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

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1. 0:00The baby's breath is warm against your
2. 0:01neck. Your milk flows easily, naturally,
3. 0:04as it should. Your own child sleeps in
4. 0:07your arms, finally content after hours
5. 0:10of fussing. The morning light filters
6. 0:12through your small window, and for this
7. 0:14moment, everything is perfect. Put the
8. 0:17child down, the clerk says. You look up.
9. 0:20Two palace guards stand in your doorway.
10. 0:23The clerk holds a scroll with an
11. 0:25official seal. You will be available,
12. 0:27she continues, her voice flat as reading
13. 0:30a grocery list. The empire needs your
14. 0:32milk. Sign here. Your baby stirs. You
15. 0:36pull him closer.
16. 0:38Sign. The clerk repeats. The ink is
17. 0:41still wet when they take your child from
18. 0:43your arms. You thought wet nursing meant
19. 0:45honor. Extra rice. A chance to feed a
20. 0:48prince and earn respect. The recruiter's
21. 0:51words echo. Your milk is pure. The
22. 0:54empire needs you. The Forbidden City's
23. 0:56gates tower above you. Gold dragons
24. 0:59carved in stone watch as you're led
25. 1:01through courtyards that could hold your
26. 1:02entire village. Your quarters are a
27. 1:04cell. Stone walls, a single window, a
28. 1:08bell mounted by the door. The head nurse
29. 1:11reads the rules like a prayer. No
30. 1:13contact with outside. No questions. No
31. 1:17visitors. Obedience.
32. 1:20You sign papers you cannot read. Your
33. 1:22thumbrint in red ink seals your fate.
34. 1:25When the bell rings, you come, she says.
35. 1:28Always. The brass bell gleams. You don't
36. 1:31know it will become the sound of your
37. 1:33destruction.
38. 1:35Day one.
39. 1:36Where is my baby? You ask. The child
40. 1:40will be cared for. The head nurse says,
41. 1:42focus on your duty.
42. 1:45Your breasts ache. Your milk was meant
43. 1:47for your son, not this stranger prince
44. 1:49who [music] cries in a golden cradle.
45. 1:52They measure every ounce. Record it in
46. 1:54ledgers. Your body becomes inventory. 4
47. 1:58ounces. Not enough. The overseer says
48. 2:01again. You ask about letters, about
49. 2:03visits. Not yet, the guard says. Day 10.
50. 2:09The other wet nurses whisper stories.
51. 2:11Children who forgot their mother's
52. 2:13faces. Babies who died while their
53. 2:15mothers fed princes. Your milk flows for
54. 2:18a child who will never know your name.
55. 2:20while your own son learns to drink from
56. 2:22[laughter] another woman's breast.
57. 2:24Orders are orders, the clerk says when
58. 2:26you beg for news. Month two, your baby
59. 2:29becomes a number in their ledger, a
60. 2:31previous obligation. You become a
61. 2:33function, a milk producing machine with
62. 2:36no past, no future, only the present
63. 2:39moment when the bell rings. The bell
64. 2:42rings every [music] 2 hours, day and
65. 2:44night. You stumble from sleep, dress in
66. 2:47darkness, hurry to the nursery. The
67. 2:49prince feeds while you stand. Always
68. 2:52standing. Sitting is forbidden. [snorts]
69. 2:55Stand straight, the overseer says. Your
70. 2:57legs swell, your back screams. But the
71. 3:00prince must eat, and you must be ready.
72. 3:03The bell rings at midnight. At 2, at
73. 3:064:00, at dawn, sleep becomes a luxury
74. 3:08measured in minutes between feedings.
75. 3:10You learn to doze standing up, swaying
76. 3:12slightly, until a sharp word snaps you
77. 3:15awake. Time, the nurse says, and you
78. 3:18know the feeding is over. Other servants
79. 3:21avoid you. Contamination risk, they
80. 3:24whisper. If the prince falls ill,
81. 3:27everyone near you will be punished. You
82. 3:29eat alone, work alone, suffer alone.
83. 3:33Week three, your body adapts to
84. 3:35exhaustion. Your mind grows numb. The
85. 3:39bell rings and you move like a ghost
86. 3:41through stone corridors. The prince
87. 3:43grows fat and healthy while you waste
88. 3:45away. Sleep when the prince sleeps. The
89. 3:48head nurse says if he doesn't sleep,
90. 3:51neither do you. The prince is a poor
91. 3:53sleeper. Months become one long night.
92. 3:57Numbers control your life. 4 ounces
93. 4:00minimum. Six is better. Eight earns
94. 4:03approval. Your diet is monitored. Your
95. 4:06water intake measured. Your body
96. 4:08temperature checked. You are livestock
97. 4:11in silk clothing. The bell rings. You
98. 4:14answer always. The prince develops a
99. 4:18cough. A small thing. A child's normal
100. 4:21illness. The interrogation begins
101. 4:24immediately. Your milk was corrupted.
102. 4:27The head physician says, "What did you
103. 4:29eat? Where did you go? Who did you speak
104. 4:33to?" "You list every grain of rice,
105. 4:36every sip of water. It doesn't matter.
106. 4:38Your moral character is suspect." The
107. 4:40head nurse says isolation immediately.
108. 4:44They move you to a smaller cell. Your
109. 4:46meals come through a slot. No human
110. 4:49contact except during feedings. The
111. 4:52prince's cough worsens and their
112. 4:54suspicion grows.
113. 4:56The prince's health is your
114. 4:58responsibility. The overseer says
115. 5:00failure is treason.
116. 5:02You remember the story other wet nurses
117. 5:04whispered. A woman executed because the
118. 5:07prince developed a rash. Her head on a
119. 5:09spike as a warning. Her crime being
120. 5:12present when a child's skin reacted to
121. 5:14new fabric. One week medical
122. 5:17examinations become violations. They
123. 5:20check your teeth, your tongue, your
124. 5:22breath. They examine your milk under
125. 5:24magnifying glasses, searching for
126. 5:26corruption that exists only in their
127. 5:28paranoia. Every sneeze from the prince
128. 5:31sends you to your knees, begging
129. 5:32forgiveness for crimes you didn't
130. 5:34commit. Every fussy moment becomes
131. 5:36evidence of [crying and screaming] your
132. 5:37failure.
133. 5:38The prince recovers. Children do, but
134. 5:41you remain suspect, tainted, watched
135. 5:46again, they [crying] say, and you submit
136. 5:48to another examination. One midnight,
137. 5:51you bribe a kitchen servant with your
138. 5:53only possession, a jade hairpin from
139. 5:55your mother. Please, you whisper, just
140. 5:59deliver this letter to my son.
141. 6:02The letter is simple. Three characters.
142. 6:05Mother loves you. For two days, you
143. 6:08imagine your child receiving it. Maybe
144. 6:10he remembers your voice. Maybe he asks
145. 6:12about you. Maybe they find the letter in
146. 6:16the servant's pocket. Your handwriting
147. 6:18becomes evidence. Your love becomes
148. 6:21treason. Regulations are clear. The head
149. 6:24nurse says, "You were warned.
150. 6:27Three days standing. No food, no water,
151. 6:31no leaning against walls. Your legs
152. 6:33shake. Your vision blurs, but you stand.
153. 6:37Day three, during a garden walk, your
154. 6:40first sunlight in months. You see the
155. 6:43wall 20 ft high. But maybe, maybe if you
156. 6:47could reach that tree branch. Guards
157. 6:50everywhere, eyes watching, nowhere to
158. 6:53run. But for one moment, you breathe
159. 6:55free air and imagine escape. The moment
160. 6:58passes. Reality returns. Stone walls,
161. 7:02brass bells, endless servitude. You
162. 7:05decide, I have to try something. You
163. 7:08hide a small stone from the garden,
164. 7:10smooth and warm from sunlight. A piece
165. 7:12of the outside world to remember who you
166. 7:14were before the bell. They find it
167. 7:17during the next search. Pack your
168. 7:19things, the clerk says. Time. The prince
169. 7:22turns 8. Too old to be breastfed, the
170. 7:26empress daager declares. No ceremony, no
171. 7:29thanks, no warning. Your service is
172. 7:32complete, the head nurse says, stamping
173. 7:34a document. Next, they don't release you
174. 7:38through the front courtyards. They take
175. 7:40you down a side corridor that smells
176. 7:42like ink and old paper to a room with no
177. 7:45windows and too many shelves.
178. 7:47The clerk sits you on a low stool like
179. 7:49you're a parcel. A ledger the size of a
180. 7:52coffin is open on the desk. Rows and
181. 7:55rows of names, each with dates,
182. 7:57thumbrints, amounts. You lean forward
183. 8:00without meaning to. You find yourself,
184. 8:03not you. Three characters badly copied
185. 8:07beside a red thumbrint that is faded to
186. 8:09rust. Under it, milk adequate
187. 8:14conduct suspect
188. 8:17disposition complete. The clerk wets her
189. 8:20brush and draws a single black line
190. 8:22through your name. Just one stroke.
191. 8:24Clean. Final. You make a small sound in
192. 8:28your throat, like an animal realizing
193. 8:30the trap is already shut. The clerk
194. 8:33doesn't look up. She stamps the page.
195. 8:36The seal thumps like a bell. She turns
196. 8:38to the next line and calls bored. As if
197. 8:41ordering vegetables. Behind you. A real
198. 8:43bell rings somewhere in the palace.
199. 8:45High, bright, impatient, and your body
200. 8:48twitches to answer it before you
201. 8:50remember you're no longer inventory. You
202. 8:52are simply crossed out. A line in a
203. 8:54book. A mother made into paperwork.
204. 8:57Eight years of your life reduced to an
205. 8:59ink mark in a ledger. Your body is
206. 9:02broken. Over lactation has damaged your
207. 9:05hormones, your bones, your spirit. Your
208. 9:07breasts ache constantly. Your back is
209. 9:10permanently curved from years of
210. 9:12standing. No pension, no references,
211. 9:16no marketable skills except palace
212. 9:18specific child care that no one else
213. 9:20wants.
214. 9:21The streets of Beijing swallow you.
215. 9:23Former palace wet nurse becomes beggar.
216. 9:26Your story joins hundreds of others.
217. 9:28Women who gave their bodies to raise
218. 9:30princes, then were discarded like empty
219. 9:32vessels. Months later, you find your
220. 9:35son. He's 12 now. Tall, strong.
221. 9:40He doesn't recognize you.
222. 9:43Mother? He asks, confused. You raised a
223. 9:46prince who will never remember your
224. 9:48name. Your own child barely remembers
225. 9:50your face. The bitter mathematics. You
226. 9:54gave 8 years to a boy who had
227. 9:55everything. Your son grew up with
228. 9:57nothing, including you. Other women's
229. 10:00stories echo in the streets.
230. 10:02Prostitution, early death, forgotten
231. 10:05names. The lucky ones die quickly. The
232. 10:08unlucky ones live long enough to see
233. 10:09their sacrifices mean nothing.
234. 10:12Your service is complete, the clerk had
235. 10:14said. Complete? as if you were a task to
236. 10:18be finished, not a human being to be
237. 10:20honored. The system was designed this
238. 10:22way. Exploit maternal love while denying
239. 10:25lasting bonds. Your replacement was
240. 10:28chosen before you were dismissed. The
241. 10:30cycle continues. New mothers, same
242. 10:32promises, same fate. Palace records show
243. 10:36hundreds of wet nurses across the
244. 10:37dynasties. All disposable, all
245. 10:40forgotten. The prince you raised grows
246. 10:43up believing servants are invisible.
247. 10:45Your sacrifice enabled his isolation
248. 10:47from real human connection. He learns
249. 10:50that love is a service to be purchased,
250. 10:52not a bond to be cherished.
251. 10:55The Empire's efficiency. Turn love into
252. 10:58labor, then discard the source. No
253. 11:01memorials, no recognition, no trace you
254. 11:03ever existed. The final cruelty. Your
255. 11:07love was real, but you were never meant
256. 11:10to matter. Empty quarters, sealed
257. 11:13letters, forgotten names, new bells
258. 11:16ringing for new women who don't yet know
259. 11:17their fate. The wet nurses who survived
260. 11:20left no written records. History
261. 11:22remembers the princes, not the women who
262. 11:25raised them. Your story lives in the
263. 11:27silence between official documents. The
264. 11:30system designed to erase you couldn't
265. 11:32erase what you gave. Every prince who
266. 11:35lived carried your heartbeat in their
267. 11:36earliest memories. The empire fell, but
268. 11:39the love you gave was real. Milk,
269. 11:42warmth, sacrifice, forgotten names,
270. 11:45empty cradles. Mother