Why did the prince in China have a special “breast nurse” who fed him until he was indecently old? (5 photos)

During the reign of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (ruling from 1616 to February 12, 1912), many princes or young emperors were not fed or raised by their mothers.





This task was entrusted to specially selected women, who in China were called "imperial nurses."

Perhaps many will think that the task of these nurses was quite simple, simply to feed the young prince or emperor with their breasts until he grew up.

However, you will be surprised when you find out up to what age the wet nurse was obliged to “feed” the emperor.

But we will now tell you more about this in our new article:

A short excursion into history



According to common sense, every mother wants to feed her children and keep them close to her, but then why did other women have to nurse the young princes?

This tradition has always existed in the Qing Dynasty.

The purpose of this tradition was from a very early age to reduce the prince's too strong attachment to his mother, to reduce her influence on him from childhood, so that after the prince ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he could make his own decisions, without regard to his own mother, her close relatives, etc.

Because there are often cases when some concubines had selfish motives and used their maternal connection with the child (heir to the throne) to interfere in internal affairs or even attempt a coup.

In addition, many of the emperor's concubines could be giving birth to children for the first time. They had no experience feeding children and did not know how to take care of them. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these concubines often needed servants themselves to take care of them on weekdays. How then could they take care of their children if they cannot take care of themselves?

That is why the position of imperial nurse appeared in the Qing Dynasty



In order to become an "imperial nurse", a woman had to come from a respected family of officials. After all, her duties included feeding the prince from a young age, so the selection for this job was quite strict. The woman had to be healthy, as well as have experience in childbearing and have sufficient milk production.

Usually a woman received this job if she had recently given birth or if she had lost her child after childbirth.

The first and most basic job of wet nurses in the royal family of the Qing dynasty was to nurse and raise the princes for whom they were responsible.

They tried their best to take care of the princes and had to babysit them when they were little.

Until what age did the prince usually need to be fed?

This is actually quite a difficult question. If the mother or father of the young prince could themselves set the timing of such feeding, then with the young emperor (who took the title in early childhood, when his father or brothers died), it was more and more difficult; no one could forbid him to do what he wanted.

For example, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, Aixingyoro Pu Yi, was breastfed by the imperial nurse Wang Jiao, who also raised him from childhood, until he was 10 years old. And usually this was the personal wish of the emperor.



And although the nurse Wang Jiao continued to perform duties, it was not so easy to do this for 10 years. Wang Jiao should eat a few pig's feet every day to maintain her milk production.

The important thing is that neither salt nor any seasonings could be added to these pork feet. They tasted terrible and greasy, and it was quite difficult for ordinary people to eat like that.

But of course, there were also cases when the nurses themselves, using their position, sought the favor of the emperor when he grew up.



For example, Zhu Youjiao became emperor at the age of 15, and throughout his childhood, his wet nurse Hakka tried her best to take care of him and accompany him, which made Zhu Youjiao very touched. She was so ambitious and cunning that she even seduced the young man at a very early age and tied him to her.

Having ascended the throne, Zhu Yujiao's first decree made the nurse Hakku his concubine, withoutshaking at the ministers' objections. He doted on her and allowed her to manage many affairs in the palace. However, the chosen Hakka was too old to give birth to her own children, so she conspired with the eunuch Wei Zhongxian to kill the emperor's heirs from other concubines, but all this ultimately only led to Zhu Yujiao's untimely death and lack of heirs.