Why It Sucks to Be a Breeding Slave (in Qing Dynasty) — Transcript

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1. 0:00Your mother didn't cry when they took
2. 0:01you.
3. 0:02She bowed. She thanked the official for
4. 0:04the honor.
5. 0:06That's when you understood.
6. 0:07You were never hers to keep.
7. 0:10You belong to the Forbidden City now.
8. 0:12You're a breeding slave for the Empire.
9. 0:15You rank somewhere between furniture and
10. 0:17a moderately useful servant. The eunuchs
11. 0:19have more authority than you do. Senior
12. 0:22maids who've been here for years assign
13. 0:24you the worst tasks, scrubbing floors
14. 0:26before dawn, emptying chamber pots. If
15. 0:29anything goes wrong, you're blamed. The
16. 0:32ranked concubines you serve are worse.
17. 0:34One slaps you for pouring tea at the
18. 0:36wrong temperature.
19. 0:37You're not permitted to flinch. You
20. 0:39thank her for the correction.
21. 0:41First lesson comes fast. A girl who
22. 0:44arrived the same week as you looked
23. 0:45directly at a noble consort.
24. 0:47The eunuchs beat her with bamboo rods
25. 0:49while you watched. 40 strokes. She
26. 0:52couldn't walk for a week. You don't
27. 0:54speak unless spoken to. You don't look
28. 0:57anyone ranked above you in the eye. You
29. 0:59don't exist until someone needs you to
30. 1:01exist.
31. 1:02Three months in and you've learned to
32. 1:04walk without making sound. Gliding
33. 1:06steps, weight distributed, no heel
34. 1:09strikes.
35. 1:10Your calves ache constantly. Blisters on
36. 1:13the balls of your feet that never fully
37. 1:15heal before you're on them again. An
38. 1:17older maid named Yilan shows you how to
39. 1:19wrap your feet in silk strips at night.
40. 1:22She doesn't have to. She does it anyway.
41. 1:24Eight months in and you've learned to
42. 1:26dress a ranked concubine.
43. 1:2817 layers of robes in the correct order.
44. 1:31Every fold precise.
45. 1:33Your fingers crack and bleed from
46. 1:35handling heavy silk in cold rooms.
47. 1:38You placed a hairpin at the wrong angle
48. 1:39once. The consort reported you.
49. 1:4210 strokes with a bamboo rod across the
50. 1:45backs of your thighs.
51. 1:47You served her the next morning as if
52. 1:48nothing happened. Two years in and
53. 1:50you've learned to read moods. When to be
54. 1:53invisible.
55. 1:54When to anticipate needs before they're
56. 1:56spoken.
57. 1:58The eunuchs sell information.
58. 2:00If you want to know which concubine is
59. 2:02in favor,
60. 2:03which one is about to fall,
61. 2:05you watch which doors they linger near.
62. 2:08Your posture has changed permanently.
63. 2:11Shoulders curved inward, head slightly
64. 2:13bowed.
65. 2:15Even when you're alone, you hold
66. 2:16yourself like someone who expects to be
67. 2:18struck.
68. 2:20By 15, you've memorized the
69. 2:21plaque-flipping schedule. You know which
70. 2:23nights the emperor favors which
71. 2:25concubines.
72. 2:26You know the rhythms of the Respectful
73. 2:27Affairs Office, the department that
74. 2:29manages his encounters.
75. 2:32Yilan tells you about a maid from
76. 2:33Bordered Yellow Banner who caught the
77. 2:35emperor's eye.
78. 2:36She was serving tea in the wrong place
79. 2:38at the right moment.
80. 2:39Within a year, she was a second-class
81. 2:41attendant. Within 3 years, she bore a
82. 2:44son.
83. 2:45Now she has her own chambers, her own
84. 2:47servants, a title.
85. 2:48That's when you first do the math.
86. 2:50If it happened to her, it could happen
87. 2:52to anyone.
88. 2:53It could happen to you. There is no
89. 2:55ceremony.
90. 2:56There's just a night when the emperor's
91. 2:58eye lands on you instead of passing
92. 3:00over.
93. 3:01You're 17.
94. 3:03You were serving tea in the Hall of
95. 3:04Mental Cultivation.
96. 3:06The emperor asked your name.
97. 3:08A eunuch wrote it down.
98. 3:10Three days later, your tablet appeared
99. 3:12on the evening tray.
100. 3:14Eunuchs from the Respectful Affairs
101. 3:16Office inspect you first.
102. 3:18A palace physician checks you over.
103. 3:20"Too thin," one says. "Acceptable skin.
104. 3:24Childbearing hips will develop. She'll
105. 3:26do."
106. 3:27They take you to an empty chamber,
107. 3:29strip you naked, wrap you in a yellow
108. 3:32silk blanket so tightly you can't move
109. 3:34your arms.
110. 3:35Then they carry you on foot across the
111. 3:36Forbidden City to the emperor's
112. 3:38chambers.
113. 3:39Eunuchs line the corridors.
114. 3:42They've seen this a thousand times.
115. 3:44Their faces show nothing.
116. 3:46Cold air on whatever skin the blanket
117. 3:48doesn't cover. Complete helplessness.
118. 3:51The understanding that your body stopped
119. 3:53being yours the moment you passed
120. 3:55through Shenwu Gate 4 years ago.
121. 3:57They call it an honor.
122. 3:59It feels like being carried to
123. 4:00slaughter.
124. 4:01The next morning, you're a second-class
125. 4:03attendant,
126. 4:05the lowest rank of concubine, but a
127. 4:07rank.
128. 4:08You've become what the system designed
129. 4:09you to become,
130. 4:11a vessel.
131. 4:126 months as a second-class attendant,
132. 4:14you're 18, shared quarters with three
133. 4:17other women, selected once every few
134. 4:19weeks. Days blur together.
135. 4:21Serve, wait, be selected or not, serve
136. 4:24again.
137. 4:26At 20, everything changes. A physician
138. 4:29confirms it. You're pregnant. Better
139. 4:31food appears.
140. 4:32A senior maid is assigned to you. The
141. 4:35consort who used to slap you now nods
142. 4:37when you pass.
143. 4:39For the first time since they took you,
144. 4:40the system is treating you like you
145. 4:42matter.
146. 4:43Then you start bleeding.
147. 4:45The pregnancy ends before it begins.
148. 4:47At 21, you're pregnant again. This time
149. 4:50it holds. You give birth to a daughter.
150. 4:53She has your eyes. She's taken from you
151. 4:55within a week, raised by the Imperial
152. 4:57Household Department. You're permitted
153. 4:59to see her twice a year. Not a son. Your
154. 5:02rank doesn't change. The senior maid is
155. 5:05reassigned. The food returns to what it
156. 5:07was.
157. 5:08But you did it once, you can do it
158. 5:10again. By 23, you're still on the
159. 5:13selection tray,
160. 5:14still being chosen occasionally,
161. 5:17still young enough.
162. 5:18You've done the math 100 times. One more
163. 5:21pregnancy,
164. 5:22one son,
165. 5:23fifth rank, own chambers, your own
166. 5:26servants, a future where you're not
167. 5:28sleeping in a shared room with three
168. 5:29other women who hate you.
169. 5:31You smile when chosen. You calculate
170. 5:33when alone.
171. 5:34At 24, you're pregnant again. The
172. 5:37physician confirms it.
173. 5:38Your food improves. A senior maid is
174. 5:41reassigned to your service.
175. 5:43The system is investing in you again.
176. 5:45This time, you let yourself believe it.
177. 5:48This time, you let yourself run the math
178. 5:50all the way to the end.
179. 5:52You're in your shared quarters, early
180. 5:54morning.
181. 5:55The senior maid is braiding your hair.
182. 5:57Three eunuchs enter without
183. 5:59announcement. One tells her to leave.
184. 6:02Her face goes blank.
185. 6:03She doesn't look back.
186. 6:05You're 24 when the eunuchs come for
187. 6:07what's inside you.
188. 6:09They don't explain. They tell you to lie
189. 6:11down.
190. 6:12The one with soft hands presses on your
191. 6:14abdomen, then harder, then uses his
192. 6:17weight.
193. 6:18You understand what's happening before
194. 6:20you feel it.
195. 6:21Someone with authority decided this
196. 6:23pregnancy was inconvenient.
197. 6:25The reason never reaches you.
198. 6:27Only the eunuchs.
199. 6:29The palace physician examines you weeks
200. 6:31later. His notes will say extensive
201. 6:34internal damage and unlikely future
202. 6:37conception.
203. 6:38He prescribes herbs. They don't help.
204. 6:41The future you'd been constructing in
205. 6:43your head for nine years, one more
206. 6:44pregnancy, one son, everything changes.
207. 6:48It was never real.
208. 6:49It was just the story the system told
209. 6:51you to keep you compliant. And now, the
210. 6:54math doesn't even apply. There will be
211. 6:56no more pregnancies.
212. 6:58The variable has been removed. Every
213. 7:00improvement during your pregnancy, the
214. 7:02better food, the senior maid, the
215. 7:04respect, wasn't the system rewarding
216. 7:07you.
217. 7:08It was the system protecting the asset.
218. 7:11The moment someone decided the asset was
219. 7:13inconvenient, the same system that fed
220. 7:15you better destroyed what was inside
221. 7:17you. Your body never recovered from what
222. 7:19they did. Chronic pain in your abdomen
223. 7:22that flares when you stand too long.
224. 7:24Irregular bleeding that continues for
225. 7:26years.
226. 7:27Hair that started falling out in clumps
227. 7:29and never fully grew back. Your body
228. 7:31kept a ledger of what they did to you.
229. 7:33It's been collecting interest ever
230. 7:35since. You're 24 and you'll never
231. 7:37conceive again.
232. 7:38In a system designed for breeding,
233. 7:40you're defective inventory.
234. 7:42The eunuchs who manage the selection
235. 7:44tray stopped including your tablet
236. 7:45months ago. New girls arrive every
237. 7:48cycle.
238. 7:4914, 15 years old,
239. 7:52unbroken,
240. 7:53fertile.
241. 7:54You used to resent them. Now you just
242. 7:56watch.
243. 7:58You know what's coming for them.
244. 7:59They don't.
245. 8:01You're 27 when you see your daughter at
246. 8:02a ceremony for Imperial children.
247. 8:05She's across a courtyard. She doesn't
248. 8:07know you're watching. She doesn't know
249. 8:09what you look like. You're not permitted
250. 8:11to approach. A eunuch notices you
251. 8:13staring too long and tells you to move
252. 8:15along.
253. 8:16By 32, you've been moved to the outer
254. 8:18edges of the palace. Cold rooms, minimal
255. 8:22food.
256. 8:23Not the cold palace, not officially.
257. 8:26But the system has its gradations of
258. 8:27forgetting.
259. 8:29You're not a concubine anymore. You're a
260. 8:31servant who used to have a title.
261. 8:33The women you serve now are younger than
262. 8:35your daughter. Your daughter is 12 now.
263. 8:38The same age you were when they selected
264. 8:39you.
265. 8:40You wonder if her tablet will end up on
266. 8:42someone's tray.
267. 8:43There's nothing left to calculate.
268. 8:46The math ended when they took what was
269. 8:48inside you. You die at 41.
270. 8:51The palace physician's notes say wasting
271. 8:53disease. Could have been cancer,
272. 8:55tuberculosis, or simply a body that had
273. 8:57been failing for 17 years finally giving
274. 9:00out. They bury you in a mass grave
275. 9:02outside the Forbidden City walls. No
276. 9:04marker, no ceremony,
277. 9:07no record of which body is yours.
278. 9:09You walked through Shenwu Gate at 13
279. 9:11with nothing. You die at 41 with
280. 9:13nothing. In between, the empire used
281. 9:16what it needed and threw away the rest.
282. 9:18They called you a concubine.
283. 9:20You were always just a body with a
284. 9:21function. And when the function ended,
285. 9:24so did you.
286. 9:25And speaking of women bred for empire,
287. 9:28and speaking of women who were bred to
288. 9:30produce sons for empires that would
289. 9:31discard them, check out your life as an
290. 9:34Ottoman harem slave right here.
291. 9:36Because in the Qing Dynasty, they at
292. 9:38least let you keep your name. In the
293. 9:40Ottoman harem, they renamed you the day
294. 9:42they bought you. The girl your mother
295. 9:44raised stopped existing the moment you
296. 9:46walked through the palace gates.