In Chinese history, there is special term "nuhuo" or "woman disaster". It refers to the situation when an imperial concubine rather than the emperor himself ran state affairs. Ancient scholars thought whenever a woman occupied such a position it would inevitably lead to disaster, as if a hen instead of a cock crowed in the morning.

The woman subjected to the most relentless criticism is probably the Dowager Empress Ci Xi (1835-1908) near the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). She entered the Forbidden City at 17 years old and later held ultimate power for 47 years. In most accounts, she has been described as one of the chief culprits causing the end of the dynasty and a national disgrace.

Ci Xi diverted money intended for building a modern navy into follies for her garden at the Summer Palace, signed unequal treaties with Western invaders, cracked down on insurrectionists and reformists, and was suspected of murdering her nephew, the young Emperor Guang Xu. Many Chinese people think of her as "the Old Witch".

Apart from Ci Xi, in China's long imperial history, there were several famous women who ruled the country for longer or shorter periods, such as Wu Zetian, the only woman emperor in Chinese history, and Lu Zhi, the consort of Emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220).

Some Chinese scholars refer to this whole topic as "Imperial Concubine Politics". But why, in a society that was ruled by men, would such "Concubine Politics" repeatedly arise? The reason can be found in the contradictions of the Chinese cultural system, according to Zhang Xingjiu, an expert from Wuhan University.

Feudal concubinage

The traditional cultural system not only elevated men and debased women, but also had principles of respect at its core. This system also emphasized a mother's power, Zhang says in his essay.

To understand this, we should first take a look at the concubine system. It is commonly acknowledged that concubinage was based on concepts that placed man's position higher than a woman's.

Because he needed male offspring to inherit his imperial position, the emperor accumulated many concubines to maximize his chance of an heir, as well as for their beauty and exotic desire.

In China, a large number of offspring was considered the greatest happiness for a family. Such ideas led to superstitions concerning human fertility. A family with children was considered  divinely protected, while the childless family believed to be punished by supernatural forces. The emperor, understood as "the Son of God", should of course have many more children than ordinary people.

Because of this, most emperors had a large "household". Though criticized by many scholars, the trend was for the number of concubines and maids in the palace to remain massive. Records describe one emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) as having 40,000 women in the palace. By the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there were still over 9,000 women.

In a feudal society where men dominated women, it was natural for the emperor to rule over numerous concubines as well as the whole country. If one of these women dominated the country it was considered abnormal.

What makes the issue more complicated was that the imperial concubines were not only women, they were also mothers, especially mothers of young emperors. How, then, to prevent the emperor's own mother from becoming involved in her son's business?

When an emperor was still too young to manage state affairs, or if he was too weak or too ignorant, a vacuum appeared in the government. This meant the imperial concubine had the opportunity to become involved in state affairs as a representative of the emperor. The officials couldn't protest strongly about this, because everyone -- even the emperor -- owed respect to his own mother.

In ancient China, influenced by Confucianism, most emperors were told to run the country in accordance with ethics and morality. As a son, the emperor should respect his mother as much as his father, once the father died. For any official serving the imperial family, respecting the emperor's mother was also a necessity, which lent moral support to concubines running state affairs.

Political chaos

Unavoidably, when talking about "Concubine Politics", we should talk about the chaos it brought.

In most cases, the politics led to social disorder or administrative violence. Ancient people thus concluded, as a matter of principle, that "Concubine Politics" should be avoided.

For example, some modern scholars have appraised Wu Zetian, the female emperor, as an intelligent woman politician, but she has also been criticized for her cruel reign. She introduced torture and raised her own family to important positions.

When a woman grasped power in a male society, no matter whether she was the mother of the emperor or not, her position was not as solid as that of a man when it came to state affairs. There was a threat to the legitimacy of her position from the very start. This meant weaker support and more intense opposition in comparison to an (male) emperor. To consolidate her dominion, it was natural for such women to turn to more violent methods to entrench their rule.

Women in power would try to fiercely suppress all actual or potential opponents. Sometimes, the approach was very cruel.

Lacking the security of political legitimacy, the woman would usually raise her relatives to high official positions. Because concubines couldn't make direct contact with the male officials, she required family members in important posts to support her.

In fact, no matter if the rule was by emperor or concubine, the same basic despotism existed. Chaos could appear no matter whether a man or a woman ran the country. "Woman disaster"? It would be better to talk of "despotic disaster". 

(Shanghai Star January 30, 2004)