comes to the palace of his concubine, the king will only rest there for 2 hours, and then return to his palace. To save the budget, the court decided to build the concubine’s room with a small area.
That’s why the Emperors of China, despite living a luxurious life, but the bed is only about 1m wide.